My older dog is getting, well, older. The day will come when she can't move one or both of her hind legs. Yet her favorite thing to do is run free in the woods when we go hiking. A dog wheelchair will work fine for regular walks, but likely will slow her down in the forest.
I propose a dog wheelchair using Segway technology to sense when the dog leans forward to walk or run, and power the wheels appropriately. It will come with knobby tires for off-road use.
An alarm will sound if turned over, seperated from the dog, or away from the owner for too long.-- Worldgineer, Jul 01 2005 Like this, but powered. http://www.la-spca.org/images/jess.jpg [Worldgineer, Jul 01 2005] I've seen a 3 legged dog with a wheel on the end of the 4th, works pretty well.-- po, Jul 01 2005 Um, oops. I missed a "hind". Fixed.
Really [po]? Did it work off-road at all? Poor Katy limps for days after running for minutes.-- Worldgineer, Jul 01 2005 "I've seen a 3 legged dog with a wheel on the end of the 4th..."
End of the 4th what?-- bristolz, Jul 01 2005 sorry bris. :)
stump of the fourth leg.-- po, Jul 01 2005 [po] A dog rollerskate? Nice.-- Worldgineer, Jul 01 2005 I'm not sure I want to see my arthritic, [edit, add: blind, deaf and senile] 14 year old Aussie Shepherd try to deal with this (for more than a few minutes).
[e: the point was, she's really confused]-- oxen crossing, Jul 02 2005 Seems like a good idea to me. Your dog could use it without it first being necessary to amputate her hind quarters.-- benindubai, Jul 02 2005 Too easy. One of the local farmers drives around over rough terraine with their old dog in the huge front basket of an off-road four wheeler.-- mensmaximus, Jul 02 2005 It seems to beg disaster to fasten your dog's hindquarters to any sort of powered wheel chair or two-wheeled cart. The carriage is bound to overrun her front paws or force her to maintain a faster gait than might otherwise be comfortable for her condition.
Why not take the same Segway power and balancing approach to a four-wheeled ATV chassis which allows your dog to sit or lay prone atop the vehicle? Train her to control speed, idle, and direction with head and neck movements controlled by a shoulder harness and yoke, or by a joystick mechanism controlled by the mouth. Either of these approaches seem more likely to actually work without furthering crippling your best friend.-- jurist, Jul 02 2005 The health and energy of our 12 year old golden retriever got better when we adopted a puppy, two years ago.-- Pericles, Jul 02 2005 I've seen in action (on tv, no special effects or w/e, this was real) a similar invention for a cat, whereby the cat sits in what is basically an animal electrically-powered go-kart. The cat uses its paws to steer. Press the right paw, the "kart" turns right. Press the left paw, the "kart" turns left. Both paws at once makes the device go forward.-- Kozi4361, Jul 03 2005 [jurist] You're right - this would have to be carefully designed, but I assume so did the Segway.
(everyone that mentioned a 4-wheel vehicle) Probably a good idea for dogs that can't use any legs, but it would really remove the feeling of running.
[Peri] We did the same for Katy last year, and she loves her new little sister. She certainly doen't have a lack of energy.-- Worldgineer, Jul 03 2005 And could work with invisible fence too. +-- sartep, Jul 03 2005 Shoot the dog-- 10clock, Jul 04 2005 //Shoot the dog//
Why be cruel when you can be kind AND have the hilarity of watching your dog get used to the rollarskate?-- CloakedBeauty, Jul 04 2005 random, halfbakery