The Best Dog GPS Trackers of 2024

We were still able to track the device as long as the paired phone was in range of cell towers even when we took the device to places without cell coverage. This makes it helpful for tracking a dog and seeing which direction they’ve gone in, though, like any phone-based product, it can be challenging to maintain a connection.

The connection on this device is very good, and it updates every few minutes to keep up with your dog’s whereabouts. You can use precision tracking to show a more specified location and the device’s light and sound options to find your pup once you come within close enough range.

The live tracking option will drain your device’s and your phone’s battery more quickly but will give a precise and more rapidly updated location for 5 minutes at a time. This is ideal if your dog has caught a scent and you need to keep up with their path of travel.

The Tractive XL is rather large. So, if your dog stays basically in the same locations where the tracker has regular Wi-Fi access, which helps keep the battery charged, the smaller Tractive Dog 4 may be a smart option for smaller dogs.

The Tractive XL can also drain your phone battery and requires a phone connection. This is problematic if you’re adventuring in an area without cell coverage. The device won’t lose coverage because it utilizes several satellite systems, but the Tractive won’t be able to connect to a phone that’s out of cell coverage.

With consistent wear, Tractive also tracks general patterns for your dog, such as how often it sleeps, how many minutes of activity it gets daily, and how many calories it burns. Using the app, you can manually tell the device when you are going for a walk. This information creates a general health profile for your pup, and the app will send you alerts for any changes.

The Tractive Dog 4 (the same product for smaller dogs) and Tractive Dog XL set goals for how many minutes of activity and rest are ideal based on your dog’s breed, age, and weight. They also keep a calendar of their activity so you can keep track of walk patterns. Both the Tractive XL and Tractive 4 are ideal budget options for dog owners who want to keep track of their pup’s location, health, and activity levels.

We tested the Alpha 10 ($400) handheld to pair with the Alpha T-20, which is the simplest and most affordable option. The Alpha 10 gives you all the basic information you need: how far away your dog is and in which direction they are moving. You can connect up to 20 Garmin collars on the Alpha 10 and keep up with where they all are, how many miles each dog travels, plus mark where your vehicle is parked.

Additionally, you can send simple messages to people in your party or at home regarding when you are leaving or whether you need help. While having to purchase an additional item is a downside for an already expensive device, we understood the reasoning and value of this setup once we used these devices in the field.

The T-20 collar is relatively simple compared to other Garmin models with training features such as sound and vibration stimulations. If you want a GPS collar with those features, try a Link (below) or a Garmin Alpha T-25. The pared-down T-20 version gives you less to fuss with, which, in many instances, is a feature in itself. It also means it has an impressive battery life — over 80 hours when set up for tracking every 2 minutes, its least frequent option.

Because it’s not paired to your phone, it takes a bit to get used to the fact that you don’t have a map to look at on your phone. However, if you want to use an app with your Alpha T-20, you can connect the Explore app or Alpha app to your handheld to gain a greater sense of distance, direction, and elevation.

A big issue with many GPS trackers is phone coverage. Whether or not the tracker uses GPS, Galileo, or cell coverage, once out of range for phones, the app-based trackers can’t keep up with the devices. This is the biggest benefit of the Garmin Alpha T-20 Dog Collar and the reason Garmin dog trackers are so popular for anyone interested in spending serious time in the backcountry with their dogs.

The first step after charging the SpotOn collar is to have a virtual meeting with a member of the SpotOn team, who walks through the setup and answers any questions. Once everything is ready to go with fence parameters and collar settings, it’s time to begin training to make sure your dog isn’t just penalized without understanding why. The training tools include a high-pitched dog whistle that some human ears can’t hear but definitely gets a dog’s attention, a series of beeps, and a vibration that can be adjusted for strength.

Our favorite feature is that the app doesn’t allow the human user to advance in tools until they have practiced with the lower levels first; this means no one can recklessly use the SpotOn GPS Fence as a shock collar, cranked up to a high threshold to harm a dog without any training for both dog and human with the whistle, beeps, and lower vibration levels. Going through the steps with Broose has been a bonding experience, has helped with her “fetch” habits, has enhanced our quality of life together, and reduced overall stress. When we take out the collar, she gets excited because she understands it means we are about to have a fun time lounging in the grass together.

