Lost Dogs & Apple Air Tags

This article is dedicated to explaining why Apple AirTags don’t work well to help find lost pets.  Let me start by saying Apple AirTags are great when used for what they were intended.   Apple specifically says they should not to be used on live animals.  Apple AirTags track lost items by using an iPhone or another Apple device with Bluetooth on.  Let’s just say you lose your keys and they have an Apple AirTag attached.  The AirTag is a great way to find them, right?!  Well, the answer is yes! Why? Chances are your keys are in your house or somewhere you can retrace your steps. Apple AirTags carry a limited tracking radius of less than 35 feet.  Now, let me refresh what I said earlier about having to be near an iPhone with blue tooth turned on. Problem is with lost dogs they run through yards, streets, woods, neighborhoods, etc.  Many times the lost dog will go to quiet areas absent of people and their phones. This will leave you with multiple gaps in between each ping if you are fortunate enough to get a ping, at all. Are you starting to see where this could be a problem?  Let me give you an example. Little Ralphie the Shih Tzu takes off when his tiny human leaves the door open.  Ralphie runs through the neighborhood down the middle of the street then in and out of yards. His human mom frantically takes her phone to try to track her canine child.  She quickly realizes that she is not getting any notifications.  Then suddenly she gets a ping from the neighbor’s house down the street followed by –  NOTHING.  She goes to her neighbor’s house where they tell her they saw her dog about 10 minutes ago but he ran back towards the woods.  That neighbor happened to have a teenager with her Bluetooth turned on. Welp! Now there is a lost dog in the woods. Unless Ralph’s mom is lucky enough to have someone hiking in the woods within 35 Feet of Ralph with their Bluetooth turned on Ralphie’s mom is out of luck.  This is now a big dilemma for Ralphie’s mom.  She is essentially out of luck unless the dog returns to the neighborhood to a house with a device with Bluetooth on.  Then if he moves throughout the neighborhood what happens when he is too far away or people don’t have Bluetooth on? Nothing will happen – No pings will leave his owner with no direction.  Even if the pup stays in a neighborhood the pings are sporadic and cause more chaos and confusion than good because unless the dog is close to a device with Bluetooth on it’s essentially useless.  There are many scenarios that I could describe but I am sure you are seeing what could go wrong using an Apple AirTag on a dog.  Sadly, way too many people think their dogs are protected using an AirTag and they are not.  Apple AirTags are great when they are used as they are meant to be but people don’t quite understand how they work.  Sadly, many owners find out way too late that they are not meant to be used on a moving target.  That false sense of security is shattered when owners realize they are in the dark and left chasing their tails.  There are huge differences between an apple AirTag and a GPS collar.  GPS collars are meant to move and track their moving target.  As a group there are two that we recommend and those are Fi collar and Whistle GPS collars.  We will be dedicating a future post to GPS collars and their functionality.  GPS collars are a much more efficient tool to help you locate your missing dog. We hope you found this article helpful and informative.  Cheers to keeping your pets safe!!