OPRAH
Travel Channel
Hometown channel
Good Morning America
[Broadcast: ABC 05/28/2004]

"Safety Turtle Saved My Daughter"

We moved to Las Vegas in March 2000, into a house with a backyard pool. The Pool N' More Store told me about Safety Turtle, and after calling all over Las Vegas to find one, I purchased the product at Budget Pools, across town.

Two days later, when I was out by the pool with my three children, my one year old Anna Mae fell into the pool. I was at the deep end of the pool with my boys, trying to retrieve a truck from the bottom without going in, when we heard the alarm go off. I knew it was Anna Mae.

My son and I ran down and pulled her out. We got there so fast, thanks to Safety Turtle, that she had held her breath and wasn't even choking or coughing.

Thank you!
Margie

"This is the best product out there ..." Phoenix, AZ

I am writing to express my thanks to you and your company for your [Safety Turtle] product. I reside in Phoenix where child drownings are tragically all too common. Having a pool in our backyard and an 18 month old daughter, my wife and I are determined to insure our daughter's safety around water. Having a pool fence and diligent parent supervision are obviously the two most important aspects of insuring a child's safety around water, but I wanted an added measure of security.

We tried a floating pool alarm which, when tested, rarely worked. It also couldn't be on with the pool vacuum running. Here in Phoenix that is 7 to 12 hours a day of no added safety. I considered a laser perimeter pool alarm, but it still seemed too easy to breech. A local pool store employee told me about the Safety Turtle. I purchased one and quickly recognized that this was the safety product I'd been looking for.

This is the best product out there for an added level of security for children around water. The reason is very simple. It is physically attached to the child. The other products are not. If all other measures should fail and a child falls in a pool, having a Safety Turtle on their wrist is the best chance they have of surviving. I hope never to have to hear the alarm of the base station going off, except to test the turtle weekly, but having a Safety Turtle around my daughters wrist is the best chance we'll have of saving her if it does happen. My daughter has been wearing a Safety Turtle since she was eleven months old. We only take it off when she goes in the pool with us or takes a bath. Having it on her wrist doesn't bother her at all. In fact, if we delay too long in putting it back on her wrist after a bath, she reminds us. She likes having it on.

Once again, thank you for your product.

"My daughter has been wearing a safety turtle since she was eleven months old."

I am writing to express my thanks to you and your company for your product.

Having a pool in our backyard and an 18 month old daughter, my wife and I are determined to insure our daughter's safety around water. My daughter has been wearing a safety turtle since she was eleven months old. We only take it off when she goes in the pool with us or takes a bath. Having it on her wrist doesn't bother her at all. She likes having it on. In fact, if we delay too long in putting it back on her wrist after a bath, she reminds us.

Safety turtle is the best product out there. The reason is very simple. It is phisically attached to the child.

I hope never to have to hear the alarm of the base station going off, except to test the turtle weekly, but having a safety turtle around my daughter's wrist is the best chance we'll have of saving her if it does happen.

Once again, thank you for your product.
Sincerely,
Troy

“Safety Turtle saved my pet.”
My Westie and I moved into a new home with a pool. I had purchased the Safety Turtle after a recommendation from a friend who also had a dog and a pool. After we were settled, I had a man who owned a cleaning company come to clean the house. While the man was vacuuming (with headphones on) he heard a loud siren and began to investigate. He walked outside to the porch and found my Westie bobbing up and down in the pool. He quickly grabbed her and saved her life! Come to find out, a snake was on the porch and when the Westie investigated the snake had reared up and she jumped back....right in the pool! Had it not been for the Safety Turtle my little dog would be in puppy heaven!

Thanks...
Sherry, Ft Meyers FL

When my wife and I bought a new puppy last spring, we were concerned about pool safety. Last year, friends of ours lost a dog in a pool and we didn't want to repeat their tragedy.

Of course the fear most people have is of a child drowning. Drowning is the leading cause of accidental death among children ages one to four, and studies show that fence ordinances don't help. In fact, a Los Angeles study concluded that fences actually increased the number of toddler drownings! (Apparently, parents develop a false sense of security.)

But pets are also a concern. Every year Olde Towne Animal Hospital deals with one or two near-drownings and they admit they have no idea how many dogs actually drown or get pulled out of pools before medical attention is required. It could be quite a few.

My wife got on the Internet and began searching for security devices to protect our pup. We knew there were alarm systems on the market, but they didn't seem adequate. An intrusion alarm is too often turned off and many so-called "turbulence alarms"--those that sense a splash--don't seem to work as advertised. Using search engines, she found a company in Ottawa that makes a device called the Safety Turtle. What differentiates it from other pool alarms is that it focuses on the victim, not the pool. The system consists of an alarm about the size of an answering machine and a little wristwatch-sized turtle that fits around a child's wrist (or, in the case of a pet, on its collar).

If the little one falls into the pool, the turtle sends out a signal that sets off the alarm in your house. It does this by means of a dielectric--an insulating gap between tracks on a circuit board. When the gap fills with water, it sends out a signal.

I was so impressed by this gadget that I called Bob Lyons, president of Terrapin Communications in Canada, which makes the Safety Turtle, and asked him to explain it to me. Mr. Lyons, an electrical engineer, said he began thinking about this a few years ago when friends almost lost a child in a pool accident. The toddler lived, but she was brain damaged.
"I had two small children, he said, "and I realized that despite my best efforts they could still slip out through an unlocked slider and drown." Having experience in satellite communications, he began casting about for an effective alarm.

Through the ingenuity of Scott Gibson, a product designer also based in Ottawa, he settled on a little transmitter in the shape of a baby turtle. Why a turtle? "We wanted a product kids would want to wear," he says.

The turtles come in a choice of six colors representing six radio frequencies. This allows you to coordinate your system with any your neighbors might have so that you won't set off each other's alarms. Each turtle comes with a wrist-strap and child-proof lock.

We've been using this device all summer, and it seems to work. I've tested it by throwing MacDuff's collar into the pool, and the alarm goes off every time. (The only problem we've had was a few false alarms caused by wet grass. I called the company, and they sent me a "less sensitive" turtle, and it appears to have solved the problem.)

Has it sold well? "We've only been in business a year," Mr. Lyons says, "but we've had excellent response and know of several children and pets whose lives have been saved."

One problem, he admitted, is that mothers seem more receptive to the idea than fathers. Men, he said, seem to think that putting something on a child's wrist is too much trouble. Mothers don't mind..

But when I took MacDuff for his first grooming at Classy Canine on North Highway recently, Kelly Scammel, Classy Canine's owner, asked about the turtle on his collar, then got on the phone and ordered several. Classy Canine has now become Safety Turtle's first U.S. pet store outlet.

I know that parents and grandparents can benefit from this device, but the market for pet owners is big, too. When I showed it to Dr. Richard Altieri at Olde Towne Animal Hospital, he said, "This is great. Every dog owner should know about it." The East End's leading dog trainer, Dan Gebbia, told me, "The risk of a dog drowning in a pool is very real--and unfortunately, it's not a fast death."

I have no connection with this company other than the one phone call, but I think if you have a pool and want to protect your little ones you should look into it. The Safety Turtle fills a need.

The Gadget Guru, "There is no replacement for parent supervision, but it is one of the easiest-to-use safety devices this Guru has ever found."

" Wonderful product! " Bradenton, FL

" Great idea! " Cresskill, NJ

" Very pleased with product." Hunting Valley, PA

" Best idea for a pool product I've seen." Selah, WA

" We're pleased with the Safety Turtle." Sterling Hts, MI