Barking mad: Pooches get plugged into matrix

Wearable technology is coming to the pet market with a smart collar for dogs that will keep them connected to their owners.

Motorola's Scout 5000 is effectively a smartphone that streams a video of what the dog is doing, tracks its location, monitors the number of steps it takes and allows owners to speak to their pets.

Built into the collar - which is splash-, paw- and chew-proof according to Motorola - is a microphone that lets the dog "talk" back.

The company revealed the device, developed with video-streaming business Hubble, at the CES technology show in Las Vegas this week.

The bad news is that the 3G smart collar, which connects through Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, will require the purchase of data bundles to function optimally.

But a year's 3G service is included in the $199 (R2300 ) selling price in the US.

Motorola plans to put the Scout 5000 on sale in America in June.

A scaled-down model, the Scout 2500, which is suitable for smaller pets and does not include a camera, will be introduced at the same time for $99.

The collar is not Motorola's first venture into pet technology.

It already sells the Scout 1500, a motion-sensitive webcam on which animal owners can track their pets remotely.

That device also comes with a microphone.