Simple strategies for spying on pets
Here are some really simple strategies to spy on your pets.
If your pet is an inside pet, try the following:-
- Place sheets of newspaper on beds, couches and even in hallways – the more ruffled they are, the more your pet is using the area in which they are placed.
- If you have wooden or tiled floors, puff Talcum Powder into doorways or hallways to determine where your pet is traveling during the day – lots of paw prints mean lots of activity. If your dog is really distressed, you may also be able to detect dog slobber in the talcum powder. (If you see that, it’s serious – contact us for advice.)
- If you have white tiles. use the colored builder’s chalk commonly used in string lines.
- Detect movement of pets in to various rooms of your house or parts of your garden by placing cotton ‘trip wires’ between blobs of Blu Tack or similar put across entrance ways or across pathways.
Having said that, electronic methods are MUCH better.
Recording your pet’s noisy behaviour
To actually HEAR what form of vocalising you dog is exhibiting is really useful.
So, using a sound recorder is a very useful strategy – and there are many good alternatives which are free.
Most pets make noise when they are active (and possibly distressed) but are silent when they are resting and calm.
There are many alternatives but for years we have been using Audacity which is free software available for Windows platforms.
For mobile and Apple devices, a similar piece of software called WavePad is available and there are many others too.
If you set Audacity or WavePad to record when you leave, it will run continuously but you can easily see noise activity on the screen when you get back and examine that part of the recording to determine what happened. It gives a time trace so that you can see when in the day the activity occurred.
Audacity also has a sound-activated mode but as one sound event is joined to the one before, you can’t determine when in the day that sound event occurred. Adding a voice-chiming clock near the computer will solve the problem and there is be software available that will do the same task. There are also verious desk-top free clocks that will chime on an hourly basis. The chime is recorded by Audacity or WavePad.
Webcam Software
To take photos of your pet’s daily activity, the free webcam software Yawcam is very useful. This software has a motion-activated mode so that movement in front of the webcam will trigger Yawcamto take photos. Because each photo has a time stamp you can easily determine what your pet is doing during the day. The photos can be compiled into a video using the Yawcam software. You can also view the webcam through the internet so that you can look at what your pet is doing when you are away from home – for instance, while you are at work.
The popular telephone software, Skype is also useful. Skype can be configured to automatically answer calls with video on (that’s usually in the Tools > Options > Call Options section). That means you can use Skype when you are away from home to see what your pet is doing.
Skype can also be viewed through smartphones and similar devices.
IP Cameras
There is also a wide range of IP (internet protocol) cameras available. These cameras are very economical and use an App to tie the IP Camera with your wireless router. The result is that you can easily view the camera through your mobile phone when absent from home.
Select an IP Camera that has a pan and tilt function and that has a microphone and speaker attached so you can hear what’s happening.
And a more advance system is to purchase a Network Video Recorder (NVR) that contains a hard drive. You can add up to eight cameras and the footage is stored for months on the hard drive (before being overwritten by new footage)
Spying on your pet is not only fun – it’s useful for behaviour therapy!
More information