FitBark?Reviews

FitBark customer service is wonderful. I had some problems with the initial install …

FitBark customer service is wonderful. I had some problems with the initial install and their support chat was very quick, helpful and thorough. Now that the FitBark is working, I love the insight it gives me into my puppy’s life. I notice that if she is up and restless at night she can be a little “off” during the day. I’ve also noticed that she doesn’t behave well if she doesn’t get enough exercise OR if she gets too much! I can check her FitBark and realize she’s just had enough of a day and it’s time for bed. The FitBark holds a charge for quite some time, is easy to use and sturdy. I love my FitBark.

Pawfect

I can’t fault FitBark, their customer service is second to none – I bought mine before Christmas and had live chat within the Android app to one of the founders on Christmas day, that’s serious commitment to their product.

The FitBark itself attaches well and doesn’t bother my dog at all. It resists water and mud and is apparently waterproof but not tried yet.

The Android app is well designed, easy to sync, easy to compare your dog with another albeit both owners need to have shared email addresses.

The best thing so far is being able to compare days. We could see how new years eve fireworks at midnight kept our dog restless for 40 minutes, if we didn’t manage to get a walk because of heavy rain we can see how much activity she has missed.

So far it’s a lot of fun. We use FitBark most in ways you might not expect. For example, as a puppy being crate trained and house trained we use it in the middle of the night to see if she’s moving around in her crate. If she is, we get up and walk her. If not we go back to sleep without waking her. We use it to measure our crate training progress.

We also use it to see if our schedule is consistent. Consistency seems to be key, so we can see if we’re walking her at the same times every day and if we’re walking her when we should.

A fitbit for your dog. Easy integration, great tool and small!

I live an active lifestyle and have a dog that is helping to make me active with our frequent activity together. I wanted to get a monitor for several reasons, one of which is because the gadgets are just cool, but also to monitor my dog’s activity level.

I decided on this item based on all the positive reviews. This is a great item.

First off this is a lightweight and small item. It barely weighs anything. Set-up was easy. essentially power up the item with the included miniUSB cable after downloading the app and the item should sync. Charge for 1.5 hours and it is ready to go.

There are two included rubber bands that go onto the unit and then this goes around the collar. Although I was initially concerned about this coming off easily, it won’t unless something crazy happens. Plus, the profile is so small it is really like a leash attachment rather than the LED lights you can attach for a night walk.

Once you open the app and you get the item connected, you add the dogs profile, you can add a picture and away you go. The app for IOS is pretty easy to navigate for features. One quibble is I added my dogs picture, but had to look around to edit his info and that should be easier. I found how to change it, but it wasn’t immediately obvious. My hint: Press all the buttons and you discover many new features. (recommendation for software: make a default setting for sharing information something you choose rather than having to set it each time you go to this feature, or have a default setting for sharing information).

Once you get all squared away, you choose an activity level, from low energy to Olympian level and activity gives you points. I like this and the app. which can be set for use with a Fitbit, is pretty similar. I am noticing already that assuming activity levels can be easy when not based on facts. Love striving for a goal for my dog. I like the fact that you can also have others watch and participate in the app. Great feature!

I was also concerned about waterproofing on this item, but the USB plug is encased with a rubber seal that would be difficult to penetrate. As with most items, I would just ensure rinsing off the item with fresh water after an encounter with fresh or salt water.

Overall: I have been looking at various monitors for a while and waited because the technology didn’t quite seem there yet. This item seems to signal that the technology is here and easy to use. I really love the potential of this item and I love being able to understand my animal better in terms of activity. Plus, this is just a neat, cool item. It is small, lightweight, barely noticeable and easy to interact with and use.

Best part? The hardware works well, and software can always be updated now. Awesome.

I absolutely love Fitbark. I stumbled on this product in Amazon …

I absolutely love Fitbark. I stumbled on this product in Amazon Launchpad, and I couldn’t be happier with my purchase.

Device:
I really like that the device is small, but the color pops enough for me to notice if it’s potentially missing. The Fitbark hasn’t bothered my dog and is barely noticeable to anyone who is not looking for something on his neck. I’m actually surprised I like the blue. I was worried the color would pop too much and look cheesy, but that turned out to not be the case at all. It’s very cute.

App:
I like that the app breaks out the dog’s activity per hour. I can use it to determine whether my husband fed our dog based on the movements my dog made. It also forces both me and my husband to be honest about the exercise we give our dog.

The app is pretty but a bit clunky. It took me a day or so to navigate, and I used Facebook’s Fitbark Friends page for assistance. The way to add friends is not intuitive. I have to rely on the Facebook page to find people to connect with. From what I’ve heard, the developers have been improving the app significantly, so I’m excited to see the new updates in store.

Overall:
I’m very satisfied with Fitbark. The Bark point goals really does do a great job predicting the amount of points my dog needs. My dog is half border collie half corgi, so he tends to be naturally energetic. I used to think his hyperactive spurts in the house were part of his breed. Since I’ve gotten Fitbark, I’ve been able to monitor his energy levels so closely that I’ve almost completely eliminated the random bursts of energy. I can definitely say that this product significantly improved my dog’s quality of life and made my home life much more peaceful.

