Alarm system and pets: how to prevent false alarms

An alarm system and pets go together well. Pet-friendly motion detectors are designed to ignore a cat or dog in most cases, and with photo verification you can see straight away whether an alert was caused by your pet or by something else. You can never rule out false alarms entirely: good placement and the right detector make the difference. In this article you can read how this works and which detectors suit a household with animals.

Alarm with a dog or cat in the house

Why does a pet set off an alarm?

A motion detector uses an infrared sensor to look for moving heat. A dog or cat is warm and moves, so without countermeasures the sensor sees no difference from a person. Animals that climb are particularly difficult: a cat on a cupboard or windowsill comes into view at the same height as a person. Pet-friendly detectors solve this with an adapted lens and smart software that recognise and ignore the signal of a small animal close to the ground. This works well, but only if the detector is mounted at the prescribed height and is not aimed at a staircase, cupboard or windowsill.

What does pet-friendly mean in practice?

Manufacturers give a guideline for the size of animal up to which the detector ignores movement, always on the condition that the detector is mounted as instructed. The Ajax MotionProtect is mounted at a height of 2.4 metres and detects people up to 12 metres away. With Dahua AirShield, the indoor PIR ignores pets up to approximately 18 kg and the outdoor detector even ignores animals up to approximately 40 kg, provided it is positioned correctly. It is important to know that these are not guarantees. A cat that jumps up a cabinet right in front of the detector can still trigger an alert. The guidelines help to greatly reduce false alarms, and the placement does the rest.

Which Ajax detector suits a household with animals?

Tip the prices in this table come live from our webshop. If you have a busy or jumpy cat, choose the MotionProtect Plus (dual sensor) or the MotionCam: with the latter you can see in the photo straight away who caused the alert.

And with an AirShield system?

Dahua AirShield also has pet-friendly options. The AirShield PIR ignores animals up to approximately 18 kg, the Dual-Tech combines infrared with 24 GHz radar for the smallest chance of a false alarm, and the PIR-Cam takes photos straight away when an alarm is triggered so that you can assess for yourself what moved. For the garden there is the Outdoor PIR, which ignores animals up to approximately 40 kg, provided it is placed correctly.

Four placement tips that reduce false alarms

1. Keep to the prescribed mounting height; mounting higher or lower disrupts the pet correction. 2. Do not aim the detector at a staircase, cupboard, scratching post or windowsill that your animal climbs on. 3. Consider a curtain detector along windows and doors: it monitors only the perimeter of the home, while your animal moves freely through the room. 4. In rooms where your animal spends most of its time, choose a detector with a camera, so that you can check an alert within seconds.

Alarm and pets

An alarm that suits your home and your pets

Secures is an Ajax PRO partner, an official Dahua partner and a VEB-approved security company. Build a system yourself with the right detectors for your situation, or ask us for advice on placement with pets.