Do You Have Security Cameras Installed At Your Pet Business?

Yes: 70%

• Outdoors only, provided by the landlord. We plan to add indoor cameras ASAP. We actually looked into it in March/April, but no one was installing during COVID. — Katherine Ostiguy, Crossbones Dog Academy, Providence, RI
• About 80 percent of our shop, including the front door. They were helpful when our shop got broken into a couple of years ago. We were able to provide the footage to the police, including a good shot of the man’s face. — Niki Libarios, Hawaii Doggie Bakery, Honolulu, HI
• They cover our retail/front desk area. Installed after an attempted armed robbery. They have been helpful a few times, mainly when our security system has gone off after hours, and we needed to check for issues. — Myra Tsung, Camp Kitty, Decatur, GA
• They cover the front of store. Installed after my daughter had a customer throw money at her while checking out. — Stephanie Steelman, Wings Wags and Whiskers, Amarillo, TX
• We really don’t have much shrink because of the way cameras are positioned. If anything, they’re helpful for when a customer is out of line, rude or berates staff because it helps me call BS. Other than that, they’ve been helpful in proving shortages or missed pallets from distribution. — Nicci Cammack, NorthPoint Pets & Company, Cheshire, CT
• They cover any area that can be accessed by our customers, both indoors and out. Have proven helpful on several occasions regarding products received, accidents, customer inquiries. — Frank Frattini, The Hungry Puppy, Farmingdale, NJ
• We have them for theft and for employee safety. We’ve even helped a customer catch a stalker on our cameras. — Nancy Guinn, Dog Krazy, Fredericksburg VA
• Front door area, and behind the building. Very helpful! — Cecelia Michaels, Lickin’ Good Whole Pet Food LLC, Park Rapids, MN
• All retail areas covered. Keep an eye on employees, see a lonely customer and bring attention, security. — Heather Miller, Just For Pets, York, PA
• Cash Desk, front and back door, middle of store. They help discourage some sticky fingers. However, the professionals are tougher to catch even with cameras. — Heather Campbell, Bow Wow & Woofs, Blaine, WA
• Accountability and great for learning. — Jessica Cooke, Yuppy Puppy, O’Fallon, MO
• We have cameras in every room of the store, as well as in the parking lot and over our fenced-in play area behind our store. — Jan Hopper, Living Pawsitively, Lafayette, NJ
• They cover the entire store, back room and grooming room. Definitely a deterrent for theft, I have noticed people coming and looking for them. Once they see them, they leave. — Penny Murano, Unleashed, New London, NH
• UGH. If I could do this all over! I had them installed during our initial construction, but have moved things around and now see other spots that are needed. Hindsight is 2020! — Angela Pantalone, Wag Central, Stratford, CT
• We have used them to look back and see if someone stole something before, but I use them most when we’re away from the store and have an alarm go off (usually it’s a false alarm) to make sure everything looks ok. — Nicole Olesen, Woofs & Waves, Sioux Falls, SD
• We installed them after 10 years of business. In the past three years, they’ve helped us catch and confront a woman in her sixties stealing a harness (she was very non-confrontational and left the store after I asked her to not shop here anymore), and also report someone who came in and used our retail bathroom to take drugs (we found a used needle after he left, called the cops and gave him the screenshot from our security camera). We are in a very affluent area and almost never have situations such as this, but they made it very much worthwhile! The cameras cover the front door, two front corners looking back into the store, one directly above the two registers, and one in our back room pointing toward our back door. — Matthew O’Leary, Felix & Oscar, Springfield, VA
• There are cameras all around each store, inside and out, in the warehouses, etc. I can’t imagine not having them in this day and age, and I’m sure they help deter theft, but there have been drawbacks. — Keefer Dickerson, Nashville Pet Products, Nashville, TN
• They cover internal and external areas. Entrances, registers, stockrooms, aisles, break room/lockers, freight/receiving and more. All over really. They have been helpful. Especially at the register. Customers saying they didn’t get something, we can see it’s bagged and they leave with it, theft on high-ticket items (rare), time theft from staff, etc. — Jennifer Larsen, Firehouse Pet Shop, Wenatchee, WA
• We have two Wyze cameras aimed at our parking lot. As inexpensive and easy to use as WiFi security cameras are now, there is no reason to not have them. We also sell bird feeders, so periodically I aim one of the cameras at a bird feeder to get great content for social media. — Cory Giles, The General Store, Collinsville, IL
• We have cameras in one of our locations, which gives us pretty much total access to the entire shop, inside and outside. They have helped us figure out what happened in certain situations, most notably with a recent event we had with a dognapping of one of our groomer’s dogs. We gave the footage to the police, and it helped in getting Poppy back home. The primary purpose of installing the cameras was to protect our team. — Jeff Jensen, Four Muddy Paws, St Louis, MO
• We have one at the cash wrap and one that covers most of the front of the store. They have helped us identify shoplifters, confirm shoplifting, and notice employee behavior that needs to be corrected. — Shane Somerville, Paddywack, Mill Creek, WA
• They cover the whole store, inside (not the bathroom, obvi) and the parking lot and a few feet into the road on both roads. It’s helped us see the few attempted thefts, any damages for us, but also helped police find vandals of our neighbor’s businesses, as well. — Annabell Bivens, The Dog Store, Alexandria, VA
• We have cameras to cover our register, our front entrance, and areas where it is easy to pocket stuff. We have eight in each location and they have come in handy for the police when they needed pictures. — Alexis Butler, The Dog’s Meow, Salt Lake City, UT
• They cover just about every area in the store. We did find it extremely helpful and it has helped us catch people trying to commit fraud. — Jason Mineo, Companion Pets Inc, Phoenix, AZ
• Check-out, front door and back door. However, they are stationary and need to look for a new system. — Beth Staley, Happy Dog Barkery, Downers Grove, IL
• All of the sales floor is covered. Extremely helpful. We catch shoplifters all the time. — Caroline Gunther, Wag! A Unique Pet Boutique, Hendersonville, NC
• We have 16 cameras covering all of our play yards, indoor play areas, all of our kennel areas, reception/lobby area, and alleyway on the side of our building. These cameras have been a HUGE help over the last few years, from reviewing dog fights, to keeping an eye on employees and their productivity, to catching neighbors throwing junk into our yards. — Natalie Bosch, Albany Pet Hotel, Albany, OR
• Sixteen cameras cover the main store showroom floor, back grooming areas, hallways. No area left uncovered. Cameras are extremely helpful in reviewing staff/customer interactions, staff operations when management is out of the store, grooming procedures, etc. Most people get them for theft prevention, but we have very little of that. We use them to handle any drama or “issues,” so that we can see and hear the full story, not one person’s particular view. They’re a great training tool. — Lorin Grow, Furry Face, Redlands, CA
• We cover the two registers, front door, back door and a few spots on the sales floor. There have been times where the cameras were very good to have. We have been able to see faces of people who shoplifted. We’ve even reviewed behavior of a customer with Animal Control when staff witnessed them mistreating their dog in the store. — Jess Smith, Chow Hound Pet Supplies-Standale, Walker, MI
• We have three cameras. One covers our front door, the other the cash register, and the last is the gym. It helped us with a guest that blamed us for something their dog did when they were not paying attention to the dog. — Lisa Kirschner, Sit, Stay, ‘N Play, Stroudsburg, PA
• Every inch is as covered as possible. They have proven very helpful many times. Recently we were able to capture someone who entered our store and stole credit cards out of a staff member’s wallet. Previously we have caught individuals stealing product, customer accidents and our parking lot camera has even captured car accidents in front of our store. — Alison Schwartz, All Pets Considered, Greensboro NC