It works just as it says it does, and it’s super easy to use! Smaller than I expected too!

I have two things to say- first, the device and the app does everything it claims to do. I bought it to better understand my Miniature Labradoodle’s activity behavior, especially at daycare when we don’t know what she really does there. It was a snap to set up, and it really works. I find myself taking her for walks more just because I’m now accountable for her activity levels. The app works great, but like all apps, I’m sure it will continue to get better. It even interfaces with FitBit somehow. Second, the device is smaller and lighter than I expected, which is largely my fault because there are plenty of pictures showing it on other dogs, etc.
Bottom line- it works, it’s fun, and it provides me with useful data for my dog and me. I haven’t tried any of the competing products out there, but after having such a great experience with this one, why would I?

Critical for every dog owner, since our pets cannot speak to us

I couldn’t come up with an objective reason to give this item less than five stars. The unit is essential, I think, for any dog owner. Your pet’s activity level is critical to its physical and mental health. While everyone understands how calories are burned and muscle is built through exercise, I think fewer people realize the mental aspect of activity for dogs. If your pet is antsy, seems anxious, or behaving poorly, the easiest step to trying to fix those things is giving it more exercise. While that absolutely will not solve all problems, many problems stem from owners not providing this critical component of their animal’s daily life.

Pet physical fitness and weight are also important to their longevity. While this unit doesn’t solve the problem of overfeeding dogs, it does provide a concrete number that can be referenced to see if you are providing your dog with enough exercise to burn the calories he’s been fed.

This unit is valuable to me and my fiancee because it takes the guesswork out of our 12 pound dachshund’s daily exercise. Was that walk long enough? How much exercise does chewing a bone provide? Does he need to be running or can short bursts and tug of war wear him out? How much was he played with before my fiancee went to work tonight? Not having to wonder about these questions is well worth the rather high price tag, as it ensures that my dog won’t drive me crazy (which he will do if he’s not exercised) or begin to misbehave and potentially cost me more money in something he’s decided he would like to chew on.

As I mentioned my dog is a small 12-pounder, and the unit is not too big for his collar. I’ve seen pictures of it on even smaller dogs. Its very likely that it will be able to fit around your dog’s collar without being disruptive. In the image you can see that there are two hooks in the center of the bone. It is attached to the collar by what appears to be an o-ring, or a strong elastic. You hook one end of the ring onto the hook, wrap it around the collar, and wrap it around the next hook. I was a little skeptical of this method, but it does ensure that if something happens to the ring (they give you three) you can easily replace it. You don’t have to worry about a latch breaking and rendering the device useless. I think it was a good less conventional design decision.

I read a few reviews about the software being lackluster, but they must have made an update to the app, because it looks full-featured to me. You can view your dog’s activity down to the hour, and the history builds to show you averages, top scores, and all the usual fitness statistics. It works by detecting agitation through an accelerometer. There are three categories of rest, active, and play depending on the level of agitation. All levels give you the “bark points” that gauge your dog’s daily activity, which can be thought of as calories in humans. Even at rest the body burns calories. However, active and play hours will need to be spent in order to reach the dog’s daily goal. You can set your dog’s personal level as you see fit with recommendations to guide you. You should go more based on your dog’s need rather than the recommendation.

Also you have a suite of options available to manage people who can connect to the fitbark such as co-owners, friends, or your vet. This eases the issue of communicating the information on the fitbark and describing your dog’s history or changes in your dog’s activity. If the fitbark is somehow lost or destroyed you can connect another bitbark to your dog’s account.

Your Dog Will Thank You

This is a fun product that keeps us honest about getting enough playtime in with our golden retriever. I had an incident with the product only a week after purchasing it – our dog went swimming with it on and it would not work after that. When I contacted the Fitbark folks, they immediately arranged to send me a new one – really great customer service. The new one has held up during swimming and has provided us with some good information that will help us keep our guy healthy. They just added a feature that shows average statistics for dogs similar to mine, which is pretty interesting. You can also now choose one of three levels for your dog’s daily goal for fitness points – it’s a nice option to have. Henry the Golden has gotten much more exercise on a more consistent basis since we got the Fitbark. It makes us take him for an extra half mile, or throw the ball a half dozen more times. It also helps us see that doggie day care really is worth it! Henry doesn’t even notice that he’s wearing the Fitbark, but he is loving the effects of it!

