High-tech puppy security

You have a laptop in your bag, an iPod Touch in one pocket, and a mobile phone in another, but what does your poor dog have? Nothing!

This cannot be allowed to continue! Dogs have digital needs too!

So, it is that Zoombak, a GPS locator company, has just released the Zoombak GPS Dog Locator. Seriously.

The Zoombak GPS Dog Locator is a 2.5 ounces, water-resistant device that attaches to your favorite pup's collar. Once in place, you use the company's interactive Web site to set up custom safety zones -- Rover is fine so long as he's near the house or at the dog park -- but when he wanders, the service will alert you in real time with a text message or e-mail that he's on the prowl and letting you know where to look for him. You can also ping his Locator to see where he is at any given moment.

At first, I thought this was kind of silly, especially since the list price for one of these locators is $199 and the service plans starts at $9.99 a month. But, then I started thinking about my two office 'assistants:' Twiggy and Coco, a pair of Shih-Tzus. You know, it's started to make sense to me.

While my dogs aren't allowed to roam without my wife or me, dogs can get loose despite fences, leashes, and doors that you were certain had been closed. I'd hate to lose either one of them, and the sad truth is that dogs do go missing all the time. I have a plumber who had one of his dogs, also a Shih-Tzu as it happened, literally stolen from his front-yard one day.

I also recently spoke to some people who were under the illusion that because they had their dog tagged with RFID (radio frequency ID) tags that this would allow them to be tracked down. Sorry, that's not how those work. Dog RFID tags will let a properly equipped pound cross-reference the RFID information with a database to locate you, but there's no magic wand you can wave about that will direct you to your pup.

So, while it is a lot of money, I can see spending it. These devices are now available at the national pet retailer PetSmart. I'll be spending part of my weekend checking them out.