Users can set up multiple fences but can only use one fence at a time. A subscription plan isn’t mandatory for using the collar, but it does significantly enhance its abilities. The biggest enhancement is the communication with your phone, so you can track your dog after they’ve breached the fence perimeter and call them home, and the collar will send messages to your phone when your dog nears, approaches, or crosses a fence. Without a plan, the fence and training tools will work, but the tracking abilities and notifications will not.

The SpotOn GPS Fence isn’t a perfect product. At times (the majority of testing was done in a valley surrounded by trees and mountains), the cell coverage cut out, and we needed to turn it off in order to effectively use the collar. When power went out in the neighborhood for a week, the devices that had long battery lives were virtually unaffected but the SpotOn’s short battery life made it quickly unusable until we had power again.

Still, even in our forested, mountainous region, the SpotOn fence has been a big help in keeping our dog safe, secure, and tracked. If budget is a factor for you and securing a virtual fence is not a priority, another option may be the Link Smart Pet Wearable, featured in our Best of the Rest. It has a light and training beeps but at a fraction of the cost.

Whistle uses Vetinsights to help you reach out to a vet directly from the app if you see any tracked behaviors that warrant a closer look. This can ultimately save hundreds of dollars in costly vet bills, plus the time and stress on your pet to make the trip to the doctor’s office. This feature will not replace a relationship with a trusted local veterinarian but can help triage before putting your dog through the ordeal of a vet visit.

If you need a vet visit, you can easily email your pet’s health report right from the app (or download it for your records) with all the data you’ve been collecting. This provides a much more holistic perspective of your dog’s condition than just a brief examination.

Since it only uses AT&T cell towers, coverage may be limited in your area or where you plan on traveling. Whistle has a generous 30-day return policy, so if you think you have adequate coverage in your area, you can purchase the Whistle Go Explore 2.0 with the year subscription, confirm that it works, and return it if you can’t use it to your liking.

The Whistle Go Explore 2.0 notifies us when Broose leaves or returns to the safe zone faster than any other tracker we’ve tested, which can be especially helpful for escape artists. It also sends push notifications with specific locations if your wandering dog pauses somewhere so you can quickly track them down without having to stare at your phone.

Whether we’ve walked to the grocery store and the device sends periodic push notifications that she’s still patiently waiting outside, or we are hiking through the woods and she gets distracted with a rotting log (hey, we all have our thing), this feature on the Whistle Go Explore 2.0 Smart Tracker has come in handy many times.

Using the history tool, you can scroll back and see the paths your pet has taken each day, which is helpful if tracking down the wanderings of a lost pet. As an added bonus, it pairs with Apple Maps so when you are separated from your pet, you can get directions to their location directly from the Cube app, rather than trying to copy GPS coordinates or guess whereabouts on a separate map. This feature mainly works in urban settings, though, where you would follow streets rather than trails or bushwhacking through brush.

You can share the device with others so they can also track your pet, which comes in handy for a family or in a shared home. A pairing button on the back of the device also works as a notification button that will send a text to anyone with access to that pet.

You can let them know you are safe, are in danger, or need a rescue based on how many times you hit the button. We found this option to work inconsistently, but it is a nice emergency option to have.

The ringer on this tracker isn’t incredibly loud and only works within 100 feet or so, but we did find it handy when walking in a favorite section of woods with many downed trees and bushes. As a training device, the ring is too long to get your dog’s attention and turn off quickly.

This device also alerts you whenever the temperature rises to 122 degrees Fahrenheit. While that sounds very hot, it allows your pet to do some safe sunbathing without setting off alarms. But, it also offers peace of mind that you’ll be notified if they become dangerously hot.

As a tracking tool that doesn’t offer training or health monitoring features, this device works well enough to make it to the list. We can see it being used as a multi-use tracker that switches from dog to device. For an everyday wearable to track your pup, however, it couldn’t beat out the Fi Series 3, which offered the same tracking with longer battery life and much more comfortable wear.