Dog Trainer’s New Favorite Toy

I’ve just completed set-up for my second FitBark, and just as I was with my first FitBark, I’m excited at all the fun to be had with this activity monitor.
First the basics: The app is easily my favorite part! The set-up is quick and easy. The interface is stellar, and I’ve yet to encounter any glitches. As a dog trainer, I make sure that my dogs get plenty of exercise, but this device and the accompanying phone app make it more fun and quantifies everything into numerical data, which is great. The best application i have found for my own dogs though, are the times when I am away and have to leave them in the care of someone else. I can monitor their activity and pair their FitBark devices with the dog sitter’s mobile device so that the individual can reference how much activity I expect from them in a clear way, without confusion or uncertainty. Furthermore, I’ve convinced a few clients to order these so that I can monitor their dogs to determine if they are doing the necessary amount of work needed to properly condition in obedience commands the way they are instructed to do so between lessons with me. The FitBark quantifies everything for them to help give a tangible goal to improve/maintain not only the physical health of their dog, but the dog’s mental health through training exercises. My clients tell me that FitBark helps keep them on track and I can see it for myself. My girlfriend loves my FitBark monitors too, as they allow her to see how much activity our dogs get by virtue of my full-time employment as an independent trainer. Of course, she teases me when “her” dog, ‘Chivo’, gets more points than “my” dog, ‘Jarvis’. All in all, the applications for a FitBark are endless and I can’t wait to see what other things people think of that I haven’t yet!

Awesome!

This thing is great. If you don’t get to spend all day with your dog, this little gadget will tell you everything you need to know about how much activity your dog is getting. Setup is intuitive and straightforward. Syncing is as easy as breathing. True to the advertisement, it’s very much waterproof (my wife ran it through the wash before I was able to get it strapped to the collar!). The accuracy is quite impressive as well. I was skeptical, so I sampled a few hours while I watched my dog closely. Sure enough, the FitBark was accurate down to the minute showing me when my dog was playing, just active but not playing, and resting. As it turns out, he rotates between the three all day and night and gets an incredible amount of exercise that I had no idea he was getting.

There is some room for improvement, but I’m confident FitBark will continue to roll out improvements. I, as do all FitBark users, look forward to the breed info module. I have had a couple of errors, but nothing serious or irrecoverable. Lastly, I would be interested in a slightly heavier duty version that comes in an extended battery life. 2 weeks is great… but 4 would be even greater ??

Great Product!

We got this for our dog for Christmas and it has been wonderful. It keeps us motivated to get our pup out for a walk when she needs it (it even sends reminders when she hasn’t been active for a while!) By using the product, we were also able to see that our dog walker was not taking our dog out for the full hour walks and sometimes forgot to come at all! The customer support has been amazing for any questions to you have – We bought the wifi base station and had a?bit of difficulty setting it up but customer support helped us in no time. They are very responsive. I would highly recommend this product to any dog owner!

More than just a cool gadget

I thought this would be a cool experiment, but now I check my dog’s progress multiple times every day. The battery lasts over a week so charging is few and far in between. It’s incredibly easy to synch with you phone and setup in the app to begin tracking. Plus it suggests how many points my dog should have by the end of each day based on her breed, age, and other stats. I was on vacation and one of the first things I did when I got back was check her activity levels to make sure she got her walks and playtime. Now I just need the base station to check on her even when gone.

Best Pet Accessory EVER!

This thing is absolutely incredible, and the company behind it is amazing as well! The interface on the app is very slick, informative, and accurate! It is a great way to know what your pup is up to when you are not with them, or just to track each day’s activity! So much fun. Also compatible with the fitbit and other fitness apps to compare the pups to their humans! The fitbark itself is pretty wicked, but what makes the experience SO awesome is the ability to get?in touch with support chat instantly via the app, and they respond brilliantly fast, always with kind words and helpful advice. I have recommended this to all dog owners I know and meet and I recommend it to you!!!

Awesome little activity monitor!

I’ve had my FitBark now for about a year. It works great. I can see my dogs activity (or lack there of) level. It automatically syncs when the app is open and in close proximity (10-15ft) to my dog. About a month ago it broke. My dog was marking a bone and I think rubbed on it a little too roughly. I contacted thier support staff and Sara was very nice and offered me a replacement device at no cost. She included a RMA slip so I could return the broken devise to them. I have seen this company grow in terms of what their product and the app offer. I am very impressed with both their product and their staff. As more dogs are using FitBark the averages (daily activity) for breed and size of dog keep getting better. They also recently added an option where you can sync your fitbit within FitBark. this way you can see your activity right next to your dog’s on a daily basis.

Every dog owner should get one!

I bought my fitbark from the supplier directly before they started to sell on amazon; but I have enjoyed using it so much I felt that I had to review it.

I bought this shortly after we got our puppy (she was around 10/11 weeks when we started to use it); it is a nice small device that clips over your dogs collar. Even on a tiny west highland terrier it isn’t too big. We were finding it hard to judge how much exercise daisy was getting (especially day to day). The fitbarks point system makes it easy to tell how active she has been throughout the day (when we are there or when she is left at home); it also tells you how many hours the pup has been active, resting, etc in a day.

They have recently added features allowing you to compare your dog by age and breed to others in their dataset. I am glad to say that Daisy is getting about the right amount of exercise for a westie her age! In summary I think that all dog owners should get one of these, simple low in price and a great tool!

Awesome little activity monitor!

I’ve had my FitBark now for about a year. It works great. I can see my dogs activity (or lack there of) level. It automatically syncs when the app is open and in close proximity (10-15ft) to my dog. About a month ago it broke. My dog was marking a bone and I think rubbed on it a little too roughly. I contacted thier support staff and Sara was very nice and offered me a replacement device at no cost. She included a RMA slip so I could return the broken devise to them. I have seen this company grow in terms of what their product and the app offer. I am very impressed with both their product and their staff. As more dogs are using FitBark the averages (daily activity) for breed and size of dog keep getting better. They also recently added an option where you can sync your fitbit within FitBark. this way you can see your activity right next to your dog’s on a daily basis.