No: 30%

• I can’t imagine the onslaught of calls, emails and complaints from our dog day care clients about pee on the floors (water drops by sloppy drinkers), dog fights (chasing, wrestling and neck-biting), staff being mean to dogs (slip-leading and safely removing overly aroused dogs for breaks), aggressive dogs (barking at new arrivals on the other side of the gate). We don’t look over your shoulder at your place of employment and critique how you do your job (I don’t know how to do your job); please don’t tell us how to do ours. In our retail area, I am considering installing a few cameras as we’ve had some theft for the first time in six years. — Marcia Cram, Just Fur Pets, Springfield, VA
• Our retail space is labyrinthine. We have solved some visual problems by installing fish tanks as room dividers. Those products that seem most prone to five-finger discounts are either displayed behind the counter or in places where plenty of eyeballs are watching. — Liz Harris, Creatured Featured, Madison, FL
• We have fake cameras and signs. — Nancy Okun, Cats n Dogs, Port Charlotte, FL
• We’re located in a rural area with a person living on the property. — Dana Rice, Dog Wild Pet Supplies & Resort, Cooperstown, NY
• We have non-operational cameras left by the previous renter. We don’t use them because we’re small enough to manage without them. — Sue Hepner, Cool Dog Gear, Roslyn, PA
• We don’t have them yet due to budget constraints. We will have them installed once our budget allows for it. — Becci Scott, Fetching Dog, Scottsdale, AZ
• We have an alarm system and several faux cameras around our business. — Keith Henline, Asheville Pet Supply, Asheville, NC
• No reason why not. I suppose we have been lucky and not thought we needed them. The store is pretty visible from the front, and the back office has a window to see out onto the sales floor. — Cindy “Michelle” McConnell, A Natural Pet Pantry, Osprey, FL
• We don’t because it is one of those things that is never gotten around to. — Connie Roller, The Feed Bag Pet Supply, Grafton, WI
• We had installed Arlo cameras, which work great, when they work. But we were constantly having issues with them disconnecting from the network, so we have not maintained them. We are currently without an active camera system, but plan to replace it by the end of the year. — Wendy Megyese, Muttigans, Emerald Isle, NC
• We are a small store so haven’t needed them. — Jennifer Baker, The Grateful Dog Bakery North Ridgeville, OH