Top 5 Apps to Make Your Smartphone Your Dog’s Best Friend

With hundreds of useful apps for the dog owner, how can you choose on the ones most deserving of your phone real estate?  We selected 5 great apps that will help you be an even better dog owner, using the following criteria:

1) Apps were both Android and iOS compatible

2) Apps were created by highly-respected organizations and companies

3) Apps help you manage all aspects of your dog’s health: his physical, mental, and emotional well-being.

Without further ado, we present our favorite 5 apps:

ASPCA Pet Safety App

and treatment of animals.  Now, for the digital age, this highly-esteemed organization has produced an amazing app that helps you keep your pet safe during major weather events or other natural disasters.  In addition to instructions on how to help your dog stay safe, you may also store your dog’s health records, and stay up-to-date on the latest animal news. The app is operational even in the event you become disconnected from your service provider.

In the terrible event that your dog does go missing during a weather crisis, the app will help you produce a digital lost pet flyer, to post on all your social media accounts.  In addition to this, the ASPCA will send you a personalized missing dog recovery kit, with detailed instructions on how to find your pet more quickly, no matter what the adverse situation.

For further reassurance, the ASPCA offers a free Pet Safety Pack, available when you sign up on their website, that includes a window decal, to notify first responders that animals live at your residence, and a fridge magnet featuring the number of the Animal Poison Control Center. Great items to help keep your furbabies safe!

Check out ASPCA.org for more great information about keeping your dog safe!

Pet First Aid App from the American Red Cross

                Released in 2014, this is a one-stop shop for pet care and first aid, with the intent to help owners properly and effectively care for ill or injured pets until a medical professional can see them.  Covering over 25 common first-aid situations, it provides videos and steps to care for everything from small wounds, to cardiac emergencies.  Its most standout features include:

-Click-to-call vet button

-Vet hospital locator

-Early warning signs, and when to call a vet

-Profile of your pet, including its photo, Tag/ID information, and any medical records

One feature we particularly admire in this app is its ability to help you create an emergency action plan for your dog. How often have we seen people on the news, victims of some natural disaster, refusing help due to a deep desire stay with their beloved pets? Now, owners can create a plan ahead of time to help ensure their pets are part of a viable, thought-out plan.  Everyone wins!

                Visit redcross.org to find out more about the app, and also local pet first aid courses for you!

Dog Vacay (now joined with Rover)

Heading out of town and faced with asking your put-upon sister-in-law to watch your pug again? Balking at the cost of a local kennel or doggie hotel?  Then look no further than this amazing app!

Created by a dog owner, whose dog was left anxious and unhappy after a $1400 stay in a well-regarded kennel, Dog Vacay is the easiest and most convenient way to help you locate a nearby pet-sitter, for in-home, day care or home visits.  They recently partnered with Rover, the large dog-walking company, to create a huge (and growing) network of dog caregivers.

Dubbed by Tech Crunch as “Airbnb for dogs,” Dog Vacay lets you browse through hundreds of local available sitters and walkers within your zip code.  All member caregivers are vigorously vetted, and are fully insured (up to $25,000 per pet.) You can choose any level of care, from a simple dog walk, to a home check-in visit, to overnight boarding.  While you are away, you can expect 24/7 customer support AND a daily photo update of your dog!

Go to DogVacay.com and see what great sitters and walkers are in your neighborhood.

LINK™ from Pet Stop Fence Invisible Dog Fencing

                Out of sight doesn’t always mean out of mind, especially for pet owners. You purchase and install the best, most humane invisible fence for your pet, to allow him to roam free on your property.  But how can you be sure that the fence is working all the time?  And, more importantly, that your dog is safely and comfortably learning to stay within his new limits?

Pet Stop is proud to introduce the latest accessory in its long line of best-in-class invisible fence technology.  The LINK™ app will connect both owner and Pet Stop dealer with real-time information about everything from battery charge to pet behavior.  All data will be then uploaded, stored and easily accessed through cloud technology.   Any possible behavior issues can be monitored and addressed immediately.  Programming changes can be made by the Pet Stop dealer with just the click of a button.  The LINK™ app will be available shortly through the Apple App Store and Google Play.

Head over to Petstop.com to check out the app and many other innovative solutions for your dog needs.

P5 Dog Training from Purina© 

                Launched in conjunction with its new Sport formula dog food, this clever app is a combination of a pedometer, trainer and coach. Have you felt a pang of guilt when you look over at your once-sleek, playful puppy, now a contented but flabby furbaby, joining you in another TV series binge-fest? Well, say good bye to the guilt and HELLO to P5!  Time for BOTH of you to learn a few new tricks.

The P5’s easy to navigate dashboard lets you enter your dog’s breed, age, weight and body condition: underweight, ideal, and overweight. Then, have fun as you can choose to view a tutorial from Purina’s extensive library of training videos.

As you complete training modules with your dog, you receive badges and rewards. It’s easy to set activity goals, and the proprietary algorithm will help you gauge whether or not your dog is getting enough of a workout.  Trust us when we insist that you both will get a great workout with this app!

Purina.com features a sneak peek in to the training videos, and reviews the right food and snacks to give your dog, to keep him his healthiest.

While there are dozens, even hundreds, of great apps for your dog, try these out and let us know how they worked for you!

 

Sources:

https://techcrunch.com/2013/09/23/dogvacay-ios-mobile-iphone-app/

About the Author

Mathew is a copywriter for several niche areas across the interwebs.  Recently he has taken an interest in writing on the connection and uprising of pets with technology.  In this field, there are apps being developed, new products hitting the market daily, and items with incredible utility making our pet’s lives so much safer.”