The Link Smart Pet Wearable ($149, with plans starting at $6.88 per month) is a great tool for breaking those heavy focus moments and bringing your pet back to your side. Using the vibration tool has helped snap her back into focus and come running. Link has a learning section with links to YouTube videos on how to use its device for training.

The Link has a Track feature that can be used when your dog is not with you. Utilizing this feature and the “Light” or the “Sound” features help you get your eyes back on your pooch in no time.

While the sound isn’t particularly loud (we wouldn’t want it to be louder, considering its proximity to the pup’s ears), the light is extremely bright. Despite the brush cover and fallen trees in the area, we felt very safe letting her run off-leash in our local river trails system at night.

Every once in a while, features cut in and out on the app itself. We fixed this by simply closing and reopening the app. We hope a bug fix in the app will solve those problems. However, it did make us question its reliability, but we will continue testing (stay tuned for updates) to see if Link solves this issue.

The Link Smart Pet Wearable has other features like activity monitoring, health tracking, and symptom analysis, but the vibration and strong light are really where this little device shines (pun intended). We look forward to seeing app updates to truly bring out the best in this smart GPS trainer.

There’s an option to change this setting to make the notifications more instant, but it also has more false alarms and can drain the battery faster. And, as is it only currently lasts about a week on default settings, but multiple weeks when connected to Wi-Fi.

Many of us who enjoy spending time exercising our dogs have our own goals or metrics we’re also considering. FitBark GPS not only tracks your dog, but it can also keep up with your own health goals. Pair it with your Apple Watch or Fitbit and you can see your steps and fitness alongside your dog’s location and activity. Or, check the app’s “Together Tab” to see your goals and metrics listed alongside your pet’s.

Using the sleep and activity data, FitBark helps formulate a larger picture of a dog’s well-being based on other factors you may already know, such as dermatitis, frequent urination, and even separation anxiety. The metrics alone are interesting. But, seeing them smartly displayed paints a clear picture and delivers a wonderful tool for managing our dogs’ comfort.

Charging the FitBark can be a hassle. The device has neat covers that clip on to protect the device and its charging port, but the cover is challenging to remove. Once it’s off, the proprietary charger must clasp onto the device securely enough to make consistent contact, which was sometimes harder than we wanted.

The charger bites onto the device like a dog gingerly holding her favorite stuff. But, the device remains attached to the collar unless you’d like to cut the zip-ties that hold the FitBark onto the collar, so it doesn’t exactly lay flat on your charging surface in most scenarios.

Such a small, lightweight device is an easy add-on to almost any dog’s collar, regardless of size (FitBark recommends your dog be at least 5 pounds to wear its device). And considering the metrics that can be tracked and the power of the GPS, the FitBark GPS is a great value that at least offsets the financial cost of the occasional snipped zip tie.

At the end of the week, an additional summary is sent with a broader view of your dog’s health and how their health is trending compared to other dogs in their demographic. For those who process information through charts more easily, those are still available and broken down into individual metrics.

Like some other devices, the Invoxia Minitailz has an export button to easily export a health report either for personal records or to send to a vet for analysis. This saves a lot of guesswork and additional monitoring, which could either prolong diagnosis or stress out a dog.

The GPS tracking on this device isn’t as strong as some others like the Fi Series 3 Smart Collar, keeping it off the number one spots for a given category since this is a GPS round-up. It simply uses GPS and WiFi Positioning System, compared with other devices in its tier that utilize multiple satellites and other tracking systems for a more specific location. Using the homing device, we had a hard time locating the Minitailz with precision.

Luckily, when in close enough range for Bluetooth, you can make the device ring using your phone, helping to get your pup’s attention and locate them. By the time we are in Bluetooth range, however, the need for a bell is typically gone.

Designed by a team of veterinarians, Invoxia Minitailz is branded as a biometric monitoring system, and it excels at that. Plus, the easy clip-on design makes it very easy to clip on and off while still feeling secure. With a bit of a boost on the tracking itself, this device could be a real category winner in a future round-up.