Is Your Pet Working on Their Fitness?: Fitness Trackers for Your Canine Companions
Health and fitness will always be hot topics of discussion since the wellness field is always changing with gadgets and gizmos being created monthly. With people always hopping on the bandwagon with new fitness technology, why not bring your pet along with you? Health and fitness are not only important for extending our lives, but your best furry friend’s life too! Fitness trackers have become a staple for the everyday human, and consequently are becoming a hot trend to use with your furry companions.
While fitness trackers have been around for a while for the humans, they are still relatively new to the canine world. Since most fitness trackers are paired with a GPS tracker, the amount of information dog owners can obtain from giving their pet a fitness tracker is mind blowing! While the fitness trackers for pets basically monitor your dog’s activity levels (or lack thereof), most models can send data about how much your dog runs, plays, sleeps, eats and drinks, calorie intake and provide a location for your dog at all times. Mind blown yet? Yup, depending on what model you want, it can tell you just about everything activity level wise about your pup by just putting a module on their collar and syncing to your smartphone.
With your mind blown on what a fitness tracker can do, check out 4 more reasons why tracking your pup’s health and fitness can be paw-some and important:
One of the biggest benefits of a fitness tracker for your pup is that it can help your dog lose weight! By tracking their activity levels, it can give you a clearer picture on how active (or non-active) your pup is, letting you determine what would be an appropriate course of action to take to get their activity levels up to help with weight loss or to help keep your pup at a consistent weight.
You can get fit together! Even if you don’t have a fitness tracker for yourself, your pup wearing one is like you’re wearing one too since every mile they have walked means you have too. You can set distance and activity goals together and give one another more motivation to stay fit and healthy.
You can track behaviors and make a plan to help keep your pup stimulated throughout the day. Most fitness trackers can show you when your pet is resting, how long they are resting and when they are at their most active - which can help to figure out when your pup needs some extra energy release so they aren’t extra energetic after a long day at the office.
They have the potential to spot and solve underlying health issues. Not saying this is a full proof plan, but with that data that is available at your fingertips with a fitness tracker, there could be trends spotted early that could tell if something is not quite right with your pup.
Now that you have a better understanding of what a fitness tracker can do for your canine companion, let’s look at a couple pet fitness trackers that can jumpstart your pup’s health journey today!
Fitbark 2 Pet Tracker: This activity tracker can track activity levels, sleep, distance traveled, food and water intake, calories burned and overall health. While this will not track your pets heart rate, it does link to your Fitbit, Apple Watch, Healthfit or Google Fit device so you can see side by side progress.
Whistle Fit: This activity tracker can track calories burned, distance traveled, active time, time spent licking/scratching and time spent sleeping, running, walking and playing. The app will also send you reminders when it’s time to play or take your dog for a walk to get them moving.
Poof Bean Pet Activity Tracker: While this activity tracker lacks the bells and whistles of the others, it is the most affordable and tracks calories burned, activity and sleep. The difference with this activity tracker is that it has a GPS built in and will alert you when your pet gets lost and their location.
Pet Pace: This smart collar is not only a fitness tracker, but a health monitoring system for cats and dogs. Pet Pace tracks activity, pulse, respiration, calories burned and consumed, heart rate, overall health and body temperature. This tracker continuously collects your pet’s vital signs as well as behavior patterns.
So what tracker should you buy?
With so many gadgets out there, it can be pretty hard to pick which fitness tracker would be the best. While we can’t tell you which one would be good for you, we can help narrow down your selections. At the end of the day, the decision depends completely on your needs, your pet’s needs and your budget. While, technically, a dog doesn’t need a fitness tracker to stay healthy, they do offer a paw-some look into your pet’s everyday activity levels to let you determine what needs to be done to keep them healthy and safe. Look for something that is an affordable product that fits your needs at the moment. If you find that you and Fido have outgrown that specific device, you can always upgrade.
Health and fitness will always be trending, but it’s ultimately up to you on what you need to stay fit and well. While all gadgets may not be necessary, they are fun and always changing! And if you’re looking to keep up with the times while still going old school with health and fitness, some good old fresh air will do the trick! Finding a local dog walker can be one of the best things for your pup when it comes to getting exercise and mental stimulation. Going Mutts Pet Services is ready and willing to traverse the weather to help your pup release their energy! Contact us today for more information about daily dog walking, pet check-ins and overnight stays.
