With so many smart pet products hitting the market lately, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed trying to figure out what’s actually worth the investment. But after using the PetPace Smart Collar with my dog Freya, I can confidently say this is one gadget that absolutely lives up to the hype.
Freya is a high-energy, always-on-the-move Pharaoh Hound, and while she’s in good health, she is getting older, so I worry constantly. The PetPace collar gives me real-time insights into things like her vital signs, activity levels, and even her posture habits. I’ve tested a lot of pet tech over the years, and honestly? This one blew me away right from the get-go.
In this review, I’ll walk you through everything you need to know about the PetPace collar—from features to the app to pricing and who it’s best for—all from the perspective of a regular dog parent (not a vet or a techie). Whether your pup is aging, dealing with health issues, or just deserves a little extra attention, read on to see why I’m such a fan of this collar.
First, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page. Here’s what we’re talking about today:
The PetPace Smart Collar is a high-tech health tracker for dogs that monitors vital signs, activity, stress, and sleep—all in real time. Designed for comfort and built with vet-grade technology, it syncs with an easy-to-use app to give pet parents peace of mind and early alerts for potential health issues. Ideal for senior dogs or pets with medical conditions, it’s a powerful tool for proactive care in a sleek, wearable design.
⭐ GUARANTEED BEST PRICE ⭐
USE COUPON CODE TECHNO10 AT CHECKOUT TO SAVE 10%
FYI, this post includes affiliate links. If you buy anything through these links, we earn a commission. PetPace also sent me a collar to try out in exchange for an honest review.
What Is the PetPace Smart Collar?
Short version: The PetPace Smart Collar (which I also just refer to as “the PetPace”) is an advanced health-monitoring device for dogs. When I say “advanced,” I mean REALLY advanced. Most “health monitoring collars” focus mainly on activity levels and little-to-nothing more. They’ll tell you how much time your dog spent running around the yard and how much time they spent sleeping. Sure, even that little bit gives you some great insights, but PetPace goes WAAAAAAAAAY beyond that. Like, a thousand more “As” in “way” beyond.
For the much longer and more detailed answer, keep reading. Fair warning though, I have SO much to say about this collar, so this is going to be a long one. Don’t worry, if you’re a skimmer I’m adding the highlights in bullet points and bold text. 😀
Let’s start with a look at the top features and pros first. That’ll give you a better idea of what it is. Then, we’ll go over them in more detail (a lot more detail).
Key Features & Benefits of PetPace
When I say this is “a look” at the top features, I mean just that. It’s a very simplified peek. There are more features than this (and a lot more to each feature than can be summarized in a few words), but I picked out the top 10 to give you the best overview.
- Tracks temperature, pulse, respiration, and heart rate variability
- Lets you see those vital signs at a glance
- Track trends in vitals over hours, days, weeks, and months
- Monitors sleep quality and daily activity levels
- Syncs with app for easy data viewing & sends health alerts for abnormal readings
- AI-driven pain and stress analysis
- Tracks posture (lying, standing, sitting)
- Long battery life (lasts several days per charge)
- Built-in GPS for real-time location tracking
- Fits most dog sizes with adjustable collar options
And now for the detailed version. Grab your coffee now, friends, because this is where I start to get really wordy!
Vital Sign Monitoring to the Extreme
PetPace is the first health monitoring collar that I’ve ever seen that lets you monitor almost every single vital sign imaginable, including pulse (plus min/max pulse as a separate section), respiration, HRV (heart rate variability), and temperature.
The only thing that it doesn’t measure is pulse ox (how much oxygen is detected in your dog’s blood). Although, come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen my vet measure that either, so maybe it’s not something they check in dogs?
