Review on Effortless and Intelligent Doggie Doorbell with Pebble Smart Technology by Christopher Smith

My wife and I spent a month teaching our cat to use the Pebble Smart Doggie Doorbell. We've had mixed results, but we also believe we've made significant progress. BASICS The yellow knob is mounted at cat's head height on the fixed half of the French door to our deck. We can see what the cat is doing through the door and he can see us inside the house. Yesterday he called four times during the day to come in. We didn't tell him in any way. But like I said, we've had mixed results. Today, as I was writing this, he was looking at me from window to window (his old way of finding the entrance). I ignored him, but he didn't go to the front door a few feet away from me to ring the bell. Eventually I gave in, opened the glass door and called for him, then closed the door. He rounded the corner, ignored the doorbell and stopped to wait. I didn't open the door. It was only then that he "saw the light" and rang the doorbell. I let him in and gave him a treat. REASON TO PURCHASE These days we are used to seeing the cat's head in the window when it wants to be let in. It's his system and it works during the day, at night when the curtains are drawn he sometimes meows to be let go. This works in spring and fall when we have the windows open. But during the heating and air conditioning season, no. We bought a cat doorbell to ring at night in summer and winter. Has he ever used it at night? nope In this respect, our verdict on the doorbell is completely negative. But we are still hopeful. An important note: we do not leave the cat overnight. We usually call him from 10:30 am to midnight. He's usually pretty reliable when we call, but of course he'd rather be outside at night. Yes, he sometimes meows to be let in in the evenings, but after eating something he usually wants to leave. Why he didn't ring the doorbell for a quick bite in the evening remains a mystery. DOORBELL The device consisting of two parts (button and bell) is well made. The ringer is quite loud and picks up a signal whenever it's anywhere in the house. We are 100% satisfied with both the button and the bell. OUR MODIFICATION My current thinking is that one big yellow button is all a cat doorbell needs, provided the button is placed at or slightly below head height. thought the button should be more cat friendly. For this purpose I braided a trellis device from the same rope I used to cover the scratching post again. I tied a paint stirrer to a yellow button and then tied a grid thing to the stick. (See photo.) The idea was that the cat would scratch the thing like a scratching post. The cat disagreed and as far as I know never touched the thing. However, from time to time he rings the bell by rubbing his body against it. Basically, the cat just presses the button with its chin. Note that we could pour catnip into the small compartment behind the yellow button. Maybe that would work wonderfully. OUR TRAINING METHOD When he first signaled to come in (using the 'head at the window' method), I went out the side door, took the cat, carried it to the French door, held his paw and scratched the bars with it. He seemed clueless. As soon as the bell rang, my wife opened the door and let us in. On further attempts, I gently pressed his head/chin against the yellow button. At one point, on the advice of my wife, I even got down on all fours and pressed my head on the yellow button. The theory was that since the cat mimics a bit, it will follow my lead. And maybe he did, since rubbing his head with his butt/chin is his usual way of ringing the bell. After he learned how to press the button, I stopped going outside and stood inside, waving my hand for him to press the button. . He will eventually. Since then he would push the button himself when he could see us inside and when we were in other rooms with no view of the deck. But always during the day, not at night when the curtains are closed. Maybe it'll be evening soon... On the other hand, he might ring the bell as often as he used to, because he really, really likes to go out in the evening. . Perhaps asking to come at night was too much to expect.