Tag Archives: dogs

Top 10 ultimate products for pets and pet lovers

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As much as I love spending time with my own cats, I’m honestly running out of ways to keep them entertained and prevent them from knocking down an item or two in my home, out of sheer boredom. If you’re pretty much in the same precarious situation as me and are always looking for new ways to keep your pet entertained, productive, and happy, then this collection of pet products promises to come to your rescue! From a modular pet-friendly sofa to an adorable pet-feeder designed like a sushi tray – these product designs will take good care of your pet, and keep them active and content. You can take a little breather, while they wrestle around with these newfound fun products! These are the pet products you need in your home.

1. Quarter Sofa

Built using a mixture of wood and fabric (the fabric isn’t specified), the Quarter Sofa has two major characteristics – it is modular, and pet-friendly. The various modules of the sofa are in the shape of circles and squares, and they can be assembled, disassembled, and moved around to create a configuration that works perfectly for you, your home, and your cat.

Why is it noteworthy?

The unique configurations that you can make using the modules serve as a playground for cats! They can move and jump around them, even allowing them to play together, if you have multiple cats. Cats are curious creatures that love new adventures and mysteries, and I do believe the Quarter sofa could be a great one for them.

What we like

  • You can rearrange the modules to accommodate different numbers of people, and create an arrangement that best meets your seating requirements
  • You can use the hollow spaces to store and display items such as magazines, books, and other tidbits

What we dislike

  • It’s a concept
  • If your cat poops or pees in the hollow spaces, they could be difficult to clean

2. Sharing Joy

Rather aptly titled ‘Sharing Joy’, this award-winning chair comes with a side table for humans to place their books and cups of tea/coffee on, and a crawl space for cats to casually lounge in (complete with a suspended toy for them to play with).

Why is it noteworthy?

What I personally love about Sharing Joy is that it subscribes to a broader vision of what lounging is and who can ‘lounge’. Designed for humans and cats to cozy up in, the chair comes with a hollow, oblong backrest that’s perfectly sized for an adult cat (or a tiny dog) to crawl into and laze around in. Moreover, having the human and pet lounging together against each other sounds like absolute perfection. 10/10 will give you the happiness hormones.

What we like

  • Sports a minimalist aesthetic that fits in most contemporary homes
  • Comes with a soft design language that’s inviting to humans and cats alike

What we dislike

  • There is no option to adjust or close the opening when not in use

3. The Bowowhaus

Designed by Conran and Partners, the Bowowhaus is a mobile hut doghouse meant to help dogs live a nomadic lifestyle. It features pencil-thin slabs of light wood and dark gray-hued panels and shades, providing doggos with a cushy and comfy traveler ambiance.

Why is it noteworthy?

A flight of stairs welcomes the dogs into the hut, while a space for food containers and bowls is propped up behind the house, to ensure that no food and water is spilled within the little home. It features a triangular shape, which provides a generous amount of space, for dogs of all sizes and shapes to enter and lounge about in the hut comfortably.

What we like

  • The roof of the dog house has been topped with solar panels, and the wheels are battery-operated, allowing the home to be easily transported and moved from one place to another

What we dislike

  • We’re not sure whether dogs would actually feel comfortable and safe traveling in the mobile doghouse

4. OurPets’ Pet Feeders

This series of Pet Feeders from OurPets has a wonderfully tongue-in-cheek way of bridging the visual gap between pet treats and what humans consider treats.

Why is it noteworthy?

The feeders come in two styles – a sushi tray and a plate of waffles (with maple syrup and butter on top), with sliding and rotating compartments to hide pet treats in. Getting to these hidden treats requires a fair bit of problem-solving, including figuring out how components move to reveal the food hidden inside.

What we like

  • Gives pets their mental stimulation, making them work for their food as their wild counterparts would have by scouting, strategizing, and hunting

What we dislike

  • May lead to agitation in pets who fail to solve for treats

5. Chang’s Walking Aid

There are definitely plenty of walking aid designs, some even serving multiple functions. Some are just a step above crutches that you have to lift to move forward, while others come with wheels that increase mobility at the expense of some stability. Some come with small seats for the user, and others have baskets to hold their things. This particular walker concept combines some of these to present a more agile yet safe aid that has room for your pet when you go out.

Why is it noteworthy?

The most conspicuous part of this walker is the large box that serves as your pet’s mobile home. You can simply slide the door on top to let the little furry friend in or out, or you can keep it close so that they don’t jump out suddenly. Of course, there are vents that allow the pet to breathe easily while comfortably confined in there.

What we like

  • The handle travels in almost all directions, giving the user the freedom to grip it any way they prefer

What we dislike

  • There is no visible brake to control the walker in case their pet makes a sudden move

6. The Flow Single Sofa

SUNRUI designed this rather minimal and chic-looking armchair as a part of the FLOW Collection. As the name of the collection hints, the armchair is called the Flow Single Sofa. If you look closely at the chair, it quite literally looks like a Queen’s Chair.

Why is it noteworthy?

