Is your pooch a little tubby around the tummy? My dog, Jenny, is only four years old, but she’s already honing her sloth skills…and could stand to lose a few pounds. I know that just as with humans, dogs can live longer and healthier lives if they stay in shape—and I definitely want my best friend to live forever! Still, as a working mom who’s frazzled enough keeping up with projects and kids, it’s not easy to watch everything Jenny does (not to mention vacuums into her mouth).
Enter: Whistle, a kind of “quantified dog” version of hot self-trackers like Fitbit or the Nike+ FuelBand. This smart little silver disc, which attaches to Jenny’s collar, was created by a team of pet lovers including folks from Amazon, Apple, and Google. Now, whether I’m walking with Jenny or she’s in one of her famous Tazmanian Devil-style tailspins through the house, Whistle is recording what she’s doing and collecting the data in an app with pretty graphs and stats on her improvement. It’s also a tracker, so you can locate your dog if they go missing (mine is never far from the couch, I’m afraid). At just about the size of a quarter, Whistle doesn’t bother Jenny at all, but it gives me a lot of peace of mind. And that’s something to howl about.
Oh, and you’ve got one more day to pre-order the Whistle at $49 before the price goes up. So if you’re into it… fetch.
Got another great app to keep up with your pet? Let me know in the comments!