If you’re wondering how it can get all of those accurate readings from just a small gadget worn on your dog’s neck…well, so was I. The PetPace team sent me over a TON of articles and data to go through to get a better understanding of how it works. Some of it is way over my non-engineering head, but here’s the gist:
First, that “small gadget” is a powerhouse of technology containing thermometers, sensors, and accelerometers (plus GPS, but that’s a whole different section). Seriously, there are like 8 patents involved. Then there are the little cones (those little spiky things you see inside the collar, which look scary at first but are actually super flexible, soft, and comfortable for your dog). I’m not entirely sure how they work, but they act as “acoustic concentrators.”
See Those Vital Signs at a Glance
When it comes to monitoring those vital signs, you have a few options. First, right from day one you can track vitals in almost real time (depending on the settings you use, which we’ll go over in a few).
This was the most important feature for me because I take Freya for long walks every day. Some days we go up into the development (which is built into the side of a mountain, and I sit smack-dab in the middle of it, so I do mean UP), and other times we go down to the lake. Either way, it involves big hills and can be a bit strenuous. I worry that it may be too strenuous for her sometimes.
Having the ability to just open up the app and look at her respiration and heart rate to make sure it’s within a healthy range is a huge relief for me. It also makes her life better because we’re not turning around before she’s ready, just because I’m afraid she’s overdoing it. And she WILL overdo it if I leave it entirely up to her. She is a sighthound. A hunting breed. They don’t know the meaning of “too much” or “too fast.” When they’re on a mission (and that’s how she treats her walks), they will not quit. Period.
Speaking of walks, now is as good a place as any to mention that you can’t attach a leash to the PetPace Collar. It’s compact enough though that it works just fine with any other regular collar.
See trends in vital signs over time
I should mention this first- in order to unlock the AI insights that we’ll talk about shortly, you need to let your dog wear the collar almost continuously for 12 weeks so that the ML and AI has time to gather information. However, you do not need to wait that long to be able to see trends in your dog’s vital signs. You can look at those on day one if you know where and how to look.
In the Health tab of the app, you’ll see three sections at the very top: fever, pulse, and respiration. The numbers in those boxes are the most recent readings. Click on any one of them and you’ll see the current daily readings for that vital sign. You’ll also notice that you can switch between hours, days, week, and month. Click on “pulse” (or whatever vital sign you’re looking at) and you’ll see this menu:
From there you can easily open up ANY of the things that PetPace tracks and view the data over hours, days, the week, or months. I love this feature because it gives me a better idea of how Freya is doing overall versus just at a specific moment in time.
Monitor daily activity levels
Even with the most basic of all health-monitoring features, PetPace goes above and beyond. Monitoring your dog’s activity level goes beyond just “they ran for an hour today and slept for 8 hours.”
First, you’ll get a basic breakdown in a pretty pie chart showing their overall “Activity Level,” including how much time they spent in high, medium, low, and restful activities.
Then, if you head over to “Activity Score,” you’ll get a more detailed chart showing how active they were during any given hour, day, week, or month. FYI, this is also a handy feature to look at when you’re off on an adventure because it gives you an idea of how hard your dog is working. For example, this is a bit of the chart from this morning’s walk:
I can see that while her activity level was higher when we were climbing the hills, the spike wasn’t THAT extreme compared to her medium activity levels. I hope that makes sense. It basically just tells me in another way that I’m not overdoing it with her.
Track your dog’s posture
This is another cool thing that I haven’t seen done in other “doggy Fitbits.” The PetPace collar actually keeps track of how much time your dog spends lying on the right side, left side, stomach, and in a sitting or standing position.
Why would you care about this, aside from just being obsessed with every bit of data you can get on your dog? Mainly because it can help you figure out if your dog is favoring a specific position without staring at them 24/7. That information can then help you determine if there is maybe something going on that makes them not want to lie on their left side, for example.
There is one limitation to this, though, that especially affects us sighthound owners. It doesn’t register the amount of time your dog spends sleeping on her back. Like most sighthound breeds, Freya sleeps in what we call the “roaching” position- on her back with her feet in the air (think deceased roach, that’s where the name comes from). Still, even with that limitation, being able to see how much time she spends in different positions is helpful, especially when I already suspect that she’s strained a leg muscle on one side.