A fitbit for your dog. Easy integration, great tool and small!

I live an active lifestyle and have a dog that is helping to make me active with our frequent activity together. I wanted to get a monitor for several reasons, one of which is because the gadgets are just cool, but also to monitor my dog’s activity level.

I decided on this item based on all the positive reviews. This is a great item.

First off this is a lightweight and small item. It barely weighs anything. Set-up was easy. essentially power up the item with the included miniUSB cable after downloading the app and the item should sync. Charge for 1.5 hours and it is ready to go.

There are two included rubber bands that go onto the unit and then this goes around the collar. Although I was initially concerned about this coming off easily, it won’t unless something crazy happens. Plus, the profile is so small it is really like a leash attachment rather than the LED lights you can attach for a night walk.

Once you open the app and you get the item connected, you add the dogs profile, you can add a picture and away you go. The app for IOS is pretty easy to navigate for features. One quibble is I added my dogs picture, but had to look around to edit his info and that should be easier. I found how to change it, but it wasn’t immediately obvious. My hint: Press all the buttons and you discover many new features. (recommendation for software: make a default setting for sharing information something you choose rather than having to set it each time you go to this feature, or have a default setting for sharing information).

Once you get all squared away, you choose an activity level, from low energy to Olympian level and activity gives you points. I like this and the app. which can be set for use with a Fitbit, is pretty similar. I am noticing already that assuming activity levels can be easy when not based on facts. Love striving for a goal for my dog. I like the fact that you can also have others watch and participate in the app. Great feature!

I was also concerned about waterproofing on this item, but the USB plug is encased with a rubber seal that would be difficult to penetrate. As with most items, I would just ensure rinsing off the item with fresh water after an encounter with fresh or salt water.

Overall: I have been looking at various monitors for a while and waited because the technology didn’t quite seem there yet. This item seems to signal that the technology is here and easy to use. I really love the potential of this item and I love being able to understand my animal better in terms of activity. Plus, this is just a neat, cool item. It is small, lightweight, barely noticeable and easy to interact with and use.

Best part? The hardware works well, and software can always be updated now. Awesome.

Great little activity monitor

This thing is small and light, but it does what it advertises. I have a 16.6 pound 1 and a half year old miniature schnauzer and I buy all things to spoil this guy. Found the fitbark and thought I would give it a try, since I have a fitbit and we CA sync our activity and compare who’s been more active.
It has been a little over 2 weeks since I received the fitbark and today was the first time I had to charge it. My dog stays with me, but this past week my mom wanted to watch him, since she lives alone. So with 56% battery I left him on a Sunday and came back the following Saturday night. The fit bit was dead, but I had activity from the Sunday I left him til early friday! Great little gadget for my little Teddy
Also, if you contact customer service, you will get an answer very quickly. I think the longest I had to wait for a reply via chat was 3 minutes. Everyone I chatted with, with my dumb questions, we’re super friendly and willing to help any way they can. They even take screen shots if you need help navigating the app. I would recommend if you love your pets and love spoiling them like I do.

Great app!

We became FitBark users recently, shortly after we all got FitBits. We decided that 2016 would be a healthier for all of us and FitBark is helping us ensure that our pup is included.

Though I am a new user, I have found the app to be user friendly, and the team at FitBark is very interactive, helpful and friendly.

I’m glad to be a part of the FitBark family and would recommend it to any pet owner who is concerned with optimizing their dog’s health, particularly those with multiple people involved with the care of their dog on a daily basis.

Jumps and Leaps ahead of the others

After having several of the other trackers (Whistle, Voyce and Tagg) this is the first tracker that actually records his activity accurately. The others would have large swings in the data. The battery life is top notch. Others state they last 5 – 7 days and they don’t come close. I am into the eighth day of the charge and the little bone indicator has barely moved. I am an active jogger and my little buddy likes to come with me. His activity stats are in line with my activity tracker. Fitbark is a solid tracker. I would like to see more enhancements to their web portal.

Loving our FitBarks! Everyone is getting fit with this device ??

We’ve had our 55lb SharPei/Pointer mix on for a few months now and have enjoyed it so much I’ve ordered them for my Mom’s and Sister’s dogs. We’ve also convinced friends to get their pooch’s on and are now having friendly competitions with our mutts. We’ve gone through a number of human fitness trackers and generally lost interest but surprisingly having our dog kitted up has kept us active daily making sure she gets out and hits our goals. Even our friend who’s not big on exercising himself it getting out every day and tossing a ball until his dog hits his points. Love that each dog gets point goals based on breeds (primary and secondary), age and weight. Love being able to comment, post pics, likes, etc. on our and our friends profiles. Now that we’re all sharing our pups profiles it’s led to a great group all encouraging (and competing ;)) each other to keep our dogs active. The upshot is that it’s keeping each of us active as well. We’re now doing hikes with our pups and other puppy playdates regularly.

