Get on the dog and bone to find lost pets

The nightmare of seeing your pooch disappear off into the distance during walkies could be at an end after the launch of Tracca Dog.

The product, which is available from June 1, uses a GPS-based system which automatically sends a signal to your phone to let you know where your dog is.

Mr Mills, 24, who lives at Moulton, said: “It is a GPS dog collar attachment which works alongside the Tracca app, allowing owners to know where their dog is at any given time from the touch of their phone.

“We’ve also designed an invisible fence which will allow customers to ring-fence their house and premisies via Google Maps. If the dog wearing the Tracca Dog strays outside of this fence, the customer’s phone rings.

“We haven’t just stopped with the conceptual design. We’ve made the Tracca Dog look and feel like market-leading mobile phones, so you really can give your dog a phone!”

Toby set up his firm Tracca UK Ltd after spending time in management with supermarket Waitrose.

“This gave me the business skills, but I just decided I wanted to do something different,” he said.

Two years of planning have gone into the product and it has been independently tested by kennels and dog owners.

“The trialists were critical of certain areas but that was very important to us, to know where we needed to improve,” said Mr Mills.

“I first had the idea of having a SIM on a keyfob for when you lose your keys, and then I decided to have GPS inserted. Then I did some research and found that a lot of people lose their dogs, so I went for that.”

The device, which attaches to the dog’s collar, is lightweight and the battery lasts for up to 22 hours in constant tracking mode or 880 hours in standby.

It is suitable for medium to large dogs and they are hoping to develop one for cats soon - Toby’s cat Frankie has been trying out his own version of Tracca:“It’s very interesting to see where he has been!” said Mr Mills.

“It even works in dense woodland. We believe we have thought of every eventuality.”

He added:”Tracking things on your phone can seem a bit ‘James Bond’, so we have tailored it to appease those needs.

“There has been massive interest nationally and our website has already had 35,000 hits.”

The device, which sells for £119 and on a pay-as-you-go tariff will cost £4 a month to run, is compatible with any network provider.

More details are available from the website at www.traccauk.com