Whether you’re walking around your neighborhood, running in City Park, or if you’ve hit the trails around Table Mountain or Chautauqua recently, you probably saw a bundle of fur joyfully running around at top speed. As they continue to be man’s best friend, dogs are everywhere. In Colorado it feels like they’re especially popular due to the numerous outdoor activities dogs and their human companions can enjoy together. But what if that relationship between dogs and owners could somehow be enhanced? Local startup WÜF, is about to change the way you interact with your dog with the worlds smartest dog collar. Innovators Peak writer, Matthew Hartman recently met with WÜF co-founders Sean Kelly and Lizelle Van Vuuren at their Denver offices at Galvanize and got to see the “WÜF Pack” in action.

WÜF has created a state-of-the-art dog collar that not only tacks your dog, but will allow you to communicate with it and provide training programs and games that dogs and their owners can enjoy. “I grew up with dogs all my life” says Sean Kelly, “we had the invisible fence for quite awhile and I saw how well that worked. It kept the dogs in and we didn’t have a big ugly fence.” When smartphones and bluetooth enabled devices became popular it got Sean thinking of the possibilities of using these devices as a kind of mobile invisible fence.

As Sean reveals, tragedy was the impetus for WÜF. “WÜF came about, unfortunately by a painful incident,” says Sean.  During a regular, routine walk; Sean’s family dog ran off. “There was a good 3 or 4 hours there where we couldn’t find her. She was chipped, but that’s only good if someone finds her and takes her to a vet.” Later Sean and his family received a phone call that their dog had been hit can killed by a car. It was this moment that pushed Sean out of running service-based companies and into something that could help people and pets alike. 

Almost 10 million dogs run away each year in America. Sadly of that 10 million, nearly 4 million never make it back to their owners. “That leads to 4 million families in pain and grief because they just lost a family member,” says Sean. After finding an engineer and an app developer online to help him build a proof of concept – he realized the things he was envisioning were possible and WÜF was born. In just a few months time Sean had assembled his team including co-founder and head of marketing Lizelle Van Vuuren.

“Sean was actually accepted to Boomtown Boulder,” says Lizelle, “that’s actually where we met.” Because of the accelerator program at Boomtown Boulder – Sean, Lizelle and the rest of the WÜF development team - or “WÜF Pack” as they like to call themselves - were able to network and make valuable and necessary connections throughout Boulder and Denver. “It’s a goal of ours to be a true Colorado Company,” says Sean. “We hope to be one of those companies that grows here, with Galvanize, with the industry and hire a lot of Colorado employees and turn this into a real tech company on the map for Denver and Boulder.

Beyond becoming a burgeoning tech company, Lizelle explains the dream of becoming a major Colorado-associated brand along side names lick Coors and Crocs. “It’s been awhile since Colorado has reached a really fresh consumer brand,” says Lizelle, “we’re certainly gearing up to be that.” Sean and Lizelle both site the business collaborative atmosphere as one of the many benefits of being located in Colorado. “Colorado is unique,” says Lizelle, “it’s the first state in the entire country to have its own Chief Marketing Officer in Aaron Kennedy who was the founder of Noodles and Co., we’re trying to get his attention.”

On top of being a very startup friendly sate and being very “local” focused, Colorado is also a state that loves dogs and embraces a healthy, active outdoor lifestyle. “WÜF is a wearable tech for pets company,” says Lizelle, “we’re building the world’s smartest dog collar. This is going to have to be embraced by our incredible Colorado community. It’s a very organic position for us to take.” Lizelle goes on to site that people are more likely to get up and move around because the family dog hasn’t gone for a walk yet increasing better health practices for not only dogs but for people as well. The innovative programming in the WÜF smart collar is designed to improve and enhance that experience.

The numerous features of the WÜF smart collar are a fantastic selling point for the device. From GPS location and activity tracking to feeding recommendations depending on breed are major incentives unto themselves. However, as Sean points out, it’s the device’s patented two-way communication ability that should get people really excited. “It works just like a cellphone. When you’re away from work, you can call them, check in on them, and make sure they know you’re still there and reduce separation anxiety.” By utilizing the manual and automatic commands, owners will have the ability to communicate with their dog and train their dog from anywhere. “We’re giving dogs their first cellphone,” jokes Lizelle.

An extension of the two-way communication function is the “invisible leash.” After gong through the training programs, users will be able to determine the space their dog is allowed to roam. If the dog is about to breach that established radius, the collar vibrates or issues a command for the dog to return to the owner automatically. “Now you can go anywhere and feel confident in allowing your dog to roam and have that freedom, but also bring them back to you whenever you need.”

Another exciting feature of the device are the games and gamification training programs. Users are able to train their dog step by step to not only get used to wearing the device but also learn new commands and training techniques. Users also will be able to compete with other users and are incentivized to keep themselves and their dogs active through coupons and additional game unlocks. “We really want to get other people and developers involved,” says Sean, “we’re making this open API and open SDK where dog-loving technologists can use our platform to build games and features.”

Now into their third generation prototype, WÜF is gearing up to go big and get their innovative product noticed. “The analogy I like to use is that we’ve gotten here on one tank of gas. Very lean, very efficient, and now we’re ready to re-fuel and press on the gas. But we need a little more traction.” As more people hear about the smart collar WÜF is developing, a large amount of local interest in the device has been generated, but to test the wide-spread appeal, they’re turning to Kickstarter. “We’re not going to be the first smart collar to market but we’re going to be the best, most feature rich, and most beautiful,” says Lizelle.

The WÜF smart collar is primed to explode onto the scene and people who support their Kickstarter initiative will be among the first to utilize this rugged, attractive piece of tech for their dogs. People interested in this innovative, state-of-the-art dog collar can learn more about the company by visiting the WÜF website or follow them on twitter @WUF for further developments. 

by Matthew Hartman