Working pet-mums and dads relax - advances in pet technology can help keep tabs on Fluffy and Fido when you're at the office.
As well as keeping pets safe new petcare innovations allow working pet-parents to control access, see how much their pet is eating and if their dog is
scratching or barking during the day.
Renowned animal behaviourist Mark Vette said new technologies could even provide valuable information to help train pets.
As a nation of pet-lovers we have more than 570,000 registered dogs and more than 1.4 million pet cats in New Zealand.
The pet-care industry is booming with Kiwi pet-owners spending around $1.8b a year on everything from pet insurance, to food, minding services, grooming and pet care luxuries.
Pet-technology is an ever-evolving market with new innovations each year.
Raewyn Carter of Sure Petcare in Auckland said advances in technology gave New Zealand pet owners peace of mind when they couldn't be home.
The company's Pet Door Connect was a game-changer for pet owners because it allowed them to lock and unlock the petdoor remotely.
"Owners can also see when their pet is using the SureFlap connect doors as they receive notifications via the app, they know when their pet comes and goes and how much time each pet is spending outside," she said.
"This helps owners to know their pets are safe, they can even lock them inside via the app if they are going to be late home."
The company recently launched the Pet Feeder Connect which was accessable on the same app.
The pet-feeder only opened when it read the microchip of the registered pet which meant no other cats could steal food.
The feeder could weigh food and separated wet food from dry so owners could see their cat's eating habits - all from the screen of their phone.
For the ultimate in spy-technology Petchatz allows at work owners see and chat to their pet via computer or smartphone.
At the touch of a button you can give them a treat.
There is even a doggy-friendly button for your dog to press and call you at work if he's
All of Mark Vette's dogs were fitted with the Animo device which recorded behaviour from distance walked and calories burned to every scratch, snooze and bark.
The Animo device clips to a dog's collar, records its activity and sends a daily break-down to the owner's phone.
Vette and wife Kim recently moved from a large rural property to a smaller place at Hot Water Beach and were concerned their dogs would bark when the pair were out - and annoy the neighbours.
"We used the information from the Animo so we knew how much the dogs were barking...it helped us figure out where to leave them so they settled."
Vette said the data could help owners see how much separation anxiety was affecting their pet and then take appropriate steps.
In his book Puppy Zen he stresses the importance of spending time away from your pup during the formative time of 3 -10 weeks.
"You can use information from Animo to check on your dog's behaviour when you are at work.
"There might be a pattern of barking from 3 - 5pm so you can use that and resolve it before it becomes more of a problem."
Vette said video and treat technology could be used to train a barking dog by giving a treat only when it was calm.
Automatic feeders could be used to stagger feeding to keep a pet stimulated during the day.
GPS technology gave valuable insights for people - especially those whose dogs were regular escape artists.
Auckland based company Petrek had a GPS based cat and dog tracker that gave live updates to a smartphone.
Because the technology used Google Maps it gave accuracy of up to 2.5 metres owners could locate their pet from the office.
"There are some devices the dog can wear that send an alert to your phone if the dog leaves the property," Vette said.
"It's best to get that information early from an app rather than your neighbour, or the pound."
