FitBark Reviews

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.

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.

Lazy dog owner with a happy, active dog!

This product has changed the way I approach my dog’s health. I am, admittedly, a lazy dog owner. My dog is older, so I used that as an excuse for brief walks and lots of downtime. Her first week with the FitBark, I realized how little activity she saw throughout her day and was appalled by my own behavior. Since using the FitBark, Maggie May is having more active days and is sleeping better because she’s worn out and happy. The app is easy to use, the company is SUPER responsive and fast, and my partner is able to keep track of Maggie’s activities, too! I highly recommend the FitBark to anyone with a busy, distracting life. It keeps your dog’s needs in mind, even when you can’t.

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 🙂

Yep. This is what I needed

So here’s the deal. My sister runs a pet sitting/nannying company in LA. Which means a lot of dogs, cats, rabbits, pigs, a lot of whom are used to pretty good lifestyles. I live up north and go to visit her every few months, and when I do I love to join her at “work” while she “has to” hang out with furry animals all day.

I had some dogs and cats growing up. But working with my sister has opened my eyes to a lot of new things. Like how many animals sit at home all day while their owners are away, in various conditions. Some have big cushy couches they aren’t allowed to sit on, others are in kennels (which I do not support).

They do all have one thing in common: they are alone a large chunk of their lives, or at least with other animals but not their owners. And because they can’t speak it’s hard to know if they got enough exercise that day, if they’re sitting down too much, not playing, feeling sick. I’d tried FitBit and Jawbone Up and all sorts of wearables for myself but I returned all of them.

Then we got our own dog. I cannot say how glad I am I didn’t return the FitBark like I did with those devices for myself. I realized the difference is I know how I’m feeling but I don’t know how Toby’s feeling. And working with my sister has taught me that animals do exhibit body language, but that can’t/doesn’t tell the whole story. And working with trainers I’ve learned you need a degree to parse your dog’s body language anyway 😉

I will never go back to not putting a doggie tracker on Toby. I don’t think I’m the only one who’d pay anything for my dog 😉 Any little bit more I can relate to him and know he’s living a great life I will do. It did take a bit of adjusting the levels on the FitBark and I keep forgetting about the battery reminders but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I love my Toby. Worth it. Very worth it.

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.

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.

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!!!

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.

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, awesome customer service!

We picked up this activity monitor a few weeks ago to see how much exercise our pooch was getting with their walker. This device is tiny and actually provides us with more info than we would have anticipated. Plus, it keeps us honest and motivated to get my pup out and about. The interface is good, not great, but fitbark are working on making it more user friendly — I know this bc fitbark actively solicited my feedback and explained the app’s feature. A good friend has the whistle but I was never convinced, esp after reading reviews. So happy I went with my gut and tried out this new product.

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.

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!

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.

My Furry Fitness Star – thanks to FitBark!

I LOVE this device! I’m an active person and enjoy using my fitness tracker to watch for patterns and keep up healthy competition with myself. This FitBark allows the furriest member of my family to participate in the fun as well and it has given me much more insight into my dog’s health and activity levels…which leads to her happiness! I think of Reina as a very active dog and she definitely is when I’m around, but this lets me know when she’s sleeping more often or perhaps is less active than normal. I’m then prompted and motivated to take her on a walk or get a new toy out to play with. I love her so much and I, of course want her to be happy & healthy. This little gadget is awesome for that and the journal portion of the app helps me capture the fun times and remember the important stuff. Couldn’t ask for more!

FitBark works!! Moose loves it!!

I’ve been waiting for this for a long time and couldn’t be happier!! After unpacking the FitBark and attaching it to Moose a few days ago, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I bought this, but am I glad I did!! When it arrived, I thought it might be complicated to set up and then found out that I couldn’t have been more wrong. To my surprise, the setup was effortless. I played tug of war with Moose with one hand and was able to set the FitBark up with my other. The rubber band they ship with the device snapped around Moose’s collar nice and snug. Moose even went for a swim yesterday and I can vouch, it is waterproof. He always gets great exercise but now I’m actually going to be able to chart it and compare against other dogs. Hopefully this inspires me to take a run with Moose so I can boost his step count. Thanks FitBark!

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?

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.

Definitely the best — works and works well. LOVE It!!!

