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How to: Prevent Losing a Dog

How to: Prevent Losing a Dog

Dog owners understand that sudden sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when your dog is nowhere to be found. Luckily, there are plenty of quality tracking devices on the market for dog owners. This means you'll never lose your best friend again.

Losing a dog, even for an hour or two, can be a wrenching experience. Fortunately, there are more ways than there ever have been to avoid doing just that. Let's talk about some of the traditional ways to prevent losing a dog.

Traditional Style Tracking Devices 

At the top of the preventative list is training your pup to come when he's called. The process of training a dog to recall is something almost everybody understands.


What many don't understand, however, is that the training process needs to be extended over several months, in a variety of areas, and with escalating levels of distractions, until your dog is bomb proof. After all, a dog that is trained at home but not in the field is a dog that is not really trained at all.

The second way is to fit our dog with a bell. As a general rule, the bigger the bell, the better. Even dogs that run out of earshot can benefit from a bell; should you lose your pup, a bell effectively functions as a beacon that will shrink the geography you have to search.

Finally, put a collar on your dog with your name and number! This is a very simple and easy tracking device to own, and thousands upon thousands of lost dogs are returned to their owners every year simply because the owner took the time to provide his pup with a collar and a return address and phone number.

New Generation


Now for the modern methods to not losing a dog. The first of these is the microchip. Dogs can be injected with a tiny chip that can be scanned by vets, animal shelters and the like.

When it comes to lost dogs, a GPS tracking device can be a tremendous help in finding him. But more than that, a GPS collar can alert you when your dog leaves a certain area, such as a zone around your house. Alerts can be programed to be sent to your mobile phone app so you won't ever lose a dog again. These phone apps can allow you to watch your lost pup on a map and find coordinates before he gets too far away.

It may take a few days after losing a dog for him to find his way to a shelter, but once he does, a microchip will send him home. Paired with a collar and identification, anyone who finds your pup will be able to return him to you.

The last is the best of all: GPS collars. SportDog and Garmin make GPS collars that have one advantage over all the other methods: they can prevent losing a dog in the first place. If your dog is outfitted with a GPS, you'll always know where he is. Out of all the tracking devices for your dog you can buy, this is the best option.

You'll have a good shot at heading him off at the pass, so to speak, if he decides to run away. And knowing where your dog is when you can't see him will make your peace of mind soar.

The drawback? They're expensive. But compared to the heartache of losing a dog, tracking devices for your dog are worth every penny.

Losing a dog is the last thing a dog owner wants to think about, so do yourself a favor and equip your best friend with one of these great tracking tools.

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