Finding Fido may be easier with merger of pet tracking devices

Forget the fliers. Finding a lost pet has gone high tech.

Whistle, a pet-monitoring tech company, announced Thursday that it acquired Tagg, a pet GPS tracking system. Both Whistle and Tagg make devices that attach to a dog's collar. The move combines Tagg's location tracking with Whistle's health services that measure things like a dog's food intake and a dog's exercise.

"The Whistle activity monitor syncs to Bluetooth and WiFi only. We couldn't consistently track [dogs] across the city if they were to get lost," Ben Jacobs, Whistle co-founder and CEO, told USA TODAY Network.

The acquisition changes that.

"Tagg has wide area network coverage. Wherever you can use your cellphone, you can use Tagg to track your pet," he said.

Whistle will continue to support current versions of Tagg and Whistle hardware, but future products will integrate the two services, according to Jacobs. More than 100,000 dogs are fitted with a Tagg or Whistle product. While the technology is designed for canines, there are plans to extend the services to cats, he said.

Each year up to eight million dogs and cats end up in shelters, Kwane Stewart, chief veterinary officer at American Humane Association, said in a statement. Only 17% of dogs and 2% of cats that end up in shelters without tags, GPS devices, or microchips are reunited with their owners, he said.

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