AI-driven Analysis
All of this information continually feeds the AI living inside the collar (or the app, I’m not sure which, and “living” is just me anthropomorphizing the AI, which I tend to do with a lot. Just ask my robot vacuum, Paul.) This is where that 12-week journey comes into play and unlocks different insights at different intervals.
For example, after 49 days, you’ll unlock your dog’s health profile. In 70 days, you’ll see her pain score. After 84 days, her wellness score. The workout score pops up pretty quickly though. I can’t remember if it was on day one or two, but definitely one of those.
You’ll also unlock other analytics, including trends (this is different from the trends you can look at yourself), historical comparison, and PetPace comparison.
Beautiful User-Friendly App
Given the sheer amount of information that the PetPace Smart Collar gathers, a user-friendly app is a must. Otherwise, how are you supposed to actually see and make sense of that information, right? I won’t lie; I was a little intimidated when I first got into the PetPace app (after a super simple setup process to connect it to the collar). It looks overwhelming, but I promise you it isn’t.
They designed this app specifically for us consumer users (vets and researchers have a whole different dashboard), and they did an amazing job at making it very intuitive. It took me about one “app exploration session” (where I just opened and closed every single thing I could find) to figure out every single setting and figure out what does what.
Another thing I love is that the app doesn’t just throw info at you and leave you to figure out what it all means. See that little “i” icon at the bottom of the example of Freya’s posture score? If you touch that, it opens up details about what the posture score actually means. You’ll find that little pop-up on everything that PetPace tracks.
Oh, and the whole app is highly customizable, too. Just open the hamburger menu in the upper left corner on the main page to access app settings, pet settings, collar settings, support, and more. In the app settings you can change your language, password, and units of measurement. The pet settings let you set up your dog’s profile, configure the collar (including the intervals for data collection), set up goals, and turn on alerts.
Crazy Long Battery Life
As with every single battery-operated product ever created, the actual battery life depends entirely on usage. In this case, mainly on the collar operation mode intervals combined with how much time it’s in tracking mode.
I currently have mine set to Intensive (every 5 minutes). That’s the fastest interval that still allows for GPS tracking. It’s been at least a week since I charged the collar and it’s currently at 40%. With the average dog who spends most of their time near your Wi-Fi, the battery lasts about 3 weeks.
Speaking of the settings, you can also set it to 2 minutes, but you sacrifice the GPS in the process. Or you can leave it on the Standard (every 30 mins) or set it to Rapid (every 15 minutes). I know the screenshot below says that I have mine set to Rapid. I took it before I changed it.
Built-in GPS for real-time location tracking
So, for me, this is kind of a nice extra versus the reason that I wanted this collar so much. The very first PetPace collar didn’t include GPS tracking. When they realized that people wanted this feature, they added it. It’s a very solid tracker that will give you the information necessary to find a lost dog, but it’s not the most advanced tracker on the market.
I do like that you can switch between live tracking and historical data. I didn’t take a screenshot of live tracking, but I did try it out on a walk and it was very accurate. The historical data is great because if you have an escape artist you can see everywhere that she’s been once she’s back home.
Side note, I have no idea what that Happy Tales Farm is near me. I’ve never heard of it, but it’s on every single GPS map on every collar I own. One of these days I’ll drive over there and see. 😀
As usual, I digressed. Where was I? Oh! GPS tracking. So yeah, it does an awesome job in my opinion, but it’s not the main focus of the collar. Think of this as a health monitor with bonus GPS tracking…not a GPS tracking collar with bonus health monitoring features.
Limitations and Drawbacks
At this point in a review, I would usually break down what I see as significant issues with a product. With PetPace, though, there aren’t really any significant issues so much as minor limitations or “gee, I wish” things. I mentioned some of them above, but I’ll reiterate them (along with a few other tiny things) for those of you who skimmed right past my Epic Ode to PetPace. The anonymous writer of Beowulf has nothing on me. 😀
- Posture score doesn’t factor in dogs who sleep on their back.
