There are likely as many types of dog lovers as there are dogs. But one thing unites all pet owners and their critters: finding the best way to train and manage the behavior of your pet.
Most people with dogs have probably encountered the same few problems: running away from home, excessive barking, and destruction of property. Such “bad dog” behaviors, along with a litany of other annoyances, often leave owners feeling frustrated or worse and unable to enjoy having a dog as a pet. That’s a big challenge for any company catering to consumers of pet products and services, a market that is expected to hit $91.72 billion in sales.
Jared Marmen, president of Barttron, believes his company’s new product, Chord, will eliminate these problems and improve the relationship between humans and their pets — and boost sales. Current solutions, such as shock collars, rely on punishment to reinforce behavior modification and are an increasing turn-off to animal lovers. Chord uses pain-free wearable technology to create indoor and outdoor boundaries and eliminate unwanted behaviors.
“I realized something was wrong [with dog training] when I couldn’t build a fence for my dog without burying an electrical wire that would shock it, yet we could land jets on an aircraft carrier using satellites,” says Marmen, an electrical engineer. “Chord keeps your pet happy, healthy, and engaged in your life while reducing the aspects of pet ownership that you find annoying.”
With Chord’s patent-pending platform, pet owners can interact with their animals in real time, from any location, using a smartphone and input from the pet’s collar. A few simple commands let owners manage a range of pet behaviors.
“Training is a function of knowing the right thing to do and doing it,” says Marmen, who assembled a team of engineers, technologists, animal experts to create Chord, set to launch in Q2, following completion of the ETC’s AccelerateBaltimore program. “Chord provides a platform that lets you design a tool for training the behavior for your pet that suits your lifestyle.”
