If you have a dog that spends hours alone at home every day, the CleverPet Hub can offer an autonomous and amusing diversion. Most dog owners are aware that they are the center of their pets’ universe. Each day we are forced to leave home for school, work and other activities leaving our pets on their own. Remote cameras may allow you to check-in and may even enable you to tell them they are good or bad through your Smartphone, but this may not be enough for a dog with separation anxiety or behavioral problems. The product known as CleverPet provides a far more pleasant alternative when it comes to a lonely pet that has nothing to keep him entertained.
CleverPet Hub makes use of positive reinforcement to train and engage a dog with various complex tasks that involve sounds, lights, and touchpads. Success completion of a task earns the dog a reward in the form of food. The dog owner needs to ensure that the food compartment in the robotic-dog trainer is supplied with treats or dry food.
Note: This review is a little short because we didn’t get all the time we wanted with the device. You can read a full review here, or see their section on smart dog toys
What Is Inside The Box
The CleverPet measures 15 inches in width, 7 inches in height, 16 inches in depth and weighs 11 pounds.
The manufacturers suggest that you do not have your dog around when setting up the CleverPet Hub. It is also recommended to introduce the device to the dog when they are hungry. The 1st step will involve checking the silicon-seal on the food hatch to make sure it is secure. Now open dome-latch to take out the food-pod. Fill up the pod with 2 and a half cups of treats or dry food which should not be larger than 17 millimeters (size of a dime). Crumbly or wet food is not suggested as it will get stuck inside the works which will be a real hassle to clean. From time to time take out the food dish and wash it with a mild detergent and rinse in warm water.
Now out together the Hub with the food dish, food tray, and food pod and follow the instruction to attach the hub-end of a power-adapter. Avoid plugging the power-adapter into a wall socket as this is the stage that you hand over the control to the “CleverPet Hub software.” Most users are impressed on how smoothly this operation goes. To begin with, you first download and then launch the CleverPet app for Android or iOS. The app will then instruct you as to when to plug in your Hub and will give you step by step instructions on how to connect to your Wi-Fi. Once connected, the app assists you in finding an excellent location to position the Hub. The device will not move due to the non-slip rubber feet, but it is still recommended to place it in a corner or against one of your walls.
The Introduction
There will be some stages that a dog will typically go through when using the CleverPet. The first step involves getting the animal comfortable with the presence of the device which will include the sounds that it makes and the colored lights that show up randomly underneath each touch pad. The food tray will slide out mysteriously with a few dog treats or the dry food. After a short-period, the tray will slide back whether the dog has taken the food or not. This will be very different and strange for a dog for the first time.
The idea is to encourage the dog to start to take the treats or food and to start touching the touch pads. When the dog decides to take the treat or food, this is recorded by the CleverPet app and you are provided with feedback each time the dog advances. To begin with, any of the touchpad’s will release a treat, it then moves onto only releasing food if the touchpad is lit. This advances onto the touchpad’s becoming like a Simon says the game and the dog will have to touch the lit pads in sequence correctly before they are rewarded with a treat. This training is based on positive reinforcement, which means when the dog is correct, they receive a reward, and nothing will happen when they have made a mistake.