There are some gadgets on the market that track dog’s physical activity. I personally don’t understand what the purpose of those devices are. Such gadgets can inform the caregiver how much their dog is walking, running or at rest. I think to myself, SO WHAT!!! Maybe you want to monitor your dog’s movement because you want to make sure your dog walker is actually walking your dog as expected.
My feeling is, if you don’
t trust your dog walker to get the job done, why would you want such a person walking your dog? How could someone hand their keys over to a person who is not trustworthy? Yonatan Dror has created a device called the Oggii. He is the CEO of an Israeli company which is also named Oggii. This device monitors a dog’s movement. The Oggii can read activities such as walking, running, sleeping, drinking, playing, and others as well. It has a chip which uses patented algorithms that detect possible health issues based on movement patterns and changes in the manner in which a dog moves. It analyses walking, running, sleeping, drinking, playing, and other activities. The Oggii also is programmed to detect excessive behaviors as head shaking, circling, and scratching.
Someone commented on this article and I took it to heart. She had a valid point which she passionately expressed. She was concerned about the health risks of the device. She mentioned that the energy it gives off in order to “read” a dog could be very harmful. After reading her comment I became concerned about this technology and the radiation that it produces. There are health risks associated with electrosmog. The question is how much exposure to electrosmog is toxic? What levels would cause illness, disease, or even cancer? I really don’t know. I personally would not use this on my dogs because I am able to read my dogs quite well. It is important that dog owners learn to observe their dogs and get a feel for what’s going on. The technology is interesting though. When I first wrote this article back in September 2014 the possible health risks of this health monitor didn’t occur to me.
This is how the device works:
First you need to input your dog’s breed, age, weight, and any known health issues. The device gets to know your dog and establishes his baseline statistics in the first 8 days. The app for the device will be available at the iPhone App Store.
The Oggii alerts caregivers of noteworthy changes in patterns of a dog’s activity. Your dog’s current behavior is compared to his usual behavior patterns, the physical behaviors of other dogs which have been analyzed over several months, and average behaviors of dogs in general. Issues are detected when behaviors are outside those norms. The algorithms determine if changes in movement and activity are noteworthy to the degree that indicates health issues.
Some of the health concerns that the Oggii can detect include allergies, ticks, brain damage, seizures, fleas, ear infections, and issues with bones and joints. Here’s an example so you can better understand how it works. Many of us know that it is common behavior for a dog to shake his head from time to time. However, if a dog is shaking more than most dogs do and more often than he usually does, it could be a sign of an ear infection. Constant head shaking is a symptom associated with ear infections.
Here’s another example. Let’s say your dog is severely scratching more than he normally does and more than other dogs as well. It is quite possible that your dog is suffering from allergies, fleas or some kind of skin ailment.
When the Oggii device detects unusual behavior, that information is transmitted to a Bluetooth 4.0 enabled device so it can analyze it in a cloud. The information can then be uploaded and viewed with a smartphone. The Oggii provides alerts like “diet” or “go to the vet.”
The Oggii is expected to be available in stores some time this year. Yonatan is in negotiation with stores like Wal-Mart, PetSmart, and others. The Oggii pet tech gadget is expected to sell for approximately $30. It operates with a replaceable battery that lasts for around a year. I am not comfortable with exposing dogs to electrosmog which can lead to many health issues and be quite damaging. I just think that the concept is interesting. I would stay away from it though.
6 thoughts on “The Oggii Pet Tech Device”
First: when was this article written ? A date would be helpful!
Second: I find this idea totally horrific, and I am convinced it can damage a dog’s health, when he is exposed to WiFi signals all day long, every day, probably for years. How often are this signals emitted ? Probably every few seconds or so. That would expose the dog to an unacceptable level of electromagnetic signals, close to his brain and thyroid gland.
Electro-smog has been proven to cause cancer, and the more you try to avoid it, the better.
Plus, any dog owner who is not able to detect changes in motion, sleep, body temperatur, head shaking, etc. of his dog just by observation, shouldn’t have a dog!
No dog owner who is sensitive and careful enough, needs such a simple device. Human observation can detect a lot more parameters than such a gadget.
