Live Streaming My Pet With Furbo: The Treat Tossing Dog Camera

It’s no secret that Sonny, my pug, and I come as a pair. Name a more iconic duo. I’ll wait… And whilst I wish I could bring him absolutely everywhere with me, sadly the logistics of taking a dog everywhere is just not realistic. For the most part, he is barely ever left alone. When I’m at work or travelling, his ‘grandparents’ take over the reigns and I have become an expert in finding dog-friendly restaurants and pubs to occupy us at the weekends, but sadly sometimes he will be home alone for a very short time, and for those times, I have my Furbo.

Furbo is a dog camera that was kindly gifted to me to try, and I haven’t looked back since. I’m no stranger to a dog camera – yes, a camera that acts almost as a baby monitor or security camera so you can live stream and check in on your pet when you’re away from the comfort of a phone app – but the Furbo goes above and beyond what my previous dog camera had. For me, the greatest thing about the Furbo (and any dog camera really), is the ability to be able to see if Sonny is okay when he’s on his own, but the added features of the Furbo make this camera extra special.

As well as being able to live stream a video of Sonny with excellent quality for a dog camera, the Furbo allows you to take pictures of the situation, record the screen and will even let your dog know you’re checking on them through the coloured lights at the bottom. It is a subtle feature, but Furbo’s light indicator uses the colours dogs can see – yellow and blue. When you open the app, Furbo’s light indicator changes from yellow to blue to attract your dog’s attention. To be totally honest, I am not 100% sure Sonny is that attentive to be able to notice it, but there is certainly one feature he can’t get enough of…

Probably the biggest USP of the Furbo against other dog cameras is it’s ability to ‘toss treats’ to your pet when you aren’t there. Of course, Sonny absolutely bloomin’ adores it for that very reason. As a very clever pug who loves to learn tricks and catches on to positive reinforcement (with food!) very quickly, it only took a couple of tries of this for him to work out that the Furbo is his second favourite treat dispenser (after me!). To use it, you simply fill the inside of the Furbo (which is like a tube) with any small round treats, then when you want to remotely toss a treat you simply press a button on your app to activate it. Similar to clicker training which Sonny has done a couple of courses in, Furbo makes a “clicking” sound before tossing a treat. And it does release the treats with some velocity!

I like to fill the Furbo with Sonny’s every day kibble that he has for his normal meals. As a strict Pug Momma, I monitor any naughty treats closely as we are all aware that pugs are greedy creatures and predisposed to being little chonks. Filling the Furbo with his every day Royal Canin Pug dry food is therefore the perfect compromise and works really well for us. I try and limit using this feature as much as I can because Sonny does become pretty obsessed with it and has been known to sit in front of the Furbo barking to try and activate the treats to come out(!) but if I ever need to pop out at his feeding time it is a useful function to have.

Other features of the Furbo include being notified when your dog barks via a push notification, which is great to be able to go on the app and see what’s up right away, and a microphone so you can speak to them and tell them to settle down and be quiet if you need to! I also prefer the way the Furbo looks to my previous dog cameras – it’s white, sleek design looks less like a camera and more like a vase and so fits in as well as it can with my home décor which is always a bonus.

At £249, Furbo is a decent investment but I find it to be far superior to my other dog cameras. For me, the peace of mind it gives of being able to check in on Sonny when I’m not there is worth every penny. He’s my absolute world and I would (and do!) spend whatever it takes to make sure he has the happiest life possible.