The app is simple and fun to use. Device size makes it suitable for any size dog from toy to Great Dane. Set up was easy, even for my 80yr old MamaBear. Excited to see how our dog compares to other similar dogs when that feature is working.

We now have more than half a dozen family and friends on FitBark and would recommend it to anyone who wants insight into the health and activity of their dogs. As a side benefit it’ll get you more active as well.

Update: We recently had to travel for a couple of days and left our dog at a kennel. It was super insightful to see how much activity she got there. When we told the Kennel owner she was over her daily goal every day she said she’d start recommending them to her other clients. She’s always touted how much playtime and exercise the dogs get there and now she has hard data she can show owners.

Highly recommended.

I’m loving the Fitbark with my new rescue dog. First, it’s really getting me to pay attention to the exercise he’s getting and motivating me to get him out for hikes, jogging, playdates, etc. This in turn is actually getting me much more active then personal activity tracker ever did. I also love the ability to benchmark and see how other dogs are doing and now have friends and family’s dogs on the app as well. An interesting benefit to showing the activity throughout the day is I could tell when the he escaped from his crate to go running around the house! Since he did no damage after being out for a couple hours, I’m no longer crating him. Bonus for him ?? . The FitBark is simple to set up and the app has a great user interface. Get one for your dog and get the both of you more active.

Very Impressed

I’ve been using the FitBark for over a week now with our 3 year old Maltese. I was very happy to see that it was much smaller than I had expected it to be. It was easy to place on his collar, and he doesn’t mind wearing it at all. The app is very user friendly and helpful for the set up process. It is amazing to be able to monitor your dogs level of activity, and it has influenced us to take longer walks and stay more active. The app makes it easy to set and change your dogs goal for the day, and monitor his progress via Bluetooth connection with your phone. I’ve tried a couple other pet “wearables” and the FitBark is the best I’ve come across so far.

Great device ? Great app

I should start by saying I read an article about 5 things you may be doing to crush your dogs spirit. The very first thing was not taking your dog on a walk as often as you should. Admittedly, I am guilty of this and I do NOT want to crush the spirit of any dog! So I looked at several styles of activity trackers and decided to try the FitBark. I think seeing their actual activity level will either guilt me into getting busy with them or make me proud of how we’re doing.
I’ve only been using my FitBark for about a week. I have 3 dogs (a Mastiff and 2 Yorkies) and it’s been fun to see what time of day they’re most active and just how active they really are.
I bought one for each of my daughters dogs too (an Australian Shepard and a Boxer).
All of the dogs are ‘friends’, on the app, so we can see how active they’ve been, even when we’re all living in different cities. When they’re all together there’s a HUGE jump in play/active time.
It’s nice to be able to add notes to each day as well. You can go back and see if their activity, or lack thereof, is mirrored by health issues (diarrhea, decreased appetite, etc). I haven’t been using it long enough to take advantage of this feature but I like having that option available.
The staff is amazing! When I’ve asked questions through the app, I thought I’d have to wait several hours for a response; not so! The support has been much higher than I expected it to be. You’re made to feel like one of the FitBark family. I like having the ability to send photos too. I can include a screen shot with my question(s) which helps me explain my question and, I assume, it likely helps them to see what I’m talking about.
I don’t consider myself to be a very tech savvy individual but I have found the app and FitBark set up to be quite straightforward and simple. If I can do it, anybody can do it!
I’ve purchased 5 FitBarks, for my dogs and as gifts, and I feel it will prove to be a great investment in our dogs’ health. And we’ll benefit as well.

5 paws

Hi I am Luna the 4 year old Collie, My mummy owns a fitbit and found it so interesting that when she saw this advertised she thought it would be fun to see us keeping fit together she is currently annoyed as I keep beating her :).
she has had great fun keeping track of me and she also loves the fact it tell her what I have been up to when she has been out but sadly she now knows my secret that I am often have a good sleep.
it has helped my mummy lots as I had been unwell and she was able to show the vet my details and she was able to track my food intake and also if I had had lethargic days.
I would highly recommend this device to any dog lover as it is great fun to work out together and go for long hikes to collect our points.

mummy said that the support from the FitBark?team is excellent she had trouble with her device and they are literally there 24/7 to help you with all your needs my device did go a bit faulty but within 48 hours it had been replaced and linked up to my old account so we could get back to tracking my details.

the device is small and discrete on my collar and comes in a wide range of colours I’m currently modelling the life and soul of the party blue but I think my mummy is looking into purchasing another one for my bro.
well we give this device 5 Paws and lots of high excited Woofs cause we love it.
many thanks for reading
Luna x

Oscar is a Puggle who we adopted from an Amish farm when he was about 12 weeks old. We do not know the size of his parents, nor are we aware of the existence of any litter mates.

He is overweight for sure, and was diagnosed with hypothyroidism a little over a year ago. Even on the medication and prescription food, he has maintained the same weight (~ 55-58#) for a while.

FitBark (combined with my Fitbit) fits right into what we are trying to accomplish with Oscar’s health. He will be 4 years old in April, and we want to be sure he’s around for a long time.

