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Pictured above: Azmat Bilal, chief engineer, Sean Kelly, CEO, and Lizelle van Vuuren, chief marketing officer.
Adults have wearable’s, kids have wearable’s and soon dogs will have wearable’s too, at least if WÜF has its way. WÜF, a Boulder and Denver-based startup is launching a Kickstarter campaign soon to raise $50,000 for a smart dog collar. The smart phone controlled dog collar promises to have GPS tracking, an accelerometer, and two-way audio.
The idea for WÜF came about tragically after co-founder and CEO Sean Kelly’s dog ran away, got hit and killed by a car. After looking into the problem of run away dogs, he discovered that 10 million dogs go missing every year, yet only four million are returned home. How had this problem not been solved by technology yet?
Sean set about creating the smart collar WÜF to solve it himself. A graduate of the Boomtown Boulder Accelerator program and now on their third prototype, the company has decided to test the market and fuel production with a Kickstarter campaign. For a $99 donation funders will get one of the first collars when they are scheduled for delivery in December 2015.
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Though the device and app “enables anyone who puts a collar on their dog to track their dog via a cell phone, the company decided to take the device further and ask: “What are all the great things dog owners need beyond just keeping track of your dog?”
In addition to a GPS tracking device the collar also has two-way audio. Essentially, “giving dogs their own smart phone,” said van Vuuren.
This allows owners to talk to their dogs remotely, but more practically, it should help owners keep track of their dog’s barking.
“We can let them know the difference between the dog’s bark stress levels at home,” said CEO Kelly.
For example, if the dog’s bark is a security bark, then there could be an intruder at home.
“We can tell you the time of day your dog keeps barking,” said Kelly. That might indicate the mailman is coming at certain times of the day (and noise complaints from your neighbors are coming).
Ultimately, Kelly wants the smart collar and app to do more than give you interesting information on your dog’s bad behavior; they want to give you advice. “We can give you tips and feedback and advice of how to correct that behavior,” said Kelly.
The company said the device and app combo will have freemium pricing. Additional monthly fees would be charged for features like dog calorie tracking, and content like games that dogs and owners can play together.
The WÜF Kickstarter campaign should launch in the next several weeks. To be notified when it does, sign up on WÜF’s site.
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