For a start young puppies aren't the best walkers, 15 minutes of exercise may be made up of 14 minutes of your pup refusing to go anywhere, leaving a big grey area over how much exercise they're actually getting. Also, although you're technically walking with them, if you're over the park and they are either off lead or on a long lead, the chances are they are wandering all over the place, a 2.5km walk in the park for me could easily be a 4km walk for Cooper. Several trackers now come with an app which will monitor your dogs activity and give you a recommendation based on their breed and age on how much exercise they should be getting. Problem solved.

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Also aside from appealing to people's nosy sides, activity trackers can actually be beneficial from a medical point of view, most people can't watch their dogs all day, so you may not immediately notice any changes of behaviour. Looking at the tracker details daily you will quickly be able to pick up any sudden changes in behaviour, and even better, you can show all the information directly to your vet for them to see and analyse. 

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If you want to get one that does GPS as well you can track your dog on your phone- ideal if your dog decides to go on a solo adventure while off lead. Or if they escape from home, it can save a frantic hunt trying to work out which direction they've gone in!

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So now, to make thing's fair, let's cover some of the negatives. Depending on the size of your dog some trackers can be quite bulky on their collar- although advances in technology mean they are getting increasingly smaller. 

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The main thing that I did when I ordered my tracker was to also order a breakaway collar.  You should never technically leave your dog unattended with a collar on as there is a massive risk of strangulation. However as the tracker attaches to your dogs collar and you want to keep it on them all day, it meant finding a different option. 

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The other main negative for me centres around the GPS trackers. Most of which, on top of a hefty price tag, also demand a monthly subscription. Personally if Cooper is off lead I want him in sight, and if I thought he was going to go right out of my site he'd be back on a lead asap. Unfortunately, especially around London, the number of dogs getting stolen is forever on the increase, I wouldn't risk it. Which brings me to point 2, if someone did steal your dog, it would take them 2 seconds to take their collar off, and by default the tracker with it. 

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So basically yes, they're not perfect, but if you are the slightest bit nosey about what your dog gets up to during the day then I'd say they're definitely worth a go!