Hi Angela-
The article was published on September 6th, 2014. I sensed a bit of hostility in your comment, but aside from that your comment has a valid point. I did not consider the health risks of the electromagnetic waves. Not everybody is as intuitive as I am or as you are with regard to the health of their dogs. Many people not able to read symptoms. I cannot tell you how many dogs I come across that have health issues that can be solved with proper diet. People think that various symptoms are OK because a vet says it’s typical. Things like anal gland issues, skin issues, foul “doggy breath,” ear infections, eye gook, stenchy poop, and allergies are ignored because people aren’t aware that those symptoms are NOT acceptable. just because it might be common This device might be of some help in some cases, but being that there are possible health risks involved with this type of technology, I wonder is it really worthwhile. Thank you for your comment. I just added a bit more to the article because I want to inform my readers.
Electromagnetic/radiation negative impact on a dog’s health may be a valid point, there is not enough research data in this area.
However, it’s application may be very useful in epileptic dogs – many fits go unnoticed as they happen either at night or when owner is not at home.The frequency of fits is an important information in decision whether to start with medical therapy (if more than 1 fit in 2 months or cluster fits) as well as in adjusting the therapeutic dose in treated dogs. So, if this thing can record seizure activity, then it would be a great help for every epileptic dog owner. And in this case, the dog could wear the chip only in the absence of human supervision, which would minimize the possible radiation effect.
Hi Jana-
Thank you for visiting my website and for writing such an insightful comment. You made an excellent point and I agree wholeheartedly. The Oggii is a wonderful concept. Often times we need to pick and choose what is important. Things don’t need to be black and white. Yes- the electrosmog is not a positive, but it is not necessary for the dog to wear it as an appendage so the device may be used sparingly. Monitoring seizure activity when a dog’s owner is absent has great value. Great point!
Janie
I would love to add to that as well. I would consider this product because we have a beloved pet that has been experiencing seizures and we cannot be with her all day as we both have day jobs. I am currently researching all devices out there for dogs that have seizures and there are only a handful. So in essence, not many choices. That being said, there are many for humans, what is their exposure and why would we allow our children to wear them but question it for our pets. We will do whatever we can to help the ones we love. I wish that our loved pets could wear the human watches, if it were that simple. Jana, thanks for making such a great point. I love that there are sites to help people to try and find solutions! Instead of people posting negative comments, maybe they should try an post alternatives or other helpful links instead of wasting precious time.
Hi there-
Thank you for visiting my website and reading my article.
I am only concerned with electromagnetic smog from the device. When you weigh things out though, I personally consider seizures to be more important than worrying about the electro-garbage. I don’t know if it affects the seizures though. Hmmm… First and foremost, it is critical to find a vet who is integrative. Most vets simply sell you a prescription because they don’t bother to continue with their studies to learn about healthy alternatives.
My little Chinese Crested – Chih mix has seizures. I know it sounds far-fetched, but I spoke to an animal communicator who did a “body scan” over the phone. I know… Whatever… Anyway, she told me that Beverly’s brain, and upper spinal cord was the issue. She said it was structural. A couple of years later I decided to discuss this with my vet who is familiar with animal communicators. The doc told me that we can explore doing an MRI to see what’s going on. BINGO!!! Bevi had a malformation. The condition is called SM (it’s a long word). Nutritionally, dogs with seizures MUST be on a species appropriate diet with NO carbs (no grain, potatoes…) as carbs increase inflammation which would exasperate her condition. She is on Chinese herbs and a couple of other supplements. She also had an intravenous vitamin C treatment. She does NOT get any vaccines (except thimerosal-free rabies every 3 years), NO pesticides (heartworm, tick, flea…). She had a MAJOR seizure after the application of a tick and flea product that a convention vet advised me to administer.
I don’t know much about these devices, but it might be worthwhile to give something a try.
I will email you and we can further discuss what I do for Bevi. I do NOT give medical advice, but I could share some things that I have learned. You can discuss those ideas with your vet and do your own research as well, but I do not diagnose or treat.
All the best,
Janie