Critical for every dog owner, since our pets cannot speak to us

I couldn’t come up with an objective reason to give this item less than five stars. The unit is essential, I think, for any dog owner. Your pet’s activity level is critical to its physical and mental health. While everyone understands how calories are burned and muscle is built through exercise, I think fewer people realize the mental aspect of activity for dogs. If your pet is antsy, seems anxious, or behaving poorly, the easiest step to trying to fix those things is giving it more exercise. While that absolutely will not solve all problems, many problems stem from owners not providing this critical component of their animal’s daily life.

Pet physical fitness and weight are also important to their longevity. While this unit doesn’t solve the problem of overfeeding dogs, it does provide a concrete number that can be referenced to see if you are providing your dog with enough exercise to burn the calories he’s been fed.

This unit is valuable to me and my fiancee because it takes the guesswork out of our 12 pound dachshund’s daily exercise. Was that walk long enough? How much exercise does chewing a bone provide? Does he need to be running or can short bursts and tug of war wear him out? How much was he played with before my fiancee went to work tonight? Not having to wonder about these questions is well worth the rather high price tag, as it ensures that my dog won’t drive me crazy (which he will do if he’s not exercised) or begin to misbehave and potentially cost me more money in something he’s decided he would like to chew on.

As I mentioned my dog is a small 12-pounder, and the unit is not too big for his collar. I’ve seen pictures of it on even smaller dogs. Its very likely that it will be able to fit around your dog’s collar without being disruptive. In the image you can see that there are two hooks in the center of the bone. It is attached to the collar by what appears to be an o-ring, or a strong elastic. You hook one end of the ring onto the hook, wrap it around the collar, and wrap it around the next hook. I was a little skeptical of this method, but it does ensure that if something happens to the ring (they give you three) you can easily replace it. You don’t have to worry about a latch breaking and rendering the device useless. I think it was a good less conventional design decision.

I read a few reviews about the software being lackluster, but they must have made an update to the app, because it looks full-featured to me. You can view your dog’s activity down to the hour, and the history builds to show you averages, top scores, and all the usual fitness statistics. It works by detecting agitation through an accelerometer. There are three categories of rest, active, and play depending on the level of agitation. All levels give you the “bark points” that gauge your dog’s daily activity, which can be thought of as calories in humans. Even at rest the body burns calories. However, active and play hours will need to be spent in order to reach the dog’s daily goal. You can set your dog’s personal level as you see fit with recommendations to guide you. You should go more based on your dog’s need rather than the recommendation.

Also you have a suite of options available to manage people who can connect to the fitbark such as co-owners, friends, or your vet. This eases the issue of communicating the information on the fitbark and describing your dog’s history or changes in your dog’s activity. If the fitbark is somehow lost or destroyed you can connect another bitbark to your dog’s account.

Absolutely wonderful

My dog is slowly reaching his senior years, though still considered an adult, and I don’t want to lose him. I’ve been noticing that he’s been very lazy, lethargic, and gaining weight — as many middle-aged beings tend to be ?? So I thought — okay, I’ll give this a whirl.
I seriously felt silly buying this. “What am I doing, buying this gimmick?” I thought; but the reviews “talked me into” giving this a try, anyway.
So now we’ve been using it. It’s been a number of weeks now, and we are THRILLED. The app could definitely use some work, it definitely takes a bit too long to fetch and load and all of that, but that’s peanuts, and the device itself is awesome. We’re thrilled. And tired. ??

In the picture: Boo, my dog, with his fashionable FitBark, after a grueling workout ??

Love it! Helped my older chubby Golden lose weight

My older Golden was looking chubby so I was looking for apps & stumbled on this. People think it’s so funny to have a Fitbit for a dog but I had cut back on her food & wanted to work on her exercise. This has been a great tool! I found out on the 3 days I work she doesn’t move much even though there is another dog there ( who’s thin). So I’m walking her before work. You can track the hours she’s active, days & months, even compare with other similar dogs & compete with friends dogs. They set a goal for you or you can customize it which I did cause we’d never make the one they had set- I will increase it as we go along. I especially like that when summer comes we can count her swimming too. She has lost 3 pounds! Only 2 more to go. I can tell she feels better. I didn’t want to have her die early just because she was fat- that’s the owners fault. This app helps me stay focused & not get too busy & forget to help her stay on track. Oh & you can even track your own Fitbit next to the dog if you want too. Everything was easy to use & understand. So glad I found this.

The Awesome FitBit for Furbabies!

I purchased this product looking for a pets equivalent to Fitbit. This is the ultimate. It even integrates with fitbit to see your progress together. Batty, my minpin, was 13 lbs at his last vet visit and so the vet placed him on orders of an additional long walk per day. Therefore I wanted a better way to see how he was doing like I see mine, as well as walking him the long walk every day. I’m more than pleased with this! While the android app is in Beta, it works great on BlackBerry 10 devices as well as android, and the Apple app is impressive too! Kudos and thank you! If you have fitbit and a furbaby, you need to get this for your pup!

