Why We Use the Waggle RV Pet Monitor to Keep Our Pets Safe

Waggle RV pet monitor

When we're out exploring places he can't go, we want to ensure he stays safe while he is home alone. It is important that we know what's going on here while we're not here.

To do that, we use the Waggle RV pet monitor. Waggle is a pet monitor for dogs, cats, or any pet you have. It has a little chip inside of it where it communicates with the Verizon cellular network passively.

You don't need a separate service, it's all included in your membership, and it always lets you know if the power is on. If it goes off, it will alert you. It will also tell you the temperature, humidity, and other concerns you can set alerts for.

How it works

Everything is handled in an app on your phone, and it's a pretty clever little device. There is a doodad that you plug in and attach to your wall. It just uses a standard USB plug, and you put it on your wall.

There's an antenna on it, and you put it on your wall or somewhere in your rig, and it communicates with your app and keeps you abreast of what is going on in your RV.

When you get the Waggle, it comes with a little mounting bracket with a self-adhesive backer, or it has holes for screws. It also comes with a USB cable and everything you need to plug it in and start using.

Setup

The app is straightforward to use. When you set it up, there's a QR code on the back that you scan with the app, and it immediately registers itself. You tie it to your account with the service, and there is a monthly fee.

Alerts

Inside the app, you can set a variety of alerts. There are two alerts I am most interested in. One is temperature. You can set a low limit, and you can set a high limit.

If the Waggle gets over or under that limit at any time, it will text you, email you, or notify you via one of the other different ways you set up. I have mine set up for text and email alerts because, who knows, sometimes one comes through and the other doesn't.

The other type of alert that I am most interested in, given our plans for next year, is the RV power loss alert. What that means is you keep it plugged in all the time.

It has a battery, so you can take it with you if you want to or if you were boondocking and didn't want to use power. It has an internal battery that lasts for a couple of days.

More important about that RV power loss alert is because we're full hookup campers, we are almost always in a campground plugged into power, but that doesn't mean you're not going to lose power.

If you lose power, the air conditioning goes too. It's not that big of a deal in a house. It's not going to get hot to the point where it would hurt a pet.

It can get overly hot quickly in an RV if you are camping. If the AC goes off and it's 113 outside, and you're out in the exposed sun, it will get dangerously hot for a pet very quickly. So the power loss alert is something I've been very interested in having, and it will also tell you when it comes back on.

If the power goes off, I'll check how hot it is and how far away we are so we can get to our pets before they get overheated.

Camera only vs. Waggle

I have cameras in the RV that I can check from my phone, and I can turn the audio on, and I'll be able to hear that the AC is running. My cameras don't have alerts that tell me the power is off, which is where the Waggle comes in.

Next year when we're out, we'll be boondocking out west several times. The temperature alert will be crucial because we'll have to take our dog with us, or he will be here, and we'll have to leave the generator running. So we need multiple ways to monitor him.

The Waggle will tell us if it loses power which means the generator has stopped running. That means the AC has stopped running. That means we need to come back quickly.

We do not want to be one of those families that comes back whose animal has passed away because that's just awful, because of something that we could have been monitoring.

That is the bottom line as to why we have the Waggle RV pet monitor. So Vector is healthy and happy when we get home every time, and we're not coming home to something devastating.

With the Waggle, it's perfectly safe for him to be here. We know he is comfortable. He has food and water. So it's a risk mitigation thing.

It's just like leaving a pet at home. Things can go wrong. It's no different. More things can go wrong here faster. That's why we have more monitoring in place. If you're traveling with pets, which we highly recommend because we love having ours along, you should take a close look at Waggle.

Waggle pet monitor review

If you travel with pets, make sure you have monitoring of some sort, even if you decide against the Waggle monitor, because everybody wants to come home to a healthy pet. Do you travel with your pets? Share your experiences traveling with pets in the comments below.