Yes, Strava for Dogs Is Now a Real Thing

Owners of adventure dogs tend to be pretty adamant that their outdoorsy pooch is not just great, but the best adventure dog ever. A sweet and understandable sentiment, if an entirely subjective one. But now, the world’s biggest fitness app is making it possible for people to back up their talk with some cold hard numbers. That’s right: Strava for dogs is here. Owners can now show off their canine companion’s athletic feats on the same platform they do their own accomplishments.

On Thursday, February 22, Strava announced a new partnership with a smart dog collar brand, Fi. Fi collars sport built-in satellite positioning systems, like in a sport watch. They’re designed to help find lost pets, and monitor a couple basic health metrics like sleep and number of steps taken. And now, the same technology can be used to log exercise for posterity online.

The new partnership allows Strava to log distance traveled and number of steps taken, and tracks Fido’s progress towards goals like activity streaks and daily step totals. The app will then upload a route of your dog’s walk or game of fetch onto a map that you can see.

Mateo A. Ortega, Strava’s vice president of connected partnerships, said the doggie function was born in part out of the fitness app’s own data. In 2023, Ortega said, 76 percent of Strava athletes with pets said that their dogs motivated them to get outside when the7 otherwise wouldn’t have.

“I’m a longtime Fi user, and my dog, Pesto, has been along for more walks and runs logged on Strava than I can count,” Ortega said. “Our mission at Strava is to motivate people to live their best active lives, and we know that pets are a big part of an athlete’s life.”

Fi charges owners a monthly subscription fee to use all the collars’ smart features, starting at $3.20 per week. Strava users with Fi collars on their pets can sync the two accounts, “seamlessly integrat[ing] their active lives with their dogs,” Strava said in the announcement. Once the accounts are linked, a Fi-generated graphic with your dog’s stats is automatically uploaded to Strava.

If you were wondering: No, dogs won’t be eligible for KOMs or course records. But you’ll be able to see in the Fi app how your four-legged friends’ activities stack up against other local canines based on daily activity, with competitive categories based on size.