Changed Pippie’s life

I’ve been waiting a long time for a product like this and I have looked at and tried others but none did exactly what I wanted them to do. I have a 14 yr old jack russle with terrible problems in her back joints and arthritis and I travel a lot for work. With fitbark, I can not only keep any eye on how active she is, and if my dog walker is walking her as much as he’s supposed to be, but I can also tell if she has had her medication that day. If she hasn’t her activity levels are way down and her rest is way up. Last week I even got an alert that “Pippie is resting more than normal, is she ok?” She had already had her medication that day so, I made an appointment with our Vet and showed her the Fitbark app and Pippie’s play and rest times. First, my Vet asked where he could get one and I also showed him how I could share Pippie’s information with him to help keep an eye on her. He adjusted her medication and my girl is back up to her normal playful self. Pippie loves Fitbark, thank you!!!

Changed Pippie’s life

I’ve been waiting a long time for a product like this and I have looked at and tried others but none did exactly what I wanted them to do. I have a 14 yr old jack russle with terrible problems in her back joints and arthritis and I travel a lot for work. With fitbark, I can not only keep any eye on how active she is, and if my dog walker is walking her as much as he’s supposed to be, but I can also tell if she has had her medication that day. If she hasn’t her activity levels are way down and her rest is way up. Last week I even got an alert that “Pippie is resting more than normal, is she ok?” She had already had her medication that day so, I made an appointment with our Vet and showed her the Fitbark app and Pippie’s play and rest times. First, my Vet asked where he could get one and I also showed him how I could share Pippie’s information with him to help keep an eye on her. He adjusted her medication and my girl is back up to her normal playful self. Pippie loves Fitbark, thank you!!!

Great wearable for dogs!

This device is so much fun. You can see how much time your dog spends resting, playing (typically walking or running), and being “active” (which is basically being awake but not doing a lot). If you have multiple dogs, you can compare them against each other. I even used it to determine who wandered off at night and peed in the basement – only one dog was active at that time so she was busted! LOL Support is fabulous. They respond via chat to any questions, and are?super-responsive to any enhancement ideas. I use the app on an iPhone 4s and it works really well, even though my phone is older. Another plus is that they share the (anonymized) data that they collect with the FitBarks. It’s a great way for dog owners to contribute to research on dog health, especially if you have a purebred that is not as well-represented in their data set.

Fantastic activity tracker for dogs!

I bought 2 of these for our dogs. My husband and I both own a Fitbit and thought it would be fun to track our dogs activities too! We looked into it and discovered FitBark!

Well we haven’t been disappointed. The dogs receive bark points each day based on their activity not steps, however they explain why this is. Essentially it’s impossible to track steps in dogs as their movements vary so much. However it’s pretty accurate with picking up play time/ rest time and when they are active.
I’ve also been really impressed with the customer support. For a small company they go out of their way to make sure you are happy and are always on the end of a live chat to help if you have any problems.

The app that supports it is good as well and we can even track our activity against the dogs in the weekly view!

Tracking how active the dogs have been also allows us to make adjustments to feeding.

The battery lasts a long time and we have had no issues with the product. I imagine if you did have any issues their customer service would be excellent. They really care about the brand and the experience you have with their product.

Overall I’m really happy with my purchase.

Total Greatness for Vizsla Owners!

My dog Murphy is a Vizsla. The word Vizsla must be Hungarian for “Limitless Energy”. Murphy is a little over a year and we can never exhaust him. We have been doing all that we can to “wear him out”, but felt guilty that we were not doing enough. Since Jan. 1st I started wearing a FitBit and it has made a huge difference in my training. Wanting to measure our efforts to exercise Murphy, we saw that RubyTheTrail – World Famous Instagram Vizsla, endorsed FitBark. That was all it took for me to pick one up for Muphy. It has given me such peace of mind to know that despite me and my wife working full time jobs we are actually taking care of Murphy’s exercise needs. (We walk him 3.5 miles before sunrise and spend all free time playing with him when we get home). Today my trusty Fitbark app sent me a message that told me, and I quote… “At 15,916 BarkPoints per day on average, he was more active than: -96% of large sized dogs of adult age, -76% of all Vizslas, -93% of all FitBark dogs.” Whew! That made my month! So, daily we track Murphy’s Playtime, Active-Time, Rest Time, and FitBark converts it to points. Our daily goal for Murphy is 13,100 points. We do not go to bed until he hits that goal.
The most amazing thing about FitBark is that it requires me to help Murphy meet his goals and my FitBit totals are on the rise. It is a win – win invention. Get one for your best friend, and yourself.
You can check out Murphy on Instagram… follow “MURPH_THE_VIZSLA” … Also follow FitBark’s best spokesdog … “RUBYTHETRAILDOG”

LOVE this product!

I cannot say enough good things about this product. Unfortunately, my original FitBark would not charge, so I brought it to Best Buy and they exchanged it with a new one instantly! I was thrilled. Then, when I went home, I was not sure how to add the new one to my existing account, so I emailed FitBark and the tech support answered my email INSTANTLY and helped me through it. I am so pleased and impressed. The product allows me to keep track of my dog’s sleep?schedule and compare activities and how active they keep him (he does agility, flyball and disc). This product is amazing, and I’ve had such a great experience with FitBark.

