Fitness with your dog made better: Dog-E-Glow and Thank Dog iPhone app

Two fitness products for people and their dogs have come my way that are worth a mention - Dog-E-Glow and Thank Dog! Bootcamp (a mobile app). I'll likely be including them in holiday articles on San Jose Fitness Examiner, but space constraints and format there make it easier for me to tell the longer story here.

Cardio with your dog: Thank Dog! iPhone app

Thank Dog! Mobile is an app developed by Metova, Inc. for iPhone/iPod touch. This health and fitness app goes for $.99 and allows users to enjoy a challenging program of cardio and strength training, plus dog obedience training, all at the same time.  

It is created by the people who run the Thank Dog! Bootcamp facility in LA, which incorporates nine dog commands. The mobile app includes only the four most basic: heel, sit, down and stay.

Having no dog to train nor to work out with, I didn't try it out but I like the idea. Here is a description from the company:

The cardiovascular parts of the program benefit both dogs and their owners, making both physically tired and mentally stimulated. Included are a variety of heart rate boosting activities, such as jogs, sprints, high knees, wide steps, and more. At every step, users are encouraged to go at their own pace, substituting activities of lesser or greater difficulty whenever appropriate.

Safer nighttime dog leash: Dog-E-Glow

Dog-E-Glow is a line of LED-lit collars and leashes that are cute and practical. The company sent me one of each to test, and I took the leash to a party where pets were included. After dark, I put the leash on on of the dogs and took her for a walk.

Totally cute.

Everyone was oohing and ahhhing and talking about how much they disliked walking their dogs in the winter because it's so dark, and difficult to be seen. The LED lights on Dog-E-Glow remain steady, or blink on and off.  Priced under $30 each, I could have sold a half a dozen right there at the party. I figured I knew what I was buying all my dog friends for the holidays.

Then the bad news.  While the leash worked as promoted, the collar wouldn't work with the batteries included, even with the backup batteries included.  It was a new collar in the sealed package, so it's not that I got some demo model. I was apparently sent a collar that would have gone to a customer.

In any case, a new set of batteries got me set up but after two days of testing, the built-in off/on button stopped working. The lights would go on, but to turn them off, I had to unscrew the battery case and remove the batteries.  After doing that once or twice, I had pretty much ruined the small screw that held the battery case closed. 

We all know things like this happen, and the company has online customer support which I did not use.  Instead, I emailed the contact who sent me the samples and in addition to an apology, and the assurance this rarely happens, was told that any time the product doesn't perform the policy is to replace it.  

I'd still give it as a gift, but now consider it more a novelty than a product built to last. 

Here's the PR info on the Dog-E-Glow
  
Dog-E-Glow has 12 illuminated stylish designs apart of their Fashion Collection and 48 NCAA Division I Universities LED logo designs in their Collegiate Collection available in matching LED collar and leash sets including the following product highlights:

• Collars & leashes are seen up to 1,000 feet away for maximum visibility
• Medium and large sizes with all leashes 6 feet in length 
•  Collar and leash lights are visible when turned on in a steady, flashing or off mode
•   Weather resistant