Sarah says she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry
A mum was stunned to discover that her fake fur coat was so realistic her Ring doorbell mistook her for a dog. Sarah Webster returned home and got a notification from her AI-powered Ring doorbell camera.
The 38-year-old said the Smart Video Search notification read ‘a brown dog is moving at the entrance’ and she immediately rushed to the rescue thinking it was a neighbour’s loose dog. But when the aesthetics practitioner opened the door and took a peek outside there was no dog to be found.
Puzzled, Sarah clicked on the notification’s video only to realise her doorbell cam had mistaken her for a dog, apparently due to her brown furry coat. The mum-of-three said she cried from laughing and that the video made her ‘dubious’ about wearing the coat in future.
A tickled Sarah posted the footage online where it went viral, racking up more than 111,000 views. Sarah, from Liverpool, said: “We got a new Ring doorbell with AI and I got a notification that there was a dog outside the house so I thought one of the neighbours’ dogs had escaped.
“I didn’t watch the video and I went to the front door, I went to look for the dog but there was no dog there. I went back inside and realised when I clicked on the video that it was me. I thought someone’s dog was loose on the street, I ran to get a dog that wasn’t there.
“I was crying my eyes out laughing. I sent it to my husband and said ‘oh my God the Ring doorbell thought I was a dog.’ I thought I was saving a dog and it was just me, I would hope it was because of my coat.
“It’s getting warmer now so I’ve stopped wearing it but I’ve been a bit dubious since, like ‘will it pick me up as a bear?’. No one really passes our front door because we live in a new-build so I thought someone’s dog was in the street.”
Sarah captioned her video online ‘Don’t know whether to laugh or cry’. Social media users found the AI fail funny, and flooded it with comments.
One commenter wrote: “Resemblance is uncanny.”
A second added: “That doorbell’s got a personal vendetta against you.”
A third wrote: “I have got tears this is amazing.”
A fourth added: “How rude.”
Ring has been contacted for comment.