FitBark customer service is wonderful. I had some problems with the initial install …

FitBark customer service is wonderful. I had some problems with the initial install and their support chat was very quick, helpful and thorough. Now that the FitBark is working, I love the insight it gives me into my puppy’s life. I notice that if she is up and restless at night she can be a little “off” during the day. I’ve also noticed that she doesn’t behave well if she doesn’t get enough exercise OR if she gets too much! I can check her FitBark and realize she’s just had enough of a day and it’s time for bed. The FitBark holds a charge for quite some time, is easy to use and sturdy. I love my FitBark.

Great tool for the conscientious dog owner

I love this tool! It’s an awesome complement to my fitbit charge hr! I give it a 4 instead of a 5 because getting to know the app takes some time and work. Once you get it all figured out though the data tracking is awesome! I have a Weimaraner and I live in an apartment, but I am also a runner and very active. As a breed that requires a lot of exercise, I really feel like it helps me better gage if my fur baby is getting his needs met, especially since he is crated for about 8 hours of his day. I recommend it to anyone who is conscientious about their best friends whole being! Plus, the fitbark team is very kind, quick, and eager to help you, as you help them create a better device and app!

Great device ? Great app

I should start by saying I read an article about 5 things you may be doing to crush your dogs spirit. The very first thing was not taking your dog on a walk as often as you should. Admittedly, I am guilty of this and I do NOT want to crush the spirit of any dog! So I looked at several styles of activity trackers and decided to try the FitBark. I think seeing their actual activity level will either guilt me into getting busy with them or make me proud of how we’re doing.
I’ve only been using my FitBark for about a week. I have 3 dogs (a Mastiff and 2 Yorkies) and it’s been fun to see what time of day they’re most active and just how active they really are.
I bought one for each of my daughters dogs too (an Australian Shepard and a Boxer).
All of the dogs are ‘friends’, on the app, so we can see how active they’ve been, even when we’re all living in different cities. When they’re all together there’s a HUGE jump in play/active time.
It’s nice to be able to add notes to each day as well. You can go back and see if their activity, or lack thereof, is mirrored by health issues (diarrhea, decreased appetite, etc). I haven’t been using it long enough to take advantage of this feature but I like having that option available.
The staff is amazing! When I’ve asked questions through the app, I thought I’d have to wait several hours for a response; not so! The support has been much higher than I expected it to be. You’re made to feel like one of the FitBark family. I like having the ability to send photos too. I can include a screen shot with my question(s) which helps me explain my question and, I assume, it likely helps them to see what I’m talking about.
I don’t consider myself to be a very tech savvy individual but I have found the app and FitBark set up to be quite straightforward and simple. If I can do it, anybody can do it!
I’ve purchased 5 FitBarks, for my dogs and as gifts, and I feel it will prove to be a great investment in our dogs’ health. And we’ll benefit as well.

Great gadget for dog parents

I am a health and dog nut and could not be more pleased with FitBark. I have two small Westies and the monitors fit their collars perfectly; it is very light and fashionable.
The information I get from the app is very valuable, I am able to see the exact times they are active, when they get walks from our dogs walkers, and most importantly how they do compared to each other and other dogs from the same breed.
The staff at FitBark is extremely friendly and responsive; They really care about the users and make sure that we have all the info we need.
I love FitBark!!!

Pawfect

I can’t fault FitBark, their customer service is second to none – I bought mine before Christmas and had live chat within the Android app to one of the founders on Christmas day, that’s serious commitment to their product.

The FitBark itself attaches well and doesn’t bother my dog at all. It resists water and mud and is apparently waterproof but not tried yet.

The Android app is well designed, easy to sync, easy to compare your dog with another albeit both owners need to have shared email addresses.

The best thing so far is being able to compare days. We could see how new years eve fireworks at midnight kept our dog restless for 40 minutes, if we didn’t manage to get a walk because of heavy rain we can see how much activity she has missed.

5 paws

Hi I am Luna the 4 year old Collie, My mummy owns a fitbit and found it so interesting that when she saw this advertised she thought it would be fun to see us keeping fit together she is currently annoyed as I keep beating her :).
she has had great fun keeping track of me and she also loves the fact it tell her what I have been up to when she has been out but sadly she now knows my secret that I am often have a good sleep.
it has helped my mummy lots as I had been unwell and she was able to show the vet my details and she was able to track my food intake and also if I had had lethargic days.
I would highly recommend this device to any dog lover as it is great fun to work out together and go for long hikes to collect our points.

mummy said that the support from the FitBark?team is excellent she had trouble with her device and they are literally there 24/7 to help you with all your needs my device did go a bit faulty but within 48 hours it had been replaced and linked up to my old account so we could get back to tracking my details.

the device is small and discrete on my collar and comes in a wide range of colours I’m currently modelling the life and soul of the party blue but I think my mummy is looking into purchasing another one for my bro.
well we give this device 5 Paws and lots of high excited Woofs cause we love it.
many thanks for reading
Luna x