You might be shocked by this cool pet tech but your dog won’t be.
Accelerate Baltimore winner and Baltimore-based businessman Jared Marmen recently launched a crowdfunding campaign for Chord, a smart collar for dogs, on the Indiegogo website. “For thousands of years, humans and dogs have thrived as companions without humans shocking their dogs remotely. That capability was developed in the last 50 years. I believe that 50 years from now, no one will be punishing a dog with a remote device. There are a bunch of paths to get there. Education and legislation can be effective, but our goal with Chord is to render the shock collar obsolete by providing an alternative that works better. When pet owners have a more convenient, more humane, better performing technology, the shock collar will go extinct. That is where we can make the biggest impact with Chord" said Marmen.
Chord is not a shock collar, so it looks nothing like the box-on-a-collar. It is sleek and lightweight, and looks a bit like a thick, rugged leather collar. But that is where the similarities end. Chord is packed with electronics like batteries and haptic motors that make it vibrate and speakers that play your voice or other audible cues.
One thing that it does not have is anything that could harm a dog. On this point Marmen was very passionate. He said, “Even in the hands of a professional, punishment-based approaches are limited. In the hands of the rest of us, shock collars can be dangerous and cruel. Shock collars have a negative effect on dogs and make (most) humans uncomfortable and less confident using them.”
The Chord collar has been years in the making. It was developed in collaboration with professional pet trainers and can help train new pets, create invisible fences, monitor pet health, and enhance a pet’s security via GPS tracking. Marmen explained, “We have the technology to make life easier in so many other ways. Why not take the work and stress out of pet ownership too? Plus, the freedom to do things with your pet that nobody has been able to do before is pretty cool.”
So how does it work? Chord is like having a trainer accompany your pet at all times, keeping them safe and engaged while reducing behavior pet owners find annoying or inconvenient. Marmen explained, “Chord is built on the premise that we have the technology at our disposal to remove the inconveniences of pet ownership, to improve the quality of our pets’ lives, and to really improve animal welfare in the world at large.” Chord leverages existing mobile technology, does not require expensive screens, mobile networks, or data plans.
The introduction of Chord seems similar in many ways to the introduction of the first smartphone: it’s familiar, intuitive, yet it’s abundantly clear that it will change the way humans interact with the world around them. Marmen added a message for target customers: “We have felt pressure from potential investors to take the easy way out and put our electronics and software into a box-on-collar type design. They don’t get it. No, you, the visionary, compassionate, and open-minded dog owner, are our only viable option to fund the production of the smart collar you deserve. We would love to have you in our corner!”
Indiegogo Campaign: igg.me/at/chordcollar
