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Years ago, my family adopted a dog known as a Sato. Sparky (also known as "Poochie") was a skinny little thing. She had never lived in a house, but seemed to adjust to our love and table scraps pretty quickly.
What she couldn't handle were the fireworks – and I can't say that I blame her. Most dogs don't "ooh" and "aah" over bright lights and loud noises. Unfortunately, I live in a town where there seems to be a fireworks season that lasts for a good nine months out of the year. In other words, it's not uncommon to have random fireworks in the middle of November.
Like most dogs, my Sparky would hear those pops and start panting. On a few occasions, she bolted right through our screen door.
Flash forward 11 years, and we still have Sparky. She's not as adventurous as she used to be. However, she still hates the fireworks, which got me interested in the Tagg Pet Tracker.
The Tagg is a GPS device for your pet. It's designed to track where your pet goes and when, as well as how often via activity tracking features. It's a really cool concept, but it's not easy or cheap.
Well, parts of it are easy. The setup process is lengthy, but couldn't be simpler. The entire Tagg system includes a tracking device, a docking station, collar clips and instructions. The docking station hooks to your computer's USB port, to power up the tracker. While Tagg claims that the device can keep its charge for about 30 days, your mileage will vary. I never really got more than 5 days out of it, so it's a good idea to keep the device docked anytime your pet is inside. That way, you'll always have a full charge.
To start, I powered up the tracker overnight and created an online account. That involves a name, email address, password, a phone number, and three (!) security questions. Oh, and you're also going to need a credit card number.
Yes, a credit card is necessary, because the Tagg has a recurring $7.95 monthly fee after the first three months. That initial period is free. I get that people love their pets; really, I do. I've had my dog Sparky for a long time, and there's a lot of money, rugs, and snuggles invested in her. At this point, however, she doesn't get out enough that would warrant a monthly fee. Some people won't ever understand this type of "pet insurance." GeekDad's recent article about Raising a Deaf Puppy made me understand that there truly is a target audience for this type of device. However you want to justify the price is fine. For the money, though, the Tagg should just work a lot better.
I'm getting ahead of myself, though. To use the Tagg, you'll need to attach one of the included 1.5-by-1.5-inch plastic clips to your pet's collar. From there, the tracker snaps and unsnaps easily onto that clip. At about 4 inches, the tracker is small, but it should also be noted that it probably won't work with every type of collar. It certainly didn't fit on a thin harness we have. It's just oddly shaped and sort of bulky. That said, Sparky never tried to pull it off, which really says something. Overall, your pet should barely notice it, since it only weighs a mere 1.6 ounces. However, Tagg recommends the system for pets over 10 pounds.
Once the Tagg is up and running, the tracker will keep tabs on that pet once it leaves the "home zone," which is adjustable between 75 and 1,000 yards. After all, you probably don't need to know every time your pet is sniffing around the edge of your property.
That's pretty much how the Tagg works. Attach it to the dog's collar and it will send a text and/or email whenever your pet leaves the home zone. It also allows you to click to locate your pet's whereabouts any time you're feeling suspicious. Cool, right?
There's no doubt that the concept is a good one. I like the idea of knowing where Sparky is when she's outside. She's old and I live on a busy street where people don't always adhere to the speed limit. I also like some of the Tagg's perks. I appreciate that the service sends me a message when the tracker's battery is getting low, when it's fully charged, and when it's offline. I also appreciate that the Tagg can keep tabs on my pet's daily activity level and even replay a pet's trail, so you can see exactly where it's been – and hopefully where it's headed.
That said, it has a lot of issues. First, there's the pricing structure. The $99.95 fee for the hardware is spot-on. However, the $7.95 monthly fee seems a little outrageous. Without the monthly fee, the Tagg is basically some bling for your pet's collar. It just seems that for that kind of money, I could build a pretty killer fence. But ok, I love technology and if I can extend that geekiness to my pet's life, I'm all for it, if it works well.
But my experience with the Tagg was far from perfect. My main problem with the device is the lag time – and there's a lot of that. Typically, it would take the system a good 10 to 15 minutes to realize that my pet was out of the acceptable Home Zone. Most pets move pretty fast, even the lazy ones. So it was a little disappointing to see that it would take such a long time to get that first alert that my pet was off and running.
Because of where I live, I wouldn't let the dog go on her own. However, she does a lot of daily walks, which is how I tested out this product. For good measure, though, it went out with every member of my family. I'm happy to report that it was able to go the distance, literally. It went to hockey practice, to school and to work, which are all located up 7 miles away.
As long as the tracker is on the move, the Tagg system will send location updates every 3 minutes for the first 30 minutes. After that, you'll have to restart the tracking services or click to locate the pet through the web interface or one of Tagg's free iOS and Android apps. Just know that's not an exact science, either. You won't get messages telling you that Fido is at 555 Main Street, sniffing half-chewed gum on the sidewalk. Instead, the Tagg system was always telling me that Sparky was within 16 feet of something or 30 feet of another. Another time it told me that my pet (aka my husband, in this case) had gone over town lines, without any address info.
Another thing you should know about the Tagg is that the company expects you to be in this for the long haul. I'd expect that with a pet, but not a pet GPS. However, once you activate the tracker, there's no leaving the service without a penalty. If you decide to stop the Tagg service for any reason, the tracker will become nothing more than the aforementioned bling. It can't be reactivated, so you'll have to fork over another $99 for new hardware. [Update 8/2013: Don't throw away that old Tagg! The company has informed me that customers can now activate previously owned trackers. There's no reactivation fees or anything. Just reactivate your account and the monthly fee will kick back in.]
The Tagg isn't for everyone. It's certainly an interesting idea, though. It's also an expensive one. Of course, no one can put a price on the love of a pet. That said, the price would certainly be a lot easier to swallow if the product worked a little better.
Tagg provided me with this product for review purposes.
