Having pets in the home is a wonderful addition. If you have a parent or loved one in a retirement community, some of these innovative gadgets and devices may be helpful to make their lives as pet parents easier.
1. Calm your pups while you’re away with Alexa Skills
When I leave the house, I ask Alexa to play classical radio. The background music calms my dogs. They seem to enjoy it as much as I do, so it’s a great way to make sure our pets are taken care of when I leave the house.
2. Microchip tracking
Finding a lost pet, or a lost owner used to be a daunting task. You could post fliers around the neighborhood, place a “lost pet” ad, or call the dog shelter – then cross your fingers that the right person would see it. Likewise, those who found a pet would have to hope they could find the random messages put out by the owner. Now, using microchip tracking, a shelter or veterinarian can easily match a found pet with its owner!
Microchips are tiny circuits, the size of a grain of a rice, placed under a pet’s skin. When a stray pet is brought to a veterinary office or animal shelter, the pet can be scanned for owner identification information.
Responsible pet owners are urged to have their pets micro-chipped, as it is the easiest and most reliable way to identify a lost pet. Collar tags with the owners’ information can be removed or fall off, or a pet could escape from a house, without them. It is important to note: pet owners must register their chipped animal with their current information, and update the information with any change in phone number or address.
3. GPS collars
Another way of keeping up with your pooch is attaching a GPS collar in situations where it may be important to track your animal. For example, many hunters use GPS collars to track their hunting dogs, which, of course, cannot be kept leashed when working.
4. Treat-tossing dog cameras
Really? Yup! Indeed. You can check in on your pup while you’re away, and even reward good behavior with a treat tossed by a camera – all controlled by an app on your phone. With a treat-tossing dog camera, owners can enjoy the ability to not only see their pup when they’re away, but to hear and communicate with them, as well as to give them a treat.
5. Automatic ball tossers
Does your energetic pup never tire of chasing a ball? Visualize batting cages where baseballs are tossed out to a waiting batter – except on a smaller scale and with less velocity. Some dogs can even be trained to refill the automatic ball launcher themselves. So save that arm for more important tasks – like controlling your pup on a leash!
Stay tuned for part 2