The sofa has a rather bulky and space-consuming form, although its structure has been designed quite elegantly and smartly, which somehow downplays the stoicness of the sofa. What also imparts the single sofa with sophisticated air are its spiral armrests. The spiral armrests add an interesting and artistic element to the sofa, and also quite amusingly resemble the Ionic Order.

What we like

  • Meets the needs of humans and pets alike
  • Creates a shared space, where the owner and cat, can spend some quality time together

What we dislike

  • If your pet pees or poops inside the armrests, it could be difficult to clean up
  • Scratching of the hollow furniture could cause sizeable damage to the chair body

7. The PawMate Beacon

This concept for a pet tracker may help ease those worries and make sure that your pets are well and safe while you’re away during the day or for a longer period of time.

Why is it noteworthy?

It looks pretty much like a regular dog or cat collar but is able to do more than just be an identification for your fur baby. It’s more like an activity tracker but instead of telling you how many steps you’ve taken, it gives you insight into your pet’s activity. It is partnered with the PawMate Beacon which you place in certain areas to help in the activity tracking.

What we like

  • There’s an accompanying app that lets you enter your pet details and gives you stats and insights as well as real-time data

What we dislike

  • Without real-world testing, it is difficult to verify how well and how much distance the tracker covers

8. Swelltone

Eating time can sometimes be stressful both for pets who can’t help spill food out of their bowls as well as for the humans who need to clean up afterward. Attempting to return dinnertime to its original atmosphere, this fine-looking food bowl for furry friends brings something that’s not only beautiful but also functional, utilizing human creativity and craftsmanship to make a pet bowl that delivers a pleasant experience for everyone at home.

Why is it noteworthy?

It makes “ease of eating” the focus of its design, and it does so in a simple yet effective way. The stainless steel bowl that holds the food can tilt up to an angle of 20 degrees, which makes it easy for pets to slurp every last bit without spilling their food.

What we like

  • We don’t need to clean up after our pets after meal time, owing to the bowl titling at 20 degrees
  • Posh + sleek aesthetics

What we dislike

  • The product might be difficult to integrate into the lives of pets who are used to a certain mealtime routine, and particular products

9. Petpartment

Petpartment is a concept for a space for both the cat and the cat owner so you can have a “beautiful life with your beloved pets”. What differentiates it from the usual cat trees is that it doesn’t just let your cat be like Obi-Wan Kenobi and have the higher ground. It’s meant to be decorative and functional for both of you and hide those interiors you don’t want them to harm while they’re playing or going about their day.

Why is it noteworthy?

The architecture of this pet apartment is well thought out and actually has four different angles with different functions as well. The front view is a showcase of the material used which is red oak and stainless steel. It looks like a bookshelf, and you can fill it up with your books and cats!

What we like

  • Nice piece of furniture to have, even if you don’t have pets
  • Works well for humans and felines

What we dislike

  • Don’t know if we can trust cats to be around books since they have a tendency to scratch things

10. Solar

MyZoo, a cat goods company, designs modern cat furniture that caters to your cat’s every need, while not disrupting your interior design. Solar, one of their more recent designs, is a wall-mountable floating cat bed that mounts onto any vertical surface so cats rest midair in their own designated space.

Why is it noteworthy?

Shaped like the sun, Solar is a small, but sturdy floating cat bed that’s built from pinewood. In a similar fashion to their other pieces of cat furniture, MyZoo lined Solar with a slotted resting platform for safe jumping. Ideal for small spaces, Solar provides a resting spot and jumping platform for your cat and saves space in the meantime.

What we like

  • Solar doesn’t take up any ground space and easily mounts to any wall where there’s room
  • Easy to assemble

What we dislike

  • There’s no cushioning on the bed, which would make it comfier

The post Top 10 ultimate products for pets and pet lovers first appeared on Yanko Design.

This collapsible dog crate keeps your pet safe and free while traveling in your car

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When you see dogs riding in cars in movies or even advertisements, you always see the head hanging out, tongue lolling, and pet smiling scenarios. But as any pet owner knows, real life is not as picturesque as that. Dogs in cars can be messy, chaotic, and sometimes even dangerous for both the pets themselves and the owners. So what you need is something that can keep them safe and secure while in a moving vehicle but also give them some sense of freedom.

Designer: Hammacher

This dog crate is meant to be a safe space for your pet while they’re riding with you on a short or long road trip. The Safer Automobile Pet Crate doesn’t really look like an actual crate but more like an enclosed baby seat for your fur babies. It is meant to be placed behind the front passenger seat and is secured with a harness to the headrest and a seatbelt for the back part. This way, even when you’re driving fast (or as fast as you’re allowed), the crate will stay in place and your pet be safe.

It is made from lightweight polyester and has a breathable mesh on both sides so your dog will not feel suffocated as it can still breathe and feel the breeze if your windows are down. That way, they can also still see the outside world but they’re kept in place if they become too excitable with all the passing vehicles and the kids waving from other cars. There are zipper doors on either side for easy access and the crate also has two storage pockets for things like food and water and hook-and-loop fasteners to hold their toys and treats.

