Running off and getting lost

There are two completely different products sold as dog trackers and the marketing works hard to blur them.

A Bluetooth tag has no idea where it is. It reports its position when someone else’s phone passes close enough to see it, so it is useful in a town and useless on a hillside. It costs little and the battery lasts months. A GPS tracker knows where it is and tells you over a mobile network, which means a subscription and a battery measured in days.

Neither replaces a microchip. A chip is a legal requirement in the UK, needs no battery, cannot fall off a collar and is what actually reunites most lost dogs. Check the details on the chip register are current before you buy anything on this page.

A long line and a reliable recall prevent more of these situations than any device does, which is why both are here. Dog Trackers, Lights and Training Tech compares the two tracker types properly.