Hands-on with Go Pro’s dog-camera mount

Ever wonder what your dog sees? GoPro is letting you see it for yourself, and we’re going hands— err, paws on with its dog mount.

If you have a dog and a GoPro, or you’re consider one of each, you’ll soon be able to let your canine friend become a filmmaker with a camera strapped to his or her back.

To make this happen with more than just duct tape, GoPro has designed a specific mount that can be strapped to the back or chest of a furry friend and capture its actions, connecting to the camera by way of WiFi on your smartphone to trigger it, or simply by pressing the buttons on the camera on your dog before it goes off on its merry little way.

The mount is pretty simple, with a harness that fits around your dog with several straps that can be tightened and held in place, as well as two positions where a camera can be mounted to: the back or the chest.

The back is the logical place, with the camera sitting in a spot to see the wide scope of what the dog sees, as well as the dog’s head. In a way, it’s like seeing dog-view the best way, as if you were riding your dog the way Bastian rides his flying Labrador Falcore in “The NeverEnding Story.”

The chest can also be used as a place for the camera, which will see the camera positioned upside down, but getting a view without the head.

But you should only try this position if you happen to have a large dog, and there’s already a size limitation for the GoPro canine mount, with GoPro suggesting a pooch weighing at least seven kilograms.

Our review dog “Milo” — who is a Jack-Chi, or Jack Russell Chihuahua blend — weighs a little under that, but has more energy thanks to the Jack Russell part of his genetics, and so we placed it on him for the test.

At first, he was a little apprehensive, likely due to actually being forced to wear something. The rig isn’t overly heavy, mind you, but it does contain a few straps, with at least three sections needing to be looped together, an easy process, but one that also involves tightening.

With smaller dogs, mind you, this tightening will leave a fair amount of excess strap hanging from the back due to their smaller size, so make sure to wrap it around the harness or just underneath it.

With the camera on inside the waterproof GoPro casing, you’re ready to go, so switch the camera on, and either hit recording, or connect your phone.

When you’re ready, you’ll get vision like this:

Or even like this:

After our test, we found ourselves wanting to shoot more and more of what it would be like to be inside of a dog’s mind, and even wonder if there are virtual reality applications for a product like the Samsung Gear VR, though given the erratic and quick speed of Milo the Jack-Chi, we suspect it would probably be a touch rollercoaster sickening for some.

That said, it’s a fantastic little contraption, and one that will suit videographers and filmmakers who already own a GoPro and are eager to get a different viewpoint, or just turn their pets into a mobile roving camera with a fuzzy face and a wagging tail.