A dog leash with a built-in flashlight isn’t really necessary if you live in the city or suburbs where there’s plenty of streetlights, but I can see it being useful if you live in a more rural setting and have to walk your pup at night. And that latter demographic might find this particular retractable dog leash appealing since it features a small generator inside that tops off a set of rechargeable batteries which in turn power a set of LED lights. The leash is no heavier than a traditional model, and it even features reflective panels on either side of the handle, as well as reflective tape on the leash itself, for added safety if you’re out walking in the dark.
Unfortunately the leash isn’t quite available for sale just yet, though Fido Fashions, the company behind the design, is “currently 6 months from completion of a finished trade show prototype” and “is looking for a handful of small capital investors who can share the vision of the founder…”
I’m not saying that man’s best friend was the reason MySpace became ‘uncool’, but now that dogs will be able to tweet their comings and goings with a little help from Mattel, I think it might be time to say goodbye to Twitter and move on to the next social media fad.
Puppy Tweets, which is officially being announced at next month’s Toy Fair in New York, is a small sound and motion sensor equipped device that is worn on a dog’s collar and translates their barks or activities into Twitter posts. It communicates with a receiver that connects to your PC as I understand it, and only posts ‘pre-recorded’ tweets based on what the dog is doing. So if they’re being particularly active a tweet saying “I finally caught that tail I’ve been chasing and…OOUUUCHH!” might get posted. Yeah… hi-larious.
As frivolous pet accessories go this one definitely ranks at the top of the list, though when it’s available this Fall it will have an MSRP of just $29.99, putting it near the border of inexpensive novelties.
What has your dog done for you lately? If you’re lucky, maybe you get something fetched once in a while. Big whup. Erik Schiegg hit on a way to make his dog useful for a change, by equipping it with a solar charging vest. The dog runs around outside all day, and Erik’s phone gets charged thanks to the solar panel on the dog’s back. While this may not be as efficient as a stationary solar panel, most of us don’t have the space or money for one of those, and this is a cheap and easy DIY solution to mobile solar charging… Think hiking and camping trips and stuff.
You can easily wire up something like this yourself; all you really need is a solar panel (which you can find at online hobby shops) and a battery pack. Or you can just buy one of these and a roll of duct tape. Your call.
Want to know where the whole dog versus cat thing got started? I’ll tell you: allergies. Dogs are allergic to cats. Think about it, it makes so much sense, especially for us humans who also have cat allergies. Allergies turn you in to a crazy feral beast who sneezes. The solution to this, obviously, is to get your dog a personal ionic air purifier, which will virtually guarantee harmony with all other animal species. But wait, there’s more.
In addition to cleaning the air that your pet breathes in, the purifier will also “instantly neutralize smells,” a feature which I’m sure all dogs will appreciate. And if they’d rather not have one of their senses denozzified, you can pop in preloaded “scent cartridges” which are “available in many different scents to relax, calm, soothe & energize your pets.” Brilliant, brilliant I say.
The mini wearable ionizer air purifier for pets is a fabulous value at only $17.20.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m quite fond of my parent’s dog who’s basically another member of the family, but I’m not entirely sure if I’d be willing to spend $475 on this evacuation jacket that’s supposed to make him easier to handle in the event of an emergency. Firstly, he’s almost 100 pounds and these look like they’re designed for little yap dogs, and secondly, in the event of an emergency like a fire or earthquake, I don’t want to waste valuable time trying to wrestle him into this thing.
Now granted, the jacket is made from the same flame-retardant material that firefighters in Japan wear, and it comes with pockets stuffed with everything from sealed water packs, to nutrition bars, to first-aid materials, to rubber booties and even a water bowl. So in the event of a worst-case-scenario it does seem that your pet will be prepared, but $500 (including shipping) from the Japan Trend Shop still seems like an awful lot.
I haven’t owned a dog in some time, but my childhood dog hated storms. She was a big German Shepard, but would cower in a corner at the first clap of thunder. We usually did our best to calm her down, but she never did get used to it. One company believes that they have the solution for dogs that get upset over storms and other loud noises.
The K-9 Calming Vest is supposed to reduce your dog’s anxiety by hugging them tightly. Apparently the tight nature of the vest calms your pet, and distracts them enough that they don’t notice the loud noises. So basically, this thing will be so tight and annoying that your dog won’t care about anything other than removing it. Oh, and good luck getting them to hold still long enough to strap them in, after a couple of times they’re going to learn to hate it.
I have a cat, and like most other felines she loves laser pointers. I generally spend a little bit each day using it to drive her crazy. It really doesn’t take much effort, and it entertains me almost as much as it does her. However, if you don’t feel like putting all of the effort into waving you wrist around, you can get a device to do it for you.
The Frolicat Bolt is a laser pointer that moves around on its own. You can set it on a table (or any other surface really) and have it move the laser in a random pattern for 15 minutes, after which time it will automatically turn off. You can also put it on manual mode and use it like an ordinary pointer. If you’re too busy to keep up with your cat, you can pick one of these up for just $20.
I’ve had a few dogs over the years, and not a single one has been very fun to wash. Usually I ended up just as wet as the dog, and somehow always ended up smelling worse. I’m sure it’s a lot easier to do with smaller pups, but I’m sure even those little guys put up a fight. So what’s the solution? Just pop your pooch into a doggie washing machine.
Yes, this is a real device, and no, it’s not meant as a punishment. Apparently the inventor has had such success with the Dog-o-Matic in France that she’s going to start distributing these all across Europe. Now I’m sure that in reality your dog isn’t having quite as bad of a time as we might think, but it still looks like you’re just popping them into a giant front-loading washing machine. If you’re ever in France and you really want your dog to hate you, just insert $47 and toss your dog in.
Everybody knows that girls are attracted to guys with dogs. This is why, if you’re desperate, you can rent dogs by the hour. But what kind of dog is most effective at picking up chicks? This is the burning question that the Puppy Pulling Power experiment was designed to answer. Five different breeds of dogs (a Border Collie, a Pug, a Samoyed, a Staffy, and a Yorkie) were outfitted with a Sony Ericsson C510 camera phone (with smile detection software) on their collars, and whenever the dog lifted up its head to receive the attentions of an adoring female, the phone would snap a picture when (or if) she smiled. As you might expect, the dogs had a rather, uh, advantageous angle, so I’m going to go ahead and call the following trailer slightly NSFW due to cleavageness.
Yeah, it seems pretty fake to me too (they were sponsored by Sony Ericsson), but I don’t think that necessarily invalidates the results. Have a look at those after the jump (including some of the pics that you really want to see), but here’s a spoiler: the Samoyed wins by a cute widdle nose. Read the rest of this entry »
Related Tags: Eco-friendly, Pets
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By Andrew Liszewski
