Wow, this monitor is impressive, right? It's incredible that you can keep track of your pooch's health, sleep patterns, and even his activity. Keep your pooch healthier and learn more about his habits by investing in a wellness monitor:

The Voyce health and wellness monitor bypasses human biology entirely, and sets its sights on canis familiaris, a species with much less capricious technology habits.

Yeah, it’s another canine wearable. But instead of merely recording pawsteps, the Voyce band also tracks resting heart and respiratory rates, two biometrics that can provide deep insights into a dog’s health.

It’s also limited to dogs with 12-inch necks or larger. It’s also got an annoying, ever-blinking LED, and looks like cold, sterile medical equipment.

A month’s worth of doggie data
The collar was originally slated to be available by summer 2014, but Voyce hit a snag with FCC approval. The FCC finally landed on a protocol for testing and certifying this application for dogs, and now the Voyce band is shipping.

Every day for the last month, I’ve been checking Whiskey’s heart rate and respiratory data, and her readings have been blissfully normal. I haven’t seen any alarming heart rate spikes, and her breathing rates have varied between a relaxed 11 and 16 breaths per minute. The Voyce band takes these two readings when your dog is at full rest, and then reports a three-day rolling average.

To this end, the Voyce platform include a “vet view” that gathers up all relevant data, and exports it to PDF. You can then send the file to your pet doctor to provide him or her with a deeper level of diagnostic insights. Voyce says its technology is greater than 90 percent accurate when compared to a holter monitor or Televet.

If you check your dog’s Voyce data regularly, you may even be able to spot a developing medical problem. To this end, Voyce gives your dog a new voice in her own health and wellness effort.

For example, elevated heart rates can be an indication of pain, fever or infection. Elevated respiratory rates might suggest a heart problem or an issue with your dog’s endocrine system.

Whiskey never demonstrated any discomfort wearing Voyce, but it looks a bit like a shock collar or a GPS tracker for parolees.

The Voyce team is sensitive to turning pet parents into hypochondriacs, so the platform includes a library of professionally sourced articles on health, behavior and nutrition, among other topics.

Deep dives into activity and sleep
Throughout my testing, I sifted through Whiskey’s data with interest, observing how much exercise she was getting at doggie daycare on weekdays versus time spent at dog parks on the weekends. The Voyce dashboard’s activity data shows periods of low, medium, and high intensity levels, as well as estimates of miles covered, all based on accelerometer readings.
The dashboard doesn’t report sleep like a human activity tracker would. Instead it reports rest, which combines actual sleep with simple sedentary activity like kicking back on the couch and waiting for the fun to begin. I was surprised to discover that Whiskey’s average daily rest count is 21 hours a day.

For what it’s worth, I’m not worried that Whiskey is under-exercised. Looking at my Voyce dashboard, I can identify her most active days and correlate her numbers to night-time behavior. On the days when Whiskey has even approached 20 percent activity time, she’s been absolutely wiped out at night, suggesting she’s passed her limit.

A portal for all your dog’s details
Your subscription fees cover all these features, and also pay for storing your dog’s data on the Voyce servers. It’s a robust platform, but it’s worth noting that all popular human wellness wearables come with free monthly cloud service.

Another gripe: There’s no mobile app. Instead, the website employs a “responsive” design that automatically adjusts the user interface for smaller devices like tablets and smartphones.

Not the wearable for dainty dogs
As for the collar itself, well, let’s just say it’s not ready for Project Runway. I want Whiskey’s coat to look lush and healthy, but I’m not interested in doggie fashion, so Voyce’s cold, institutional aesthetic doesn’t bother me (and I know it doesn’t bother Whiskey).

The Voyce collar currently comes in four sizes, supporting necks as scrawny as 12 inches and as burly as 32 inches. That’s a wide range, but if you intend to buy Voyce for a toy breed, you’ll have to wait for i4C Innovations to miniaturize the collar further. The company is targeting the Q4 2015/Q1 2016 time frame for that next step.

The current LED has an auto-dimming feature for low-light situations, and the company says this will improve even further when Voyce moves to a new LED.

Can you put a price on a family member’s health?
In sum total: Voyce suffers a number of version 1 problems, but the most serious ones are being addressed. “Casual” pet parents will bristle at the idea of paying membership fees, but “casual” pet parents probably shouldn’t care for pets in the first place. Would I buy Voyce if total cost of ownership added up to $1000 a year? Probably not. Instead I would lean on my vet to spot trouble signs. But $350 a year isn’t an exorbitant price for all the interesting insights and diagnostic data that Voyce provides.

Imagine if your doggy is not healthy but you have no other way of telling except for this health monitor. It's incredible that by observing your pooch's heart rate that you can tell if there's something to worry about! You can take your findings to your vet, and he may be able to tell what is going on. This innovative doggy data can not only save your doggy's life but help prevent future health issues as well. We can't wait to see what else this company develops in the future! Stay up to date on Voyce and the company's future developments on PCWorld.