It’s a universal hover-mom (or dad) trait to wonder what your dog is up to while you’re at work all day- even if you crate. 

Is she pacing ? Does she miss us? What if the dog walker didn’t come?  We used to worry ourselves sick as new dog parents, even though Cooper was securely in her crate (more on crating later). The possibilities seemed endless, and after a bad experience with a local dog walker- long story short we came home to an uncreated dog, a “sorry” note and a chewed up remote - we knew we had to keep better tabs on what was going on at home. 

The google click-hole ensued. Every pet camera we found was the price of what we expected to pay for a full blown home security system just for throwing treats at your dog. Since we were crating anyway, this seemed silly, and the last thing we needed after the startup cost of a new dog was to spend $200+ on a fancy camera. 

A friend of ours in rescue recommended the Yi Camera. I’d never heard of it, but for $40 on Amazon it seemed like there wasn’t much to lose trying. 

Well. Let me tell you guys, I don’t know how I lived without motion notifications of my dog languidly stretching in my couch, or assuming the belly rub position when the dog walker comes in. 

The camera took all of 5 minutes to install. We just synced it to our WiFi, scanned a QR Code to pair the device to our app, and mounted the camera to our ceiling so it wouldn’t take up any precious surface area in our Brooklyn apartment. We got the Dome Camera version of the Yi, which pans with movement and saves 10 second clips so you can review later. The app is pretty simple to use, too, and it's great to be able to check in during the day. You will want to purchase a micro SD card if you want to be able to scroll back through footage earlier in the day, but for the peace-of-mind it gave us, it was well worth it.

 Many workdays have been made better by getting a push notification of Cooper getting cozy on our bed, or checking in on her favorite Giant Lamb Chop when she comes back from her afternoon walk. It's also super useful to check in on fosters in their crates during their first couple weeks with us as they adjust, and the 2-way microphone feature allows us to chime in to our dog walker any last minute notes we may have forgotten to text him.

We've since toyed with some of the more pet-specific cameras that do fun things like toss treats to your pup, but really have found the Yi to provide everything we need in a pet cam so haven't strayed from it. We purchased the 720p version, but if you want an extra hi-def picture of your pup doing downward dog, there's a 1080p version as well. Be sure to send us those pics if you do, we hope your dog has as "tough" of a work day as Cooper does! 

*This is not a paid ad and all opinions are our own, however as Amazon Associates, we may receive a small portion of sales from links in this post. We promise all earnings go straight to treats and toys for Cooper!