As if it wasn’t bad enough worrying about your neighbor besting your Strava segment, you now have to worry about your neighbor’s Golden Retriever taking the title. Well, kind of.
Strava, the activity-tracking app that runners love to hate, just announced a partnership with the smart dog collar brand, Fi, that allows the app to log a dog’s distance traveled and number of steps taken, basically identical to how it logs your morning miles. Fi’s collars function like a GPS watch, offering built-in satellite positioning systems and basic health monitoring, but now, with the Strava integration, it’s easy to get a visual representation of your dog’s walk or game of fetch.
According to Mateo A. Ortega, the company’s vice president for connected partnerships, the app’s new addition was born out of user demand. “Strava data has shown that pets are a key motivator for many athletes in pursuing their goals,” Ortega said in a press release. “This partnership with Fi is a natural fit and a way for athletes to not only include pets in their community but get credit for all of their movement, including the daily dog walks.”
Strava’s 2023 Year In Sport Trend Report found that 76 percent of dog-loving athletes say their furry friends help them get out the door to exercise and find that working out with their pets is more fun. But lest you think it’s all fun and games, the new canine integration has a few competitive features, natch. While dogs on the app sadly actually won’t be eligible for course records, dog owners can share their pup’s athletic ability far and wide and even see how Fido ranks among other Fi dogs of similar breeds or fitness levels.
Fi charges a monthly subscription fee for the service, starting around $3 per week, but Strava users with Fi collars on their pets can seamlessly sync their accounts between the two services at no extra charge. Once linked, your dog’s stats are automatically shared with Strava.
Want to get started running with your dog? You’ll need a bit of gear, and you can always get a headstart by getting a pup pre-disposed to pounding the pavement.
Laura Ratliff is a New York City-based writer, editor, and runner. Laura's writing expertise spans numerous topics, ranging from travel and food and drink to reported pieces covering political and human rights issues. She has previously worked at Architectural Digest, Bloomberg News, and Condé Nast Traveler and was most recently the senior editorial director at TripSavvy. Like many of us, Laura was bitten by the running bug later in life, after years of claiming to "hate running." Her favorite marathon is Big Sur.