- It doesn’t monitor barking. I don’t mind this because Freya is a loudmouth, but I can see how someone may see it as a drawback.
- It takes 12 weeks to unlock all of the AI analysis (but you can see all vitals instantly)
- It has a proprietary charger. You know how I feel about those. If you lose it, you have to order a replacement. It is a really easy-to-use charger, though.
- Only comes in black, which is really only an issue if you like your dog’s collar to match your dog (yeah, I’m that kind of weirdo).
- You need a subscription BUT you’re paying for it when you buy the collar, and the collar price goes down depending on which option you choose. See image below.
A bit more on the subscription- I really love that you don’t have to jump through hoops to activate the collar with a subscription. You just connect the collar to the app and the subscription is already there. It’s SUPER SIMPLE to set up.
Who Needs the PetPace Smart Collar 2.0?
Honestly? Everyone with a dog could benefit from using the PetPace. But I’m guessing you want something a bit more targeted here, right? Okay. In my opinion, it’s perfect for:
- Senior dogs
- Dogs with current health issues
- Dog breeds prone to health issues
- Working dogs (especially those working in extreme temps)
- People like me who are just a tad obsessed with their dog and want every bit of data possible on them.
I could probably call out a hundred more scenarios in which this collar would help make life better for you and your dog, but I think you get the message by now. Before I get to the conclusion, I just want to cover one more topic. I promise I’m wrapping it up.
Why Should I Trust Your PetPace Review?
So, at this point you’re thinking “affiliate links plus review product equals less-than-unbiased review, so why should I trust this random chick on the internet?” Hey, I get it. I can tell you that I don’t lie about loving things all day long, but you don’t know me from Adam.
Here’s the thing: it’s not just me saying that this collar is the best thing since sliced bread. Not by a long shot. PetPace is a multiple-award winner. It’s won the PC Mag Excellence Award, the IoT Breakthrough Award for Wearable Device of the Year, and most recently the Global Tech award for Wearable Technology category.
PetPace is also validated by over a decade of clinical research and endorsed by major universities. It’s used by veterinarians, K9 units, and pretty much anyone other professionals who needs a reliable dog health monitor.
Plus, the credentials of Dr. Asaf Dagan (co-founder of PetPace and the Chief Veterinary Scientist) are just incredible. According to his bio, he’s a Tufts Graduate, Diplomate of the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners (ABVP), specializing in Canine and Feline medicine. He’s also certified in veterinary acupuncture and has completed advanced training in diagnostic ultrasound, laser surgery techniques and orthopedics.
In short, this isn’t a gadget created by some random tech company that wanted to capitalize on nervous dog parents. YEARS of research and testing went into its creation, and it really shows.
Conclusion (Finally)
Very long story short, the PetPace Smart Collar 2.0 is pretty much the coolest and most advanced dog health monitor on the entire planet. The fact that I wrote over 3,000 words about it should tell you how much I love it. It’s been a long while since I’ve written so many words about one thing. Even with everything I already said, I still feel like I’m forgetting something. There’s just so much to talk about with this collar. If you have any questions on something that I didn’t cover (or even something I covered), feel free to email me.
I always end with an “is it worth it” section, but I think you can tell from above that yes, I do think it’s worth it. It’s worth it a thousand times over, honestly! Seriously, if you’re concerned about your dog’s health for any reason, you won’t regret buying this.
The PetPace Smart Collar is a high-tech health tracker for dogs that monitors vital signs, activity, stress, and sleep—all in real time. Designed for comfort and built with vet-grade technology, it syncs with an easy-to-use app to give pet parents peace of mind and early alerts for potential health issues. Ideal for senior dogs or pets with medical conditions, it’s a powerful tool for proactive care in a sleek, wearable design.
⭐ GUARANTEED BEST PRICE ⭐
USE COUPON CODE TECHNO10 AT CHECKOUT TO SAVE 10%
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