X10 Saves Us Hundreds on Vet Bills

Posted February 7, 2003

X10 Saves Us Hundreds on Vet Bills By Kevin Tracy

Getting on in his old age, our dog "Guinness", a black Lab, is now nearly 10.

Recently my wife and I purchased a new home, and we decided to outfit it with X10 components just to make life a little more comfortable for us both. With the main floor now completely automated, coming home in the dark is no problem. Using my keychain remote, I activate lights (internally and externally) as I approach the house. I also turn on a hot-air blower in the garage, making those grocery runs a little more comfortable in the sub-zero temperatures of the Canadian winter.

In the basement, we have set up a bedroom and play area for Guinness. Now in his more mature days, and with less than perfect eyesight, stairs are not his best friend, and having to climb 14 of them can be difficult at times. We found out the hard way that while the stairs are challenging enough for him during the day, at night, and in the dark they can be downright treacherous. After taking a fall down the stairs one night, a damaged hip, and expensive vet bills my wife and I have implemented an inexpensive solution to a potentially fatal issue. X10 to the rescue! Now with a X10 HawkEye II wireless motion detector and a lamp module installed by the basement stairs, there is no such thing as Guinness traversing the stairs in the dark, and thanks to X10 I feel confident that we continue to save hundreds of dollars in vet bills.

The use of our PC interface made life a little easier for Guinness as he adjusted to the fact that the light would "magically" turn on itself. From his perspective, anytime a light in the basement was turned on this would indicate that someone was coming down to visit him or to let him out. The initial dilemma for my wife and I was that at 1am if Guinness walked over to the stairs the lights would turn on and he would bark in anticipation of company. We programmed a macro into our PC interface to allow the lights to turn on to a dim setting from 10pm until 6am and to a full setting any other time (so long as it's dark). This means less disturbance for Guinness and now he can safely traverse the stairs any time of the day or night without fear of hurting himself or disturbing my wife or I.

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