Whistle launches pet wearables for tracking location, health, and safety
Whistle has launched a new wearable for pets that owners can use to track their furry friends’ whereabouts, health, and safety.
The Whistle Go and Whistle Go Explore wearables go beyond standard pet-tracking apps by adding health monitoring.
In a survey of 1,000 U.S. residents, nearly half of pet owners ranked their pet as a top three concern, while dog owners’ top-ranked concerns about their dogs, all tied at 18%, were running away, health, and safety.
The new trackers will keep pet owners connected all the time, with real-time location tracking and improved battery life.
Above: Whistle Go and Whistle Go Explore
Image Credit: Whistle
“Whistle Go and Whistle Explore will provide pet owners a new window into their pet’s world by helping answer the top questions owners have regarding their pets, such as location, exercise, and health,” said Whistle CEO Collette Bunton in a statement. “With the addition of groundbreaking health features, like itching and licking detection and sleep monitoring, Whistle has become an intelligent tool empowering pet owners with new insights that create awareness around our pets’ health and well-being.”
The Whistle Go has new behavior monitoring and health features. Together with their team of data scientists and Banfield veterinarians, Whistle is pioneering a three-year study of over 55,000 dogs to observe behavior and health trends in detail.
Above: Whistle Go can track health and whereabouts.
Image Credit: Whistle
Almost half (43%) of respondents in the survey said they worry about their dog getting enough exercise, and nearly 60% of dogs worldwide are considered overweight or obese, with some breeds living up to two and a half years less when outside a healthy weight range.
Whistle helps pet owners by offering a recommended daily amount of activity for their pet, as well as reporting on calories burned, total active minutes, time spent resting, percentage attainment of daily activity goals, and more.
The latest evolution of Whistle devices improves on the Whistle 3 GPS Pet Tracker with features that include:
- Real-time GPS tracking. Whistle Go devices are the only all-in-one trackers to offer live tracking that checks in every 15 seconds with backing by AT&T for nationwide coverage and Google Maps for precise location pinpointing.
- New health and behavior monitoring. By tracking changes in sleep, licking, scratching, and more, the Whistle Go trackers deliver weekly wellness reporting on potential changes in the health of your pet to provide better proactive and preventative care.
- Up to 2 times improved battery life. Built with a powerful, longer-lasting battery, Whistle Go lasts up to 10 days and Whistle Go Explore lasts up to 20, so you can spend less time charging and more time adventuring.
- Built-in light. Whistle Go Explore features a built-in light for added safety when out at night that pet owners can access remotely from the app.
- Updated location and fitness features. The Whistle app is getting a refreshed view of pets’ whereabouts with an updated Location tab. Pet owners can see their pets’ daily trips and current and past trips, plus a weekly heatmap of where they’ve been. In addition, owners will now receive notifications when their pet is close to meeting its daily activity goals.
- New colors. Whistle Go comes in blue, pink, and taupe, and Whistle Go Explore comes in gray, magenta, and whistle green.
Whistle plans to roll out additional features for the Whistle Go line before the end of the year.
Whistle Go costs $100, while Whistle Go Explore retails for $130. Both are available on Whistle.com and Amazon.com. In order to enable nationwide tracking through AT&T, a subscription is required for each device, and plans start at $6.95 a month.
Whistle has been part of Kinship, the venture, technology, and data division of Mars Petcare, since 2016.
Source: VentureBeat
