Keeping Bodhi Warm

Direct from the X10 mailbox comes this story from a neighbor up north. Pictured is Levi Wynnyk's Jack Russell Terrier, Bodhi. Read on for tips on keeping your pooch warm in the winter!

Keeping Bodhi Warm in the Winter By Levi Wynnyk, E.E.T.

Hello. Up here in Canada it gets cold....real cold. Some times down to -30 degrees Celsius. That's when I came up with a way to keep my dog warm and save on energy costs too.

Being that I work weekdays, I have to leave my little 1 year old Jack Russell Terrier "Bodhi" outside in the backyard or in the garage. So, I built a dog house for him and installed a 40 watt lightbulb to heat it. In the winter it can actually get quite toasty in there. But I figured that plugging the system in every day was kind of a hassle, so what I did was install a SuperSocket in my garage and then plugged the light into that.

Next, I installed an EagleEye motion sensor in the dog house and set it to turn on the lights for a period of 30 minutes, after which it would turn off the light if motion was not sensed. Now, whenever Bodhi goes into the dog house the heat turns on and, as long as he moves a bit every 1/2 hour, it stays nice and warm in there.

I also installed an XCam2 WideEye inside the dog house so that I could watch him from the T.V. and on the computer via my XRay Vision software. Now I am also able to tell if he is inside the dog house and warm while I am at work. The whole system was easy to set up and gives me peace of mind knowing that Bodhi is warm. Now if only X10 could help me stop Bodhi from chewing my shoes!

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