"Whistle" While We Work

Want to know what your dog does all day, every day, for the rest of his life? Even while he's asleep? I recently came across a new fun little gadget aimed at dog lovers. It is called Whistle, and is essentially a dog monitor that simply attaches to the dog collar. Once snugly in place, Whistle keeps track of all of your dog's activity throughout the day, such as how much exercise he is getting, how much sleep, and even who is spending time with your beloved pooch. Whistle collects all of this data, which can then be accessed by your smart phone, 24/7. You can set goals for your dog, such as the amount of exercise your vet recommends, or how much sleep, and Whistle will create reports which will show you the progress of the goal. When a goal has been met, you can even share the milestone on social media with family, friends, and even your vet (so exciting!) Speaking of the vet...Whistle even creates Veterinarian Insights for you to bring to your dog's next appointment. At this point, Whistle is sounding like a souped up, highly intelligent, dog pedometer to me. I'm definitely intrigued.

The feature that had my little heart all a-flutter, though, was the ability to actually report on times and lengths of dog walks throughout the day, as well as being able to see who your dog is hanging out with during the day, and when. You see, dog walking is my bread and butter. I am the manager of a dog walking company, and it has become my sworn duty to keep the sloth-prone dogs of the world up off of the couch throughout the day with super-duper fun 30-minute walks.  My army of dog walkers are out there 7-days a week, walking, scooping, feeding, and watering, and then providing an element of proof to the two-legged parents (and me) that a walk actually occurred. The walkers leave time-stamped notes which lets the parents (and me) know that the dogs did in fact get their walk. For some of the more "detail-oriented", tech-happy parents, notes are not enough, and they require text messages after each walk. These texts generally must include a potty report and an exercise status update, along with a snapshot of their furry little pooch. This info assures the parent that the walk was successful in making their little dog happy, and therefore worth the money. There is a very easy equation to keep customers happy in this business: Happy Dog + Healthy Dog = Happy Customer. And everyone knows that Happy Customer = Repeat Customer = More Money in the Bank for the Biz.

So how can I keep my tech-savvy customers happy, while keeping track of what my walkers are up to throughout the day? This is where Whistle comes in. Here is an ingenious little gadget that can not only keep me in the loop as far as what my employees are doing with the dogs, but keeps the owners in the loop as well, AND keeps the parents up-to-date on the health of their dog! LOVE IT! Being able to find out anything via your smart phone has become the expectation of essentially every consumer on the planet nowadays, and apparently info about our own dogs is no exception. Whistle would be a fantastic little addition to my dog walking empire. You can check it out for yourself here: www.whistle.com