Best waterproof GPS tracker for Irish Setter

An Irish Setter disappearing over a dune at full speed — that's a very specific kind of heart-in-mouth moment. GPS trackers are genuinely useful here, but they do need a decent mobile signal to work, so coastal areas are usually fine though some remote stretches can have gaps. They also need a monthly subscription, typically £4–£8. Before I point you at the right one: is your setter microchipped already, and is this mainly a beach and coastal situation, or does he run off in other settings too?

Good that he's chipped — the tracker works alongside that, not instead of it. The swimming is important: a lot of trackers are splash-resistant but not genuinely submersible. How big is he roughly, and does he wear a collar or harness day-to-day? I want to make sure the fit works and it won't snag in the water.

Collar is fine for this one. For a beach-running, swimming Irish Setter, I'd go with the Tractive GPS DOG 4. It's properly waterproof to IPX7 — so actual submersion, not just rain — and it clips neatly onto a standard collar without being bulky. The live tracking updates every 2–3 seconds when you trigger it, which on a beach where a dog can cover 400 metres in under a minute is what you actually need. It runs on the 2G/3G mobile network, so coastal coverage in the UK is generally solid. The subscription is around £4.99 a month. The app shows you a map in real time and you can set a virtual boundary so you get an alert the moment he crosses it — useful if you want to know before he actually vanishes rather than after.

In normal mode it lasts 2–5 days between charges, so a two or three hour outing is nothing — you'd charge it every few days rather than before every walk. When you switch to live tracking mode the battery drains faster, maybe 3–4 hours of continuous live updates, but you wouldn't run that the whole time. You'd have it in normal mode and only hit live tracking when he disappears. That's the sensible way to use it. One practical tip: charge it the night before a beach day and you'll never be caught short.

You're all set. The Tractive GPS DOG 4 is the one to get — search that exact name on Amazon UK and it'll come up. Just remember to activate the subscription when it arrives, otherwise the live tracking won't work. Hope it gives you proper peace of mind on those beach runs.