January, 2015
TOP ARTIST REVEALS THE TRICKS OF HER TRADE
The Top Wearable Tech for Your Pet
The Rise of the Pet Child Vet
Pets Magazine
TECH UP Your Pet!
Stay connected with the Whistle GPS
MARIE CARTER gets the lowdown on the latest wearable technology for pets - gadgets that look set to revolutionise the way we interact with our four-legged best friends.
T
he fitness wearables
market has certainly taken off in the last couple of years. Wearable tech is giving us the kind of capabilities that used to be a thing of our imaginations not too long ago. The industry continues to be innovative with the introduction of pet wearables: it’s now our pets’ turn to benefit from the latest technology. Experts at Wareable.com, the biggest site dedicated to all things wearable and the connected self, have put
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together some of the most exciting developments in wearable technology for our
range of smart collars and trackers emerging on the wearable market to keep you connected to yours. Some trackers also have smart features to help keep your pet healthy too. The Voyce smart collar
pets including GPS collars, trackers and cameras. We never want to lose our dog so if this is something you’re worried about there are a wide Pets Magazine
Voyce is a
waterproof smart collar that tracks your dog’s activity and monitors it’s respiratory and heart rate, as well as calories burnt and rest patterns. You can also set
specific goals including extra activity, which is useful if the vet has advised that your dog is overweight.
with a Virtual Leash function that alerts you if your pet moves away from a set boundary. You can also use the free Radar app to track down Designed to keep you any missing pets. connected to your dog, Voyce is StickNFind comes in packs of
The Tagg GPS Pet
Tracker has live GPS tracking and also tracks your pet’s activity so you know it is getting enough exercise. Like the StickNFind, the Tagg GPS Pet Tracker enables you to set a safe area for your pet and you’ll get an alert should they go past that area. This collar-mounted device also provides a map with driving directions so if you they do go missing you can get straight to their location as quickly as possible.
Sleep soundly with the StickNFind
available in different sizes up to a 32-inch neck. The cost of Voyce is still to be confirmed but you can find out more at mydogsvoyce.com.
two and works with iPhones, iPads and some Android phones. For more information visit sticknfind.com.
Currently available in the U.S for $49.95, the StickNFind is a stick on device that can be used on anything you don’t want to go missing, including your pets!
Tagg’s GPS Pet Tracker
The StickNFind is about the size of a 10p piece and comes
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Currently available in the U.S the Tagg costs $99.95 and has a monthly charge of $9.95 for Tagg service but you can get two months for free at pettracker.com.
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The GoPro Fetch action camera The man who designed the Fitbit Flex (a fitness tracker for humans) has also produced one for pets called the WhistleGPS - a collarmounted GPS tracker that enables you to keep an eye on your pet’s movements and activity levels via your smartphone, which alerts you to any changes. You can even keep an eye on your pet if they’re staying with someone else, including its activity. WhistleGPS costs $129 and there is a $5 monthly fee for service location. Find out more at whistle.com.
fitness and activity as other dogs. This bone-shaped device is really useful as it tells you if
Fitbark there is something wrong via your smartphone and if you have to pay a visit to the vet you can hand over the data to them.
Another pet tracker is the Fitbark, which enables you Visit fitbark.com for more to track your pet and see if your information and to pre-order for $69 (usual price $99). dog is at a similar level of
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If you want to keep an eye on your dog’s actions, GoPro has
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launched a wearable strap called GoPro Fetch for its action camera that can be worn around your dog’s chest or on its back. The harness is designed to fit dogs between 7kg and 54kg and supports GoPro Hero cameras, which
Speak to your dog with No More Woof
are sold separately. By attaching the camera you can see your dog bone chewing and digging and see overhead shots of your pooch running and jumping. The GoPro Fetch is machine washable and rugged so you don’t have to worry about your dog getting carried away in the puddles. It costs just £59.99 from gopro.com.
No More Woof connects to your smartphone so you can be updated on how your dog is feeling with the goal for this product being that eventually the collar will speak the information to you via a selection of voices that you can choose. You can keep an eye on all things wearable at www.wareable.com.