To make your dog more comfortable, it has a fleece-covered pad. The whole thing is also easy to clean as it is washing-machine friendly. And in case you’re not bringing your pet with you on certain trips, you can just fold it flat and store it somewhere else to make space in the car. The Safer Automobile Pet Crate measures 28 x 19 x 27 inches so it may be just right for your small or medium-sized dogs. It’s also pretty affordable at just $130 and for pet lovers that love to travel with their dogs, that’s a small price to pay.

The post This collapsible dog crate keeps your pet safe and free while traveling in your car first appeared on Yanko Design.

Robotic Dog Uses AI to Learn to Walk in Under 20 Minutes

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A group of researchers at the University of California Berkeley have trained a dog to walk on various terrain in under twenty minutes using machine learning. Using a ‘deep reinforcement’ form of artificial intelligence, the robot can quickly acclimate to traversing almost any ground cover it finds itself on. Obviously, there’s never been a better time to build a treehouse.

Using a Q-learning algorithm, the robot doesn’t require any prior knowledge of the terrain; it just immediately starts the learning process from the ground up, being rewarded for successful actions. Wait – what are they giving it, digital dog treats? How do you reward a robotic dog? I’m so confused right now. Granted, I’m confused most of the time, but right now included.

For reference, it took me a solid three years to learn how to walk. Before that, I could only crawl in reverse and get stuck under the sofa. You never heard my parents complaining, though; apparently, it made me incredibly easy to babysit.

[via TechEBlog]

Man Spends $15,791 on Ultra-Realistic Dog Costume

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Because we all have dreams, and everyone’s dreams are different, a Japanese man named Toko recently spent $15,791 on an ultra-realistic Border Collie costume so he could dress up as his favorite dog breed. Hey, different strokes for different folks – that’s what my favorite high school substitute teacher Mrs. Gitland used to tell us while relating a story about how her daughter raises ostriches in Arizona.

Toko hired Zeppet Workshop, a company known for its costume work in movies and television as well as its custom furry commissions, to make the suit, which took over 40 days to construct through trial and error. According to an employee at Zeppet, “Since the structure of the [human] skeleton is very different, we spent a lot of time studying how to make it look like a dog.” Well, clearly all that studying paid off because the result is uncanny. So uncanny I’m not convinced this isn’t a dog in a human suit wearing a dog costume.

It was smart choosing a Border Collie instead of a chihuahua on account of 1) the obvious size and 2) all that extra belly fur helping to hide the fact that there’s an adult man in there who chose to spend $16,000 on a costume to look like a dog. Now just to be clear, I’m not judging – if anything I’m just jealous I don’t have the money to commission the ultra-realistic turtle costume I’ve always dreamed of.

[via 9gag]

Dogs vs. Cats Chess Set: The Battle for Pet Supremacy

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Dogs or cats – which makes the best pet? Depends on who and when you ask, but if you ask me on a day my dog pooped on the living room carpet, I’d probably say cats. Ask me on a day that my cat knocked a picture of my wife and me on our wedding day off a shelf and shattered the glass, I’d probably say dogs. But here to settle the debate once and for all comes this Dogs Vs Cats Chess Set available from Uncommon Goods.

The $179 set includes a folding wooden game board that doubles as a storage case for the pieces, and two sets of resin figures: one of dogs, the other of cats. Which would you choose to play as? I always choose the top hat, but that’s just me and chess makes my brain hurt; I’m more of a Monopoly kind of guy. Especially if I can be banker and steal money without getting caught.

I set up a chess board and tried to get my dog and cat to play a game to decide who was the better pet but my cat just swatted the pieces off the board, and my dog started chewing on them once they hit the floor. So who won? Definitely not me, that’s for sure. Maybe my fish will actually take the game seriously…

[via DudeIWantThat]

Toyota Patents Dog Walking Robot That Can Pick Up After Your Pet

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Because picking up poop is one of the least desirable aspects of dog walking, Toyota recently applied for patents related to a dog-walking robot that can even clean up after a dog takes care of its business. The future, ladies and gentlemen! It finally doesn’t involve me standing around with a plastic bag on my hand, waiting to pick up a turd.

The “guidance vehicle” features a moving platform that an owner can ride on, which moves along a pre-programmed route, constantly monitoring to ensure it maintains a safe distance from the dog. And when your dog does pee, it sprays a jet of water to help dilute the urine, so it doesn’t kill the grass. And when it poops? It uses a robotic arm to pick up the nuggets, so your neighbors don’t yell at you and/or become passive-aggressive.

Will Toyota’s dog walking robot ever see actual production? That’s debatable, although stranger things have happened, including Toyota applying for dog-walking robot patents in the first place. But if it ever does see the light of day, they better call it the Pet Prius.

[via Autoblog]

This minimalist, unibody dog house is made using hot press machines from metallic elements + felt coverings

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The Cottage dog house is a minimalist dog house made from metallic elements and eco-friendly felt coverings.

Your dog deserves a corner of the home to call its own. Whether that means creating your own pillow fort around your