I recently got my hands on the new Minitailz Dog Health and GPS tracker, announced in January at CES, and promptly affixed it to my dog Beleveder's collar, just in time for an epic afternoon puppy playdate.
Think of it as a smartwatch or fancy fitness tracker for cats and dogs. The Minitailz, from Invoxia, sports an onboard GPS, Wi-fi and LTE-M antenna for real-time location and activity tracking. Priced at $100, the device has a monthly fee of a little over $8 for the cellular connectivity.
Minitailz – key features
Beyond keeping tabs on your fluffy friend's location, the Minitailz provides insights into their exercise habits, as well as common behaviors like barking, drinking, eating, and playing. If worn day and night, it also provides daily wellness reports.
Heart and lung health monitoring are also key features. However, these tools require extended wearing. Over time, the tracker builds a profile of your pet's breathing patterns, resting and maximum heart rates and unique pulse signatures. With this data, it monitors for irregularities and serious health conditions, including atrial fibrillation (AFib).
Setting up the Minitailz
With only a short amount of time to unbox and set up the Minitailz before Belvedere's ride arrived — it was fortuitously delivered the day of his playdate — I quickly got it charging and installed the companion Invoxia Petcare app.
Fortunately, the device arrived with a decent amount of battery life, and setup was a breeze. The app asks basic questions about your pet, including age, weight, gender and breed(s).
Belvedere is a mixed-breed dog, and I was able to specify his breakdown of Long-Haired Chihuahua, Miniature Pinscher and Dachshund. With all this info punched in and the device installed on his harness, he was ready to go.
And Belvedere's off!
It didn't take long before I received my first notification from the Minitialz: Transportation was detected, and Belvedere was on the move! Using real-time tracking, I was able to check in and see where he and his buddies were headed.
About forty minutes later, I received another update. Transportation had ended, and a pet walk was detected. However, it was the next notification that sent me into a fit of laughter: "Zoomies" had been detected — Belvedere had just made a sprint.
A few hours later, I got another update that Belevedere's walk had ended, and he was in the car on his way back home.
It turns out, my dog loves to trot
Once back safely in my care and completely tuckered out, I popped open the Invoxia app to see what other fun data points and insights might be waiting for me. That's when I discovered that my dog is a big-time trotter.
The Minitailz classifies movement into one of three categories: walking, trotting and running. Belvedere spent only one minute running during his adventure, which was a bit disappointing. But he did manage to get in a solid 34 minutes of trotting and another hour and eleven minutes of walking.
By the way, Invoxia defines trotting as "one of the gaits of dogs. When a dog trots, two of its legs touch the ground simultaneously, followed by the other two, and so on." Here I was thinking that was called prancing.
Somewhere between a sprint and a saunter, the trot is the most sophisticated and graceful of all puppy movements — according to me — and reserved for only the most regal of Beagles (and mixed-breed pups named Belv).
Minitailz pet tracker – final thoughts
Of course, activity insights only scratch the surface of what the Minitailz is capable of. And I look forward to testing out the health, behavior and wellness features as soon as I get a proper collar to attach the device to — the harness doesn't seem as ideal. Until then, catch Belvedere and me trotting down a sidewalk near you.
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