Pedometer for pets

A method of measuring a number of steps a pet has taken comprising:

• sensing a pet's movement by a three-axes accelerometer;
• amplifying the analog output signals from the three-axes accelerometer;
• converting the amplified analog signals to digital signals;
• performing a Fourier transformation of the digital signals from time space to frequency space,
• ranking amplitudes of the frequency components of the Fourier of a z-direction motion along a z-axis;
• choosing a dominant frequency wherein said dominant frequency has the largest Fourier coefficient in frequency space and wherein said dominant frequency is stored in a pet pedometer memory;
• choosing a dominant frequency for a pet's movement when a pet is walking;
• storing said walking dominant frequency;
• choosing a dominant frequency for a pet's movement when a pet is running;
• storing said running dominant frequency;
• ranking the amplitude of the Fourier analysis of an x-direction along an x-axis and of a e-direction motion along a y-axis;
• forming a virtual vertical direction wherein a vector has components in the z-direction, the x-direction and the y-direction equal to or proportional to said dominant component amplitudes on each axis, respectively;
• storing the virtual vertical direction;
• periodically updating the virtual vertical direction and replacing the prior stored virtual vertical direction with an updated virtual vertical direction;
• choosing dominant x-axis and y-axis frequencies;
• not recording a step, when the virtual vertical direction shows a pet's walking or running dominant frequency wherein the x-axis and y-axis updated dominant frequencies differ substantially from their walking or running dominant frequencies;
• detecting which dominant mode is present, walking or running, and utilizing the walking stride length or the running stride length in calculating distance traveled;
• and
• displaying a cumulative number of steps and equivalent distance in real time.

A method for using a pet pedometer, comprising:

• resetting a display of the pet pedometer to zero;
• attaching the pet pedometer to a pet;
• manually setting the pedometer display to “set walking” by scrolling through menu and selecting;
• entering a fixed distance into the pedometer display by scrolling through values on the display and selecting a value;
• walking a pet, with said pet pedometer attached, over the fixed distance;
• manually setting the pedometer to “set running”, by scrolling through menu and selecting;
• running a pet over the same fixed distance;
• manual resetting pedometer to “time”, by scrolling and selecting;
• selecting time, day, month, year by manual scrolling;
• selecting manually resetting pedometer to “normal”;
• and
• wherein such utilization of the pet pedometer allows for monitoring of a pet's activity and exercise facilitating a pet owner to better observe and maintain the exercise of a pet and allows a pet owner to ensure a pet receives enough exercise to maintain a pet's health.