Let’s Talk About Bones

Hung off Fido’s collar, the PetCell is a bone-shaped cell phone that will let dog owners talk to their best friend over a two-way speaker. Wired News had the story today, as snow fell over the Patriots/Bills game on TV.

“The PetCell will ship in early 2006 and will sell for $350 to $400, the company said. President Cameron Robb said he got the idea for the phone while sharing a hotel room with a colleague at a convention.

“I overheard him talking to his dogs,” said Robb. “I was mimicking and making fun of it, but the reality was his wife was holding the phone down to the dog.”

The ability to track a lost pet has most dog lovers excited. The PetCell has a “call owner” button in case Rover strays. It also includes assisted GPS, or A-GPS, which works indoors, allowing dog owners to map their pup’s coordinates from any web-enabled device or by dialing a voice-enabled call center.

“When dogs disappear, it’s the first 15 minutes that are the most important,” said San Francisco dog trainer Youngblood Harris. “If your dog runs out of the dog park and you don’t see if he went left or right, (PetCell) would make life a lot easier,” Harris said.

The PetCell will also have an option called GeoFence that will alert owners whenever their dog wanders beyond preset parameters, and built-in temperature sensors to indicate if the dog is too hot or cold.