Vent: A customer told me their dog was the 'best backup battery' for their system

I was finishing up a panel upgrade in a house over in Springfield yesterday, and the homeowner was watching me work. Out of nowhere, he points at his huge German Shepherd and says, 'You know, if the power ever goes out, Bruno here is my real backup. He barks at everything, so the alarm doesn't even need to go off.' I just stared for a second, trying to figure out if he was serious. He was. He genuinely thought his dog's barking was a reliable part of his home security plan, on par with the 24-hour battery in the panel I was installing. It made me think about how people can totally misunderstand what a system is actually for. It's not just about making noise, it's about the monitored signal getting out, the sensors talking to the station, all that tech. Has anyone else had a client with a wild idea about what 'counts' as part of their alarm setup?

2 comments

2 Comments

angela_dixon13d ago

Did he think the dog could also call the monitoring center when the alarm trips?

the_sean12d ago

My old security system manual actually had a line about pets setting off motion sensors. I pictured my beagle trying to explain a false alarm to the operator. He can barely remember where he buried his bone, let alone recite my backup passcode. I’d probably just get a bill for a very confused customer service call.