» Help for Fido:
Madison company invents device that clips to collar, acts like baby monitor
A Madison woman invents a device that clips to a dog’s collar and acts like a baby monitor to help prevent dog owners from leaving their pets in a car that has gotten too hot.
MADISON - Pet owners know, or should know, it’s much safer to leave dogs at home instead of letting them hop in the car when running errands or going on vacation.
But it’s hard when the dog’s tail is wagging and its eyes are imploring — “Take me with you, please!”
Each year, untold numbers of dogs and other pets are injured or die when left in cars, usually from overheating.
Karen Orr figured there must be some sort of device on the market to prevent that from happening. In essence, she thought, it could be like a baby monitor to keep track of the humidity, temperature and heat index while also allowing owners to watch and even talk to their pup through their smartphones.
Orr, founder of Madison tech startup company PAWS by O-no, attended the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in 2015 but couldn’t find anything like such a device. There were monitors for vehicles, particularly for law enforcement agencies with K-9 officers, but while those systems activate sirens and squad car lights and open vehicle windows, they don’t get the animal out of a sweltering vehicle, she said.
So Orr invented a 50-cent-piece-size device to clip on to a pet’s collar that relays the temperature and humidity to smartphones via Bluetooth and an app that allows owners to keep an eye on Fido in their car.
The device, iMyK9, has two tiers of rescue — when the heat index, or what it feels like to the dog, reaches a preset ceiling, the owner gets an alarm or text message on the phone.
Owners have 90 seconds to push a button on the app to acknowledge the message, and if they don’t, four preset emergency contacts then get alerts with the GPS location of the pet. If those emergency contacts don’t respond with-
in another 90 seconds, then an alert is sent out to the pet owner’s social media contacts that their dog is in danger and the location.
“I look at all my friends with babies, and they all have baby monitors,” said Adrianne Machina, who handles marketing for the company. “It’s the same thing with dogs. You can watch and make sure they’re OK.”
The startup is seeking investors for $500,000 in funding and plans to manufacture the sensors at a Sun Prairie factory. Orr is hopeful iMyK9 sensors and the accompanying app will be for sale on the company’s website —
— by the end of the year.
The price is still under development, but Orr said the device and app will likely cost around $100 plus a monthly fee under $10.
“It’s about the same as a FitBit” activity tracker, said Brian Warnecke, who is in charge of technology at the firm. “The small monthly subscription is to keep the app up to date and stay compatible.”
Judging by the statistics, Americans love dogs — 78 million pooches live in more than 46 million households, according to the American Pet Products Association. Nearly six in 10 people travel with their dog in a vehicle at least once a month.
And pet owners are more than willing to shell out big bucks to keep their pets happy. The American Pet Products Association reported $66 billion was spent last year on pets, including food, toys, treats, medical care, health insurance and licenses. The organization estimates more than $69 billion will be spent on pets in the United States this year.
Orr thinks the market for iMyK9 will be people who frequently travel with their pets, including those with RVs and campers, as well as hikers who visit parks and recreational areas where dogs are not allowed on trails and must stay behind at campsites. Other possible customers are law enforcement agencies with working dogs who spend much of their day inside squad cars.
Ashley Tilling and his Neopolitan mastiff named Ru, a bomb detection dog, will be beta testing the iMyK9 device this fall. Tilling met Orr at the Orange County Pet Expo in California, where he contracts Ru’s services with police departments and private security companies.
“Anytime I’m working, she’s with me in the car. A lot of times I leave her in the car because I have to do other things. The car is running with the air conditioning, but you’re not there monitoring how much she’s getting,” said Tilling. “I live in southern California, so heat is a big issue.”
Law enforcement dogs sometimes die in overheated vehicles. PETA has tracked K9 units dying in hot-car incidents for several years, and so far this year, 13 deaths have been reported, surpassing the 12 police dogs that died in 2016 and 11 in 2015.
The problem is that people underestimate how quickly a car can heat up, said Michael San Filippo, spokesman for the American Veterinary Medical Association. Even if the air temperature is 70 degrees, it can quickly rise 20 degrees higher inside a closed vehicle. And cracking the windows doesn’t make any difference.
“Unlike us, dogs really don’t sweat. They have a few sweat glands on their paws, but for the most part they get rid of that excess heat through panting. When they’re in a hot car that quickly becomes not enough,” said San Filippo.
PAWS by O-no has spent two years working on the sensor with the help of a technology firm in Atlanta and is seeking FCC certification for the Bluetooth tags, which will take a couple of months, said Warnecke.
Orr has received a lot of interest from pet owners and law enforcement K9 units at trade shows and will attend the National Dog Show in Philadelphia over Thanksgiving and the Westminster Dog Show in February. The company also applied for the Purina Pet Care Innovation Prize for startup funding.
Once the device and app are being sold to pet owners, the company plans to work on adapting the devices for the equine and livestock industry, which hauls valuable animals in trailers around the country.
“It’s the ideal product for both the consumer and working dogs. It gives that piece of mind to dog handlers and the moms and dads of furry family members,” said Orr, who owns a blue heeler dog named Lulubell. “Bottom line is we’re going to save animals’ lives.”