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Home: Pet: Transportation
Segway for Dogs   (+7, -4)  [vote for, against]
Dynamically Stabilized Dog Scooter

From everything i have read and seen, it looks like a dog would have enough intelligence, instinct, balance and agility to ride a segway scooter that was built for a dog. you might think this is a good idea, or a bad idea, baked or not, but i wonder if we could keep the voting to just one issue: could a dog ride one? because i seriously think it could.

they can jump and catch frisbees, they can stand inside the car without falling over during the turns, they can figure out how to open the door and get out of my back hall. at the circus they can ride a horse and walk on top of a ball on their hind legs while wearing a party hat. but even an average dog can figure out that simply leaning moves him forward. people who have ridden it say that it becomes intuitive right away, as though it's thought controlled. this may be an exageration, but controlling this thing is certainly far far easier than riding a bike.

you and your pup can glide across the fields. you can chase him! he can chase you! i know it sounds crazy, but that's not a good reason to give me a thumbs down. tell me why a dog cant ride a dog-segway.

consider this: if you strap a dog to a dog-segway, walk across the parking lot and say, "come here boy!", what will happen?
-- gnormal, Dec 05 2001

segway / ginger / it http://www.segway.com
[gnormal, Dec 05 2001, last modified Oct 04 2004]

dogs can ride bikes http://www.lileks.c...tute/dogs/pipe.html
dogs can use a dog-segway [gnormal, Dec 17 2001, last modified Oct 04 2004]

i realize you may not want to put your dog on one, or see mine on one. but an electriv scooter that a dog can ride is a sufficiently novel concept. one can be built "with the technology of the present day", and it will work just fine with two wheels (in fact, it will not work with four). the only question is if the dog can do it, and i say he can. (petersealy does not deny this!) <snarfy see link>

(just one more good reason- the inventor's father jack kamen was an illustrator for mad magazine.)
-- gnormal, Dec 05 2001


i'm not tring to be cute, but now that you mention it, a dolphin could ride one. a dolphin could swim on land as it's quite capable of shifting it's weight. (it would have to roll from cashwash to carwash to keep well hosed.)
-- gnormal, Dec 05 2001


does the rider, be it human, dog, budgy or whatever need two legs to get on this thing?
-- po, Dec 05 2001


I wonder if, in the future when people use Segways all the time (pretend, ok?), if folks will tend to fall over when standing on solid ground because they lean over to move somewhere, but forget to move their feet.
-- PotatoStew, Dec 05 2001


Segue from dogs to Lipizzaner stallions for a moment, and you may get a few offers at the $8,000 asking price of the Segway. I wonder if a horse would use one for each leg?

¯PeterSealy: the movie "Red Tide" has an excellent reference to the use of electricity to train Lipizzaners.
-- reensure, Dec 06 2001


My impression is that a dog might get on one, but as soon as it started moving, it'd jump right back off again. I've seen stuff on TV of dogs skateboarding and waterskiing, not to mention being pulled in carts by children, but they never looked very happy or well-balanced. Still, if the thing only goes at 12 mph, it might not be much of an problem.
-- pottedstu, Dec 06 2001


How long will it take for the Segway aftermarket to pop up?

I want a lift kit, a killer stereo with a mini subwoofer, big, knobby tires with bigger fenders covered in licking-flame decals, a bumper sticker for my ass that reads, "Lean Forward, Straighten Up, or Get The Hell Out Of The Way!", and multicolored tassles for the handlebars.
-- zaphod12, Dec 06 2001


Did I forget to mention a dog?
-- zaphod12, Dec 06 2001


You know those 'Sponsor a previously abused dog' schemes you see advertised on TV, in the newspapers etc? It's a big scam by a bunch of golden labradors so they can buy themselves shiny things. The initial capital which started them off came from blackmailing the Andrex puppy.
-- -alx, Dec 07 2001


yes, a dog would probably jump off it. that's why, in my example, i strapped him in. if we strapped him in for a day, he could learn to maneuver quite well. you might be able to see where this is going: if the dog is lame, it can still get around. this product is adapted from a wheelchair. it can also work for handicapped dogs. in the future, you might see a nolegged dog strapped on one, running loose.
-- gnormal, Dec 10 2001


Allright I agree a dog could ride a segway. However, the purpose would be what? To neglect the dog of it's well-needed exercise. Most dogs don't even get their daily walk. I think, however, that I -- ME -- would like to have one of these, especially after a 12 hour waitressing day. Give one to Mom, too, so that she can stop asking me to get her things :|
-- jimithing, Dec 10 2001


Defeating the purpose of dog having exercise. I can understand some humans being lazy and avoiding exercise but are animals as lazy as well?
-- Pellepeloton, Sep 10 2006



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