Dog GPS Collar: A Tractive GPS Review

I have lost count of the number of times my dog has escaped from our backyard. Thankfully, he doesn’t get very far before we find him and on many occasions, our kind neighbours have picked him up and phoned us. But that doesn’t stop the pure dread that fills my body each time it happens. The thoughts of never seeing him again come swiftly as I jump in the car and drive in any random direction around my neighborhood to find him.

After spending hundreds of dollars doggy-proofing our backyard and my dog still proving how good an escape artist he is, I decided it was time to invest in a GPS dog collar.

GPS trackers for dogs are small devices that clip onto your dog’s collar and, typically, use a combination of GPS and cellular signals to let you know your dog’s whereabouts in real time.

Using the tracker’s app on your smartphone, you can see on a map the location of your pet… no more picking a random direction to drive in to hopefully find your dog!

Bluetooth Vs. GPS Trackers

When first researching which GPS tracker to buy I discovered there are two main types of pet trackers – Bluetooth and GPS.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth trackers are much cheaper and have longer-lasting battery lives. These are typically sold as “item finders” such as keys or bags (think Apple AirTag / Tile).

They give very exact localization and are generally small and lightweight. The biggest downfall for a Bluetooth tracker is, well, it uses Bluetooth to find your pet! As soon as your pet is outside of the Bluetooth range of your phone (usually up to 30-40 meters) then it’s very unlikely you’ll be able to find them. The tracker will try to use someone else’s phone nearby to get a location. This is a huge limitation if you are in the wilderness camping/hiking and not surrounded by people.

GPS

GPS trackers on the other hand use, as the name implies, Global Positioning System technology. The system is made up of three parts:

• Space satellites that orbit the Earth
• Ground stations which make sure the satellites continue working
• Receivers

For GPS trackers, the receiver sends its coordinates to another device, such as your phone. That’s why GPS trackers often come with SIM cards to send location data to a GPS tracking app over a local mobile network. For this reason, a subscription is needed which may be a deal-breaker for pet parents.

With our outdoorsy lifestyle and not wanting to be at the mercy of someone else’s Bluetooth, we decided the best tracker for us would be a GPS one with a monthly subscription fee.   

We chose 'Tractive' because it cost significantly less than other devices such as ‘Whistle Go Explore’ and ‘Fi’ and accepted the limitations that came with a cheaper product such as battery life. Below I have outlined the positives and limitations I have found with using this particular GPS tracker.

6 benefits of the Tractive GPS dog collar

1. Peace of Mind

The peace of mind I now have knowing that I can track my dog at any time is by far the biggest positive of this tracker. Ironically, my dog hasn’t managed to escape the backyard since getting the tracker… but that’s not from lack of trying! I am so much more settled at work each day knowing I won’t get a frantic phone call from my partner telling me our dog has escaped again.

2. Waterproof

Tractive is 100% waterproof which is great for doggy mermaids.

3. Charge every 3 or 4 days

We previously tried another GPS tracker which had to be charged daily so only charging every 3 or 4 days is a huge plus for us as we go camping in the summer months and won’t be able to charge the tracker.

4. Can charge whilst still attached to the collar

Other models on the market require the device to be taken off the collar to charge. This could easily lead to the tracker being forgotten when heading out for walkies. It was also very easy to attach to the dog collar and hasn’t fallen off since first putting it on.

5. Alerts when left and returned to the safe zone 

Most dog GPS trackers allow you to create a “safe zone” (usually your home). I am sent a notification on my smartphone when my dog has left the virtual fence so I can then investigate whether I need to search for him or not. Gone are the days when I am unsure of the time he left and therefore the potential distance he has travelled since leaving. I am also sent a notification when he returns to the safe zone. This is useful for when other people are walking him and allows me to see if he is home or not.

6. More freedom for my dog

My dog is very active and truly loves to explore. This is the number one reason he escapes, so he can explore the neighborhood. For this reason, I like to let him off the leash for at least one of his daily walks so he can fulfil that need. Having Tractive on his collar allows me to give him that freedom to explore. His high prey drive means he often runs off into the bushes but with Tractive I know I can locate him at any time and his soiree with a rabbit doesn’t end up in him being lost.

Tractive GPS dog collar limitations

The battery doesn’t last 7 days as advertised

I have never been able to go 7 days on one charge of battery. Even though this is advertised there is a disclaimer to say this is dependent on your dog’s activity and usage. However, I have been happy with the 3 to 4-day battery life we currently get.

Doesn’t deliver up-to-the-moment info

Tractive (nor other dog GPS trackers) doesn’t deliver up-to-the-moment info on my dog’s whereabouts. This is partly by design in order to preserve battery power. Tractive typically geolocates once every few minutes. However, Tractive does offer “live” tracking which I turn on from my smartphone to check where he is in real-time which is very useful.

Alerts aren’t immediate / misfire

I found that I’m not consistently alerted the moment my dog left the geofence. I could be halfway down the street on our walk before I am notified. In addition, I am often mistakenly sent alerts that Makai has left the safe zone even when I am staring at him happily curled up asleep on his dog bed. These particular shortcomings seem related to the fact that the safe zone and geofencing features rely partly on your home WiFi network, which (as we all know) can be spotty and inconsistent.

With these limitations in mind, Tractive offers a 30-day money-back guarantee so you can try it out with peace of mind that if you are not 100% happy you can send it back “no questions asked.”

Final thoughts

So should you buy a GPS dog collar? If you have an escape artist on your hand and love to explore the great outdoors off-leash then I would highly recommend a GPS tracker for your dog. The peace of mind it gives is worth the cost of a monthly subscription and its shortcomings.