A new feature from Ring uses artificial intelligence and networks of home security cameras to help reunite missing dogs with their owners, and you don’t necessarily need to own a Ring camera to start a search.
Search Party for Dogs allows owners to report a missing dog through the Ring app, prompting participating outdoor Ring cameras in the surrounding area to check their recorded footage for possible matches.
If the technology identifies what could be the missing dog, the Ring camera owner receives an alert showing the potential match. They can then choose whether to share the relevant footage with the dog’s owner. Nothing is automatically shared.
You don’t need a Ring camera to join
Importantly for dog owners, Ring’s Neighbours community is free to use and does not require you to own a Ring doorbell or camera.
Owners can create a Pet Profile containing photographs and information about their dog and, if their pet goes missing, create a Lost Pet Post and start a Search Party through the Ring app.
Ring says Search Party for Dogs is now available in both the UK and US. In the UK, the company is also working with Dogs Trust as part of its efforts to help reunite lost dogs with their families.
How does Search Party work?
Once a Search Party is active, participating outdoor Ring cameras nearby use AI to look for potential matches with the missing dog.
Rather than automatically sending private camera footage to the person searching for their pet, the system alerts the individual camera owner. They decide whether they want to share the relevant clip or contact the dog’s owner. Ring says Search Party can also be disabled by camera owners through the app.
There are some limitations. Cameras need saved video history through a Ring subscription to participate in searching footage, although the person reporting the missing dog does not need a Ring subscription to start a Search Party.
Search Parties are also temporary and automatically end after a few hours unless the pet owner confirms that they are still searching.
Could technology help bring more missing dogs home?
The idea effectively turns participating doorbells and outdoor security cameras into an additional pair of eyes when a dog disappears.
Ring reported in February that, following the feature’s initial launch in the US, Search Party was helping reunite more than one lost dog a day with their owners.
For owners, it adds another potentially useful tool alongside established steps such as contacting the dog’s microchip database, local vets and rescue organisations, alerting neighbours and sharing details through appropriate lost-dog networks.
And, importantly, the technology doesn’t claim to know for certain that it has found the right dog. It identifies possible matches, leaving people to review the footage and decide whether the sighting could be relevant.
For anyone faced with the distress of a missing dog, however, having potentially dozens of cameras around the local area helping to look could provide valuable additional information, particularly during those crucial early hours.
