The merging of the two companies is the first step towards giving pet owners all the information they need in a single app. "We've been really focused on providing solutions for pet owners and veterinarians," Ben Jacobs, CEO and co-founder of Whistle said in a phone call to The Verge. The company plans to build several "on-collar devices that track everything you want to know about your dog."

Whistle's current draw for pet owners is a big picture data set of an animal's overall health: it uses an accelerometer to try to determine if a dog is walking, sleeping, or running. Using Bluetooth for a mobile app and Wi-Fi for remote monitoring, Whistle charts changes in a dog's daily activity and alerts owners to sudden, potentially worrisome changes.

Tagg was founded in 2010 as a subsidiary of Qualcomm, but was independently owned at the time of purchase. It operates under a slightly different business model than Whistle's one-time fee. Because the Tagg collar uses a cell chip, users must also pay for a monthly data plan.

Current Tagg users won't be abandoned in the acquisition. "The key in the immediate term is we'll support any consumer using any device today." Jacobs said. "The goal is to bring [the companies] together into one single software platform. We look at Jawbone, or Fitbit, it's the same idea here."

Eventually, Whistle hopes to completely subsume the Tagg brand into its own. Tagg's web app will be integrated into the Whistle platform. Whistle plans to create a complete line of devices, each catering to the different needs of pet owners. For example, one device might only monitor a dog's sleeping patterns, while another might compare his activity to that of other breeds. Tagg's GPS component will only be available on certain devices with an additional monthly fee.

"Imagine a single refresh of the app," Jacobs says, "You're no longer using the Tagg app. You'll start using the Whistle experience and using that platform."