When we shipped The Ruff v1 eighteen months ago, we knew it was a starting point. It proved the concept: continuous AI-powered pain monitoring for dogs was possible, practical, and genuinely useful. Over 4,200 dogs wore v1 devices. Veterinary partners logged nearly 11,000 pain assessments cross-referenced against our sensor data. Owners sent us thousands of messages — many of them emotional, many of them grateful.
Today, we’re shipping what we learned.
What’s New in v2.0 #
1. 90-Second Pain Detection #
The most requested improvement, by a wide margin, was speed. v1 generated a pain score update every 15 minutes. That was good enough for trend monitoring — but too slow for acute events. When a dog injures a paw mid-walk, or experiences a post-operative pain spike at 3am, owners wanted to know now.
v2.0 delivers pain score updates in under 90 seconds from onset detection. The new model runs on-device using a compressed neural network architecture that fits in 1.2MB of flash memory — no cloud round-trip required for real-time scoring.
2. Redesigned 9-Sensor Array #
v1 used five sensors. v2.0 uses nine:
| Sensor | Purpose |
|---|---|
| 6-axis IMU (×2) | Bilateral gait analysis and asymmetry detection |
| Optical heart rate | HRV and pulse waveform analysis |
| Respiratory strain gauge | Breathing rate and effort pattern |
| Skin temperature (×2) | Localized inflammation mapping |
| Ambient microphone | Vocalization event classification |
The dual-IMU configuration is the biggest biomechanical upgrade. By placing sensors at both the collar and a lightweight chest clip (included), we can now detect weight-bearing asymmetries as small as 4% — clinically meaningful for early-stage lameness and post-operative monitoring.
3. 7-Day Battery Life #
v1 lasted 72 hours between charges. v2.0 lasts 7 days under typical use conditions (verified at 18°C, moderate activity level). The improvement comes from three sources: a 35% larger cell, a new ultra-low-power inference chip (Arm Cortex-M33 with dedicated ML acceleration), and smarter sensor duty-cycling that reduces sampling frequency during confirmed rest periods.
4. Waterproof to IP68 #
v1 was splash-resistant. v2.0 is fully waterproof — rated IP68, meaning it survives 30 minutes at 1.5m depth. Your Labrador can swim. Your Poodle can have a bath. No pausing monitoring.
5. New App: Pain Timeline View #
The companion app has been redesigned around a new Pain Timeline — a scrollable 30-day history of your dog’s pain score, annotated with events (walks, meals, vet visits, medications) that you add. The AI surface layer in the app can now correlate pain spikes with logged events to surface patterns: “Pain scores tend to increase 2–4 hours after extended walks” or “Post-medication scores drop to baseline within 45 minutes.”
This contextual AI layer is powered by our new Canine Health Intelligence engine, which we’ll be writing about in detail in a future post.
Compatibility and Upgrade Path #
v2.0 devices are available now at perfectpaw.com. v1 device owners receive a 40% loyalty discount automatically applied at checkout when ordering with a registered v1 account.
v1 firmware will continue to receive security patches through December 2027. The v2 app is backward-compatible with v1 hardware; v1 owners will see an updated interface with most new features, except those requiring v2 hardware sensors.
What’s Coming in v2.1 #
We’re already building v2.1. The headline feature: breed-specific pain models. Pain expression varies significantly across breeds — what looks like a 4/10 in a Labrador may be an 8/10 in a Greyhound. We’ve collected sufficient breed-stratified training data to validate models for 14 breeds and are expanding that list rapidly. v2.1 is targeted for Q3 2026.
Thank you to every owner, every vet partner, and every dog who wore a v1 device and helped us learn. v2 is for them.
Questions about v2.0? Contact our support team at support@perfectpaw.com or visit the Help Center.