Dog Tech: Smart Bowls

Smart bowls are the wave of the future when it comes to feeding or watering your pet. Some allow you to carefully monitor food and water intake. Others help you schedule feedings even when you aren't home. There's a lot of variety in this branch of the emergent world of pet tech. Let's take a look!

Obe ProBowl

No, not a bowl that makes your dog smart!

This is a dishwasher-safe bowl that connects to a smart base. The base works with a smartphone app that allows you to monitor your dog or cat's habits. Portion control is built in, there's an indicator that changes color when you've added just the right amount of food. It changes to a different color after your pet has eaten, so they can't convince anyone else in the household that they haven't been fed. Obe's ProBowl app will send alerts if your pet's eating or drinking habits change, as this can indicate a health problem. ProBowl's app will also somehow figure out if you are out of food, and order more on its own from Amazon. We have a printer at work that orders its own ink when it's about to run out. This feels like that only maybe a little creepier. ProBwl is currently in pre-order stage, with a projected shipping date of spring 2017. It will set you back about $100.

Eyenimal Intelligent Pet Bowl

This smart bowl is basically a food scale with a dog bowl attached, which is still pretty cool. Portion control is a huge part of keeping pets healthy, and it's really easy to add a heaping scoop of food rather than a level scoop, and end up packing in extra calories. Weighing pet food is definitely the most accurate way to go. The price on this one isn't bad, just $30.

PetNet Smartbowl and Smartfeeder

PetNet's Smartbowl is another scale for portion control, this time in a neat modern-looking square for $50. Their Smartfeeder is the real deal, though. It works with a smartphone app to schedule feedings, and lets you feed remotely and do custom portions for every meal. It also monitors your pet's intake. This device costs $150, but it's already on the market. I really like that it uses a stainless steel bowl insert, I'm not a fan of plastic bowls.

Hoison Pet Care Robot

This one is part interactive webcam, part automatic feeder. It has an HD camera and two-way audio. You can set a predetermined feeding schedule, or feed remotely. If you lose connection, the robot will automatically feed your pet at the preset time. It even has an internal power source, so your pet will still be fed in the event of a power failure or general apocalypse. This robot is $130, and already available for purchase.

CleverPet

Ok, this one's actually about making your dog smart. It's like a videogame for dogs. It opens to reveal their meal (in a stainless steel bowl!) when they correctly nose the lit touchpads. The game gets more difficult as they learn to touch only the lit pads. Of course, CleverPet also has a smartphone app that allows you to monitor what your dog is up to. I'll be honest, this thing is so freaking awesome it makes me wish I left my dogs at home now and then so I could have an excuse to get one for them! Alas, the girls will have to settle for herding sheep at work with me insteadof playing video games. This masterpiece of dog technology costs $300, about the same as I've paid for a videogame consol in the past. Seems fair.

Product Review: Freeze Tag

Freeze Tag is the perfect holder for dog tags. I've been looking for the ideal tag holder for years, and I've finally found it. This amazing little device holds tags securely and silently, without dangling too far from the collar. It's fast and easy to change from collar to collar without losing any tags, and it's easy to add new tags as well. Freeze Tag comes in three bright colors.

Photo by Erin Koski

As you probably know, I own an infinite number of dog collars and like to change them often. Obviously a standard split ring wouldn't do for all those wardrobe changes. We've been through a bunch of different tag holders, and along the way I've come up with six requirements for my perfect tag holder. It must be:

• Quiet
• Reliable
• Holds tags close to collar
• Easy to change collars
• Easy to add/remove tags
• Tags don't fall off when switching collars.

Doesn't seem that hard, right? Wrong. Every single product was missing at least one of these...until now. The Freeze Tag people gave this to me at SuperZoo 2016 to try out, and it is amazing.

Tiny Hardware

Freeze Tag has a little screw that runs through the holes in the tags, and a nut that attaches to the end. It's long enough to accommodate multiple tags, as long as you don't have anything super chunky like the Bog Tag. (Which doesn't fit, I tried it.) This holds the tags together securely, keeping them quiet and also preventing them from rubbing together and wearing the engraving off.

A silicone loop attaches to the screw on one end, and then pops over the nut on the other side. It's easy to get on and off, but also takes enough effort that I'm not worried about it falling off on its own. The loop is wide enough to fit around any collar hardware, but keeps the tags up close and doesn't allow a lot of movement. Of course, the tags are all still readable with this holder.

It Has Everything

The Freeze Tag dog tag holder is pretty amazing. It fills my entire wishlist. I can add or remove tags at will, but I don't have to worry about them falling off when switching collars. It holds the tags close to my dog's collar, so they aren't flopping around or making a racket when she herds sheep. It has a reliable design, and has stayed on through six months of herding, hiking, and cattledog gymnastics. What more could I ask for? I need to order one for Zip, who is still wearing a noisy tag holder.

For some other innovative ways to attach tags to your dog's collar, check out my reviews for the Rubit, Tagnabbit, and LINKS-IT.

TreatTuesday: Wellness Petite Treats

Wellness makes these little grain-free Petite Treats for small dogs, but they work especially well as training treats for any size dog. The soft treats come in turkey and lamb varieties. These stay moist for a while when exposed to air, and the dogs thing they are pretty awesome.

Good For

• High-value training treats
• Carrying around in pockets for a few hours without going hard or crumbly
• Small and picky dogs

Not Good For

• Regular training sessions, they only come in very small bags.

How Much We Like Them

I've been taking these hiking when I think we're going to encounter a lot of trail traffic. Zip isn't crazy about treats, but she likes them enough to eat them on the go. Ru also think they're pretty awesome.