News & Press

Where For Art Thou... RoamEO

By Steve Smith
Just Labs Magazine
March/April 2008

In the parlance of upland hunters, a bird dog that's a wild runner, one who has an uncontrollable urge to see what's on the other side of the horizon, is called a "coyote" - wild and free and loving every minute of it. Our Labs? Not so much. Brad as retrievers and companions to hunters, they have a tendency to stick around because their genes tell then that human contact can result in fetches, that thing they live for (supper aside).

On the other hand, they are dogs, and as dogs they have enough wolf in them (roughly about 99 percent) that Wanderlust now and again will rear its ugly head, and before you can say, "WheretheheckisBoscoe?" the doggone dog's gone. Were it not the case, there would be no need for tie-out chains, kennel enclosures, or invisible fencing, right?

But more than that, those of us who take our Labs with us on ourdoor forays - hiking, camping, biking, that sort of thing - often worry about losing our dogs. Well, there's a recent invention that may not keep him where you can see him, but at least you'll know where he is: what direction he's moving, how fast, and how far away so you can catch up and have a little talk with him. It's called the RoamEO GPS Pet Location System.

As the name implies, it's all because of global positioning system technology - GPS - that we seem to be using for just about everything these days, and it's undergone a magnitude of improvement since it first fell into the untrained hands of consumers. It works in all weather conditions and even in forest canopy cover. There's even a virtual "fence" that can be established so Slappy can cavort within a defined (by you) perimeter; should he venture out of it, an alarm sounds and you an then take steps to round up your hound.

Not that we in any way encourage you to use this device to allow your dog to run free - nothing replaces close supervision of your dog while outside - but there are times all of us have experienced where we're doing something in the yard and our Lab is out there with us, and it dawns on us that we haven't caught a glimpse of his hide in the last 10 minutes, and a little panic sets in. Okay, a lot of panic. I tested the unit out on my Lab Roxie who, even at 13 years old, wanders off down by the lake to look for ducks. In fact, sometimes older dogs get a little turned around and do things they wouldn't do when their decks had all aces, even in familiar surroundings. This device puts the mind at ease.

They don't give these things away for clipping coupons - the unit's MSRP is $399.99; that's for a one-collar unit - extra collars are available for tracking multiple dogs. But most of us have seen times when we'd gladly give twice that amount to know where our dog was. See their web site: www.roameoforpets.com.