Dog Owners, You Should Know About These Awesome Gadgets

Wearable tech for pups! You monitor your own activity and sleep, why not your dog’s? FitBark($85 and up)> clips on your canine’s collar and synchronizes with Bluetooth so you can see what he or she is doing at day care or when home alone. Plus, you can easily share the info with your vet. Fits any breed/size and weighs only eight grams.

Compatible with Android and iOS

My friends who have anxious dogs swear by ThunderShirt ($40). The shirt works by applying gentle pressure, swaddling the dog like you would a baby, and keeps him or her calm during travel, thunderstorms, or everyday issues. It comes in a variety of sizes and colors and boasts a greater than 80 percent success rate. If your pup is excited, frightened, or nervous, it’s worth a shot, and it sure beats medication.

Arms tired of constantly throwing? Invest in hands-free fetch with iFetch ($115). When your dog drops the mini tennis ball in the machine, it automatically tosses it and repeats until the pup is exhausted. Includes three launch settings (10, 20, and 30 feet) and comes with three balls and an AC adapter.

Keep your BFF safe on those night walks and early runs with this Halo Mini LED Dog Collar ($35). The lightweight, weather-resistant collars recharge via USB and are available in green, red, and blue (also available as belts and safety strips for humans).

No more bulky food and water bowls! Dexas is making a Popware for Pets ($3 and up) line, and the collapsible bowls, bottles, and travel cups are super easy and convenient for travel or home use.

Halloween is coming and the costumes just get better every year! My personal favorites are the Star Wars AT-AT from ThinkGeek ($30) and the Animal Planet Raptor costume from BuyCostumes ($20).

You’re not the only one who wants to stay dry on those rainy-day walks! Suit the pup up in an adorable rain suit ($40 and up).

This Kickstarter-backed campaign makes every dog disco-ready with a twinkling LED vest (pledgers who ponied up $300 will be receiving a small vest). The warm, lightweight Disco Dog outerwear ($300 and up) is emblazoned with 256 lights, which you can control with your mobile device, changing the patterns or even programming in text. The best part: if the pup wanders too far, “Lost Dog” flashes on the vest.

Fetch just got a whole lot more intense with the K-9 Kannon ($20). Launch tennis balls up to 75 feet and get your A game on.

Need a new friend for your best friend? Start swiping with Tindog (free). (True story, Tinder has gone to the dogs.) Since its June launch, the site lays claim to more than 300,000 matches and 1 million swipes right via this free app for pet owners.

Available for iOS and Android

First up, let’s honor our rescue owners and shelters across the country. If you’re a rescue owner, this could be your big chance to raise money (up to $100,000) for your favorite shelter.

Just upload a photo to myrescue.dog of the dog you adopted from a shelter and the site, in partnership with Petfinder Foundation, will automatically donate $10; if anyone “likes” the dog’s picture, $1 more is donated. The 16 adopters with the most votes will get to choose the shelters that will receive large sums of cash.

I am personally working directly on this campaign and have to tell you it’s been so heartwarming to hear all the amazing stories!