It was a Friday afternoon in June, when I came home to find my flat in London had been burgled. Elle, my beloved French bulldog, had been home alone. I had bolted the two locks on my door, which was kicked so hard, the doorframe was violently broken. Neighbors were home and did nothing. Police, carpenters, etc. all told me and showed me how the front door lock was worthless and could be opened with a plastic bottle in two seconds.
Elle was shaking. Adrenalin and calm took over as the appropriate calls were made. Elle has over 16K Instagram followers. She gets email offers on a regular basis. I had been offered several dog cameras which didn’t work out for various reasons. Then, FURBO reached out post burglary. I was very interested and wanted to spread the joy of community and gift others, so we agreed to a giveaway as well.
For me, FURBO Dog Camera is a Godsend. Even leaving the flat for a ten minute walk without Elle started to weigh on me as even the excellent police recommended lock and London bar (a reinforced bar that goes around the lock, under the doorframe to prevent break-ins) didn’t outweigh the stabbings that started happening in West London- one happened on our block four days prior to us moving. We lived across from the Kensington-Olympia Overground and it turns out any train station will attract a variety of violent people.
The greatest thing about FURBO is not only being able to check-in on Elle when I’m not there, or toss her treats if I’m running late, it’s the alert reminders like “Your dog just took a selfie,” or “Human activity detected, do you want to see who it is?”
As a New Yorker, who is a lot more mild in my approach after living in London, imagine what I would have said if I had the FURBO there and see the human activity alert? I certainly would have run back home as I was a mile away and only gone for under two hours doing a client presentation.
SET-UP: Download the app. Plug in the FURBO. It connects over WiFi and then an update automatically begins. I’ve set it up twice and it never needs the full 3-5 minutes they ask you to wait for set-up.
When you open the app, you can observe, take photos or video, toss a treat and talk to your pet. There’s actually two way talking so imagine this scenario:
ME: GET OUT OF MY FLAT. I’m two minutes away with a Policeman.
BURGLAR: F U #$%#%#$%@.
Grabs all handbags & stuffs jewelry in pockets, runs out of flat.
All I cared about was that Elle was alive and uninjured. She was shaking and did get a doggy calming pill that is normally for airplane travel, and even then, almost never necessary. If I had been able to talk to her on the way home, it would have been more calming for her.
If you have a sick dog, this allows you to stalk them, or a colleague that loves dogs and needs a stress break by watching your dog snooze, I highly recommend this, especially if you work long hours. You don’t have to use the treat functionality, sometimes Elle wouldn’t eat the treats until I arrive home. Me talking to her is a bit confusing, so I don’t do that as much as I used to in London.
Elle will take the treats in New York. I’m happy I can check in on her from around the block and get update notifications. FURBO Dog Camera also worked for me in two different countries and cities. It has night vision, so I don’t have to leave all the lights on for Elle. The wide angle lens captures a lot, so clean up your space before you let those co-workers watch your furbaby.
Overall I would say this is totally worth it. You can find one on Amazon Prime.
Ramblings of the BK GrrlGenius 