If you want your dog to be able to speak to you then No
More Woof could be the product for you. Still a prototype, this device combines ‘EEG-sensoring, special BCI software reader and Micro Computing’ to work out what your dog is thinking using the onboard Raspberry PI computer.
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The Era of the Pet Child
For many adults, having a baby is the most important milestone in life. For others, however, adopting a small dog is apparently just as good. DAVID CLIFF, of Gedanken, a company specialising in coaching-based support and personal development, looks at the fascinating psychology behind the increasing humanisation of our pets.
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I
t’s no accident that Pope
Francis has called on people to have children and not get lost in the love of their pets. Across the western world in particular, there is a growing trend for our pets to become even more important in our lives than they have hitherto. Originally, cats and dogs held functional roles in our society. It was dogs first, as we domesticated them to be assistants in the hunt, early warning systems and even allies in battle before ultimately, in a modern organised world we bond to them for the companionship and loyalty they provide. The track record with cats is a little shorter. It was the advent of agriculture that required the protection of food stocks from vermin where the cat became a vital component of protecting our food chain and was thus domesticated. Now as with dogs, cats are becoming increasingly acculturated to living alongside humans and subordinating many of their primal drives to a more accommodated behaviour alongside their human hosts. In a world where survival is assured and lifestyles predominate, it is
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understandable therefore that our pets take on an additional
Our pets provide ‘simplicity and readymade unconditional love’ dimension as companions. In a world where there are more single person households than we have ever seen in any previous time, pets provide vital companionship for young and old alike. But are we, in a generation of lifestyle choices beginning to subordinate more complex human relationships, to the simplicity and ready-made unconditional love that our animal companions provide? Undoubtedly, there is an increasing trend amongst Pets Magazine
people to treat their animals as children. It’s an easy transference to make given their inevitable dependency upon us for their survival in an organised world. Equally their dependency upon us never recedes in quite the way that children do. Children grow up and move on. Pets are pets for their lifespan with relatively little change in the status until one ultimately must say, goodbye. One only needs to read publications such as the Huffington Post to see increasingly the number of young adults who seem to prefer pets to the prospect of having families. Fact: Pets are less work, you can leave them, for considerable periods whilst you pursue your social life, the intellectual and emotional needs of a pet are quite simply
met unlike that of complex sophisticated evolving human children.
your life, rather than the remainder of your pets’ life.
and being entrapped into lifelong relationships, but equally ones relationship There is one important factor in becomes lifelong in the context The glass half full viewpoint is this, is that whether we use our of the pet’s longevity, not our that animals provide an pets as sentient creatures who own. Is this really taking attractive form of deserve the best we can give control of life?! companionship in a busy world them not because they are where relationships are spread companions that we are using In all of this, just make sure more thinly across longer in substitution for other that Sophie, Lola, Tibbles and lifespans and people make relationships but are beings in Jack are treated with the lifestyle preferences away from their own right, who deserve respect that another sentient traditional family type being deserves. Their scenarios. unconditional love will put ‘Pets are sentient up with much and their creatures who deserve Pets provide welcome conscience is clear, but is companionship to those ours? the best we can give who elect a single lifestyle them’ As for the Pope seeking to re-populate the world, well the best we can give them. nice one, you’d expect that I guess the real test is does your from a Pope. That isn’t a reason pet fulfil that category or is it to have a family and one also simply a lifestyle accoutrement must accept with that fills a vacuum that one overpopulation and an does not wish to fill with other unsustainable future, maybe people? this trend to use pets as a substitution for children, may In a psychological sense, it’s the actually have a basis in ecology. difference between a pet being a subject and an object. I certainly feel a lot safer having or have particular life agenda commitments.
