Whistle smart pendant relays your dog's health data to your smartphone

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A dog wearing one of the Whistle devices, which can track activity and even tell how well a pet is sleeping. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Published: 12:00am, 7 Jun 2013Updated: 1:50am, 7 Jun 2013

A new start-up company called Whistle is launching a smart pendant that tracks physical activity levels and sleep patterns in dogs.

"Whistle was inspired by my love of dogs," said co-founder Ben Jacobs at the company's San Francisco office.

You can alert dog owners to changes in behaviour much earlier

"We're introducing a window into their lives and creating a way for owners and veterinarians to take a preventative approach to our pets' health."

Whistle devices attached to dog collars or harnesses use movement-sensing accelerometers to track activity and even how well a pet is sleeping, then relay the information wirelessly to smartphones or Wi-fi hotspots.

An online database built in collaboration with researchers and veterinary groups allows individual dog activity patterns to be scrutinised for hints that something may be amiss.

"You see this desire to take good care or our pets, but no information," Jacobs said, noting that dogs typically hide discomfort in an eagerness to please humans. "We talked to veterinarians and found out there is no way to get that information other than to build the hardware." Whistle Activity Monitors may be ordered online at whistle.com for US$100 and deals are in the works to make them available in major US pet store chains.

Data collected by the devices is fed to a free application tailored for Apple mobile devices. A version of the app will be released for Android-powered gadgets later this year, according to Jacobs.