I’m looking for your ideas… I bought some new patio furniture (outdoor couch, chairs, ottomans) to go on our covered porch. Our old furniture had been used heavily by our cats who got fur all over it and our dog who chewed up the cushions. I’d rather this not be the case with our new stuff. They have a doggie door to go outside anytime they want, so keeping them off the patio is very difficult as I can’t watch outside all the time.
My initial plan was to use furniture covers, but the dog has already figured out she can just lay on top of the covers and has already chewed one of them up. At the moment, I have all of the cushions put away, but would prefer not to have to get them in and out every time I want to sit outside.
My question for you guys is whether anyone has dealt with anything like this through some kind of automation? If there’s some way that could detect if they are sitting on the furniture, maybe an alarm or something to scare them off? Manually disabling via the HA UI would be fine with the potential to add a physical button later. I’m mainly not sure the best way of detecting them accurately and without generating false positives. Would rather not have a siren go off at 2AM because the wind blew or something, hah. As mentioned, this is on a covered porch, so rain should not be a concern for the electronics.
If I’m way off-base with this plan, let me know… Or if there’s a simpler way to accomplish it. Any help is appreciated!
I have similar issues but given up, the beasts are too dumb (are they?) to remember being scared off
And we have a cat too that is similarly dumb (euh?)
If you have no pets then I would aim for a ultra high frequency signal, possibly you could use a AI detection (deepstack/doods) to try and identify non-person animals before setting it off (it probably won’t recognise your own cat/dog)
Thanks for the input! Hopefully something will work, but I am afraid you may be correct. I thought about trying AI detection, as it would be easy to set up a camera in view of the area.
I successfully kept my cats off the furniture by laying a few strips of clear, wide packaging tape, sticky side up, on the places I did not want them. When they jumped onto these places, the tape would stick to them and they became very unhappy (I referred to this as “getting caught on tape”). This can be very entertaining (for you, not the cat).
Extracting a cat from a tangle of packing tape can be a challenge. Be careful!
They quickly learned not to visit those places. They are smart.
Bonus: it also works on vertical surfaces where cats like to scratch.
How about a sprinkler? I have seen posts about people using one to keep deer or people off their property using motion sensor(s) and water control valve.
I totally feel your pain with pets getting all over your patio furniture. It’s tough to keep them off, especially when you’re not around. Have you considered using a motion sensor to detect when they’re on the furniture? You could set it up to trigger an alarm or something to scare them off. I’m not sure about the false positives, but it’s worth a shot. Also, have you checked out pocketpetcentral.com? It’s a great resource for pet care information. I’m new on this forum, but I stumbled upon it and found it really helpful. Maybe they have some tips on how to keep your pets off your patio furniture. Good luck!
One idea could be motion-activated sensors. You could set up sensors near the furniture, and if they detect movement, it triggers a gentle alarm or sound that might deter your furry friends without causing any harm.
However, if you’re open to simpler solutions, you might want to consider training your pets to stay off the patio furniture. It can take a bit of patience and consistency, but it’s often effective in the long run.
And if you ever want to make your outdoor space more pet-friendly, you should explore different places specializing in garden furniture. You can see this source for more info; they might have some great options that can withstand your pets’ antics.