Each and every pet owner has to consider this. Owning a pet is not an activity to be taken The glass half empty is that lightly. Equally, if one makes a they are a substitute for the lifestyle choice to use animals responsibilities of parenting in substitution for other and remove the challenges and relationships, one has to be developmental opportunities aware of the finite nature of an that come from parenthood, animal’s lifespan. That can which is typically for the rest of reduce a feeling of commitment
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encountered a man with three chocolate Labradors in the back of his car out for walkies rather than the typical school run of Jeremy and Jemima and the black Range Rover bearing down in one’s rear view mirror! I certainly know which is a more sustainable prospect, with a smaller carbon footprint!
The Art of Capturing a Pet’s
Likeness Following on from our competition to win a bespoke pet pendant, leading British artist and gilder Frances Federer shares with Pets Magazine readers the process of creating a pendant for our competition winner. Frances gilds, engraves and paints small glass panes that are set into silver to produce a rare collection of jewellery that includes pendants, earrings, necklaces and cufflinks. Portraits of a favourite pet are an integral part of her creative work. These are miniature works of art that can be worn. The jewellery settings are by the goldsmith Justin Richardson, a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths. Their joint work was featured in ‘Who’s Who in Silver and Gold’, Goldmiths’ Hall 2013. Frances studied Illustration in the 1960’s, at Camberwell School of Art and in those days drawing was a high priority. She found it useful
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when, as a gilder in her own business, clients asked her to replace broken, painted and gilded flat glass panels, fitted into mirrors from the 18th and 19th centuries. She worked for interior designers, creating bespoke gilded glass panels for a variety of purposes, such as mirrors, tabletops and wall coverings. These days, she is concentrating on her true love: portraits of pets. The medium is very fine and lends itself to a personal item of jewellery, or else to a very special paperweight. She takes enormous pleasure from creating unique heirlooms for pet owners to remember their beloved animals engraved in gold, to be treasured forever.
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From photo to beautiful pendant 2. 1.
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1 Best photo of Loki 2 Frances drawing 3 /4 her drawings with the final actual size sketch 5 Half a gelatin capsule is soaked in water. (See main image.) 6 Making size/glue for the gold leaf. 7/8 Cleaning the glass with
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chalk and water. 9 Tipping out the gold leaf (See over) 10 Spreading out the gold 11 Cutting the leaf 12 Holding the wetted glass in tweezers ready to lay the leaf 13 Laying the leaf onto the glass 14 Standing the glass carefully to dry. Pets Magazine
Once it is dry the leaf is polished and is ready to be engraved. 15 Following the drawing the gold is engraved, using a magnifying glass 16 Getting ready to apply backup paint 17 Applying the paint 19 The finished glass with the pendant
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Frances Federer can be contacted at: info@ffjewellery.com. To see samples of Frances’s work: www.ffjewellery.com.
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Pets Magazine
Sophie Loves... Top product picks by Sophie, the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Applaws Dog Tins £1.59 per tin. Applaws Dog Tins are a premium complementary dog food made using only the natural ingredients listed on the label and packed with up to 75% real meat. This is a delicious moist food that I can most definitely recommend. Fresh and nutritious with none of the usual processed moist dog food smell, this is a great choice. For stockist info, visit the Applaws website (www.applaws.co.uk/store_locator.php).
Dreambone Dog Chews www.dreambone.co.uk DreamBone are rawhide-free and contain real chicken filet wrapped in a chicken flavoured vegetable chew. I couldn’t get enough of the mini and small versions and shared the bigger ones with a Boxer and a Basset Hound who both also gave them the paws up. DreamBone is available to buy in Asda, Tesco and Morrisons, as well as online at Amazon and Ocado. The treats have a retail price from £2.49-£4.99.
The Aquabrush This handy canine kit is essential for dogs on the go, like me! Aquabrush is formed of a set of double action bristles fitted with a ‘pop up action’ nozzle which when opened allows the jet of water from the bottle to flow out. It is easy to clean as there are no electronics and is eco friendly as it is durable and re-useable. This brilliant invention from keen walker and dog owner David Koumis will be featured in our blog later this month. The Aquabrush is available through these websites: www.jkscreations.com or directly from the manufacturers at www.etree.biz.
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