Can’t say enough great things about it. We are dog people.. everyone in our family has a dog and now everyone in our family has a Fitbark! I tested both Fitbark and Whistle and the Whistle just doesn’t compare.. the Fitbark is the way to go (more about that later). Fitbark is small, lightweight, fits on the collar very well and the app is super easy to use. It doesn’t require cellular so there are no monthly fees. It is reliable…and the device on the collar actually records activity levels so that when a phone that is authorized w/the Fitbark app is near, it syncs and updates the server with the info (or if you buy the optional doghouse shaped Wifi base station, it will do it for you when your dog is near it). The portal is fun…you can compare your dogs activity to other dogs that you own or have been invited to monitor.
It is keeping us more active, too.. we want our dog to meet her goal so we take her for more walks!! Incredible.
One of the best features is that you can post pictures and information to the dog’s network so that everyone following him can see…this is great for pet professionals to keep in touch with the parents as well as family members to communicate with each other. Everyone I’ve showed this to has asked for one.. We have five and just ordered another ten!!! It’s also great because you can see WHEN your dog was active.. it tracks activity and time. The app is great, too.. all the data is so easy to understand and get to. It was very well thought out.
Lastly, Whistle would be great if it worked..except for the size, weight, and bulkiness. The GPS is the only reason to get it.. if activity is all you need just get Fitbark… but if you want GPS, I just don’t think the Whistle is ready. There is a 3 minute lag time which is FOREVER if you are trying to track a roaming pup and so far I can’t get activity working on Whistle and GPS is 6.95/month if you pay 2 years in advance…that’s a lot but it would be well worth it if it worked. I give Fitbark five stars–it’s awesome.

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.

Watch out for health-monitoring-addiction in your pet!

At first, this seemed like a great idea… I monitor my own bodily functions 8 ways to Sunday, so why shouldn’t my little Pookie have the same data? At first, things are great… Pookie takes to the challenge like a champ, getting more and more steps in every day, getting healthy, getting fit…

But then the darker side of pet fitness showed it’s paws. Next thing I know, Pookie is checking her barkPoints 4,5, even 6 or 7 times a day! She’s started waking me up early to go for an extra walk! I like having a fit pet, but I need my dang sleep! And, honestly… I can’t afford all the protein powders and post-workout-recovery-drinks Pookie is ordering.

I mean, it’s great that Pookie is taking an interest in education… I never managed to even get her to “sit” or “roll over”, and her obsession with Bark Points has gotten her back into school… she’ll be graduating with an MS in Kinesiology by the end of the year… but the constant reminders of how out of shape I am are really getting annoying… I even saw her setting the cat up with an exercise and diet plan.

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.

Definitely the best — works and works well. LOVE It!!!

Can’t say enough great things about it. We are dog people.. everyone in our family has a dog and now everyone in our family has a Fitbark! I tested both Fitbark and Whistle and the Whistle just doesn’t compare.. the Fitbark is the way to go (more about that later). Fitbark is small, lightweight, fits on the collar very well and the app is super easy to use. It doesn’t require cellular so there are no monthly fees. It is reliable…and the device on the collar actually records activity levels so that when a phone that is authorized w/the Fitbark app is near, it syncs and updates the server with the info (or if you buy the optional doghouse shaped Wifi base station, it will do it for you when your dog is near it). The portal is fun…you can compare your dogs activity to other dogs that you own or have been invited to monitor.
It is keeping us more active, too.. we want our dog to meet her goal so we take her for more walks!! Incredible.
One of the best features is that you can post pictures and information to the dog’s network so that everyone following him can see…this is great for pet professionals to keep in touch with the parents as well as family members to communicate with each other. Everyone I’ve showed this to has asked for one.. We have five and just ordered another ten!!! It’s also great because you can see WHEN your dog was active.. it tracks activity and time. The app is great, too.. all the data is so easy to understand and get to. It was very well thought out.
Lastly, Whistle would be great if it worked..except for the size, weight, and bulkiness. The GPS is the only reason to get it.. if activity is all you need just get Fitbark… but if you want GPS, I just don’t think the Whistle is ready. There is a 3 minute lag time which is FOREVER if you are trying to track a roaming pup and so far I can’t get activity working on Whistle and GPS is 6.95/month if you pay 2 years in advance…that’s a lot but it would be well worth it if it worked. I give Fitbark five stars–it’s awesome.

Great device and awesome app

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.

Fantastic App, great customer service!

With the latest update, the folks at fitbark made an already great app fantastic. We have three fitBark dogs and at a glance we can see if they are getting enough sleep and exercise. It’s very easy to dive in to get more data on a particular dog or look at larger trends, like sleep over the past month.

We really love the new Top Dog Board which ranks our pups in the house by activity. It also provides stats on similar dogs so you know how you’re dogs doing in comparison. This is super helpful since we have three dogs ranging from 3 months to 10 years and they obviously require different levels of playtime.

We really love this update. The customer service at Fitbark is amazing. They go out of their way to help and make sure your issue is resolved.

If you’re looking for an activity tracker for your dog this is the best one on the market.

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!!!

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

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.

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.

Big Fan of Fitbark aka fitbit for dogs

I’m a big fan of Fitbark. It helps keep my dog healthy and is generally a cool thing.

I was lucky enough to acquire a Fitbark by a chance encounter at SXSW this past Spring. I’ve been using it ever since then and have nothing but great things to say.

I’ve found several uses for Fitbark. For one, it helps my dog stay healthy in terms of exercise. In the past there were many times when I would only walk my dog for bathroom breaks, but thanks to Fitbark, I can see how long of a walk I need to take to ensure he gets the amount of energy required. Secondly, I’ve started to notice when Trevor has nighttime activity, which I can then map back to lack of exercise or him eating other types of foods. Finally it helps me monitor Trevor’s separation anxiety. Whenever I leave the house, he’s super active until he settles down. Thanks to Fitbark, I learned that the anxiety got better over time. That’s a great thing to know for any caring dog owner.

The app is pretty slick, it shows you your dog’s activity over days and weeks. All in all it’s a great way to improve your dog’s health.

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 🙂

FitBark: Accurate, inexpensive and fun for you and your dog!

We’ve had our True Red FitBark for nearly a month now, and it was more than worth the wait…we have a beautiful Australian Shepherd, a year and a half old, and she is nothing but motion! My wife and i have been curious since we got our dog just how much she really did during the day, and we’ve both worn the FitBit Human Activity Monitor for years, so we both had personal baselines. The FitBark has a feature that allows you to compare your human vs. your dogs activity level, and i have to tell you, we have a lot of work to do to keep our numbers up even near hers! The FitBark also shows you on a graph just how busy your dog has been, and when. Very helpful if you are trying to get an older or sedentary dog to move more, or pick up the activity level (and calorie burn) of a dieting dog. The software runs great on my iOS, is very details on both a daily and weekly level, and has gone a week+ before needing recharged. Our Mackenzie has a ton of dog friends, who play pretty rough, and has had no effect on the FitBark, the unit itself is very small and almost weightless, and so far, tough as nails. It has a very novel attachment scheme that allows for almost universal fit on nearly any collar, that stays tight, has not collected dirt and weeds in it, nor been snatched off by a rowdy buddy.
I have already had to contact Customer Service via email to help me get the most out of a feature and they responded quickly and were clear and very helpful, we accomplished my problem in 1 email exchange! Overall, we are very happy with our FitBark, and while it means nothing to our Mackenzie, we can monitor and modify what we need to, to keep her, and us, healthy and happier for a longer time.

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!!!

Small and easy to use

I have a Shih Tzu and was worried the Fitbark would be bulky around his neck. I didn’t need to worry as its really small and quite discreet. It doesn’t bother him at all.

The app was easy to install however takes some playing about with to get best out of product. However the basics of the product are really easy to navigate.

The product does what it says on the tin and we find it interesting especially looking at our dog’s sleeping habits. If you’re curious as to whether your dog is getting enough exercise or what it’s up to when you’re not around then this is a great tool.

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.

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.

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.

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

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 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.

A fitbit for dogs! Love it!

This is great — it keeps me honest! I have a basset hound, and it is soooo easy to just let her sleep on the couch and miss a walk. I have a fitbit, and this works to make sure I keep her active the same way the fitbit makes sure I stay active EVERY DAY and I can’t “rationalize” how much she actually moved around. The device doesn’t count steps, but “activity.” It is a fun app on my Iphone, connects via bluetooth. The monitor fit snugly and easily flat on her collar. Pearl is a bigger dog, and has a bigger collar; on my mother’s Chihuahua, however, I think the fitbark would be too big. It isn’t heavy — very lightweight — so the only issue on tiny little dogs would be bulk. The best thing is the attitude of the company…. this is a relatively new product, and they are continually updating and making changes to the software, and seem to have a really great and positive and FUN attitude. There is the option to share and have friends, just like with the fitbit. Love this, and it HAS helped give me the reason to shoo my dog off the couch and force her outside for a walk!

Ready, Set, Play!

We really like our FitBark! It works perfectly, the App is fantastic, the battery lasts a long time between charges, it’s size & shape are an exact fit for all dogs, and it is fun to use. While we haven’t needed to seek any customer service, it’s been very nice of the FitBark staff to reach out to us to let us know they are ready to help if we need them. When you add the top drawer customer service to such a great product it just makes me want to give them 7 stars out of 5. Tracking our dogs activity, play time, naps and goals is enhancing our bond and keeping our family fit! We highly recommend FitBark to our friends and if you’re thinking about getting one, do it! Your best furry friend will be so glad you did.

Tremendous customer service

I’ll be honest, I’m one of those annoyingly curious types who has a kajillion questions. The folks running the FitBark were very kind in answering my questions, three different people had to take a crack at answering my questions about the accuracy of the data for my specific dog (we have a 1 year old Cattle Dog, so yeah I really need to know if he’s getting enough exercise!). Ultimately the answer was “we’re still gathering data,” and even though it might have been uncomfortable for them to say, it was the truth. Even though it wasn’t exactly what I wanted to hear, I have a hard time not buying into an honest answer!

We took our FitBark swimming today, and my dog is one to hold his breath and stick his head under the water to find a stick. Not only did he find his stick, the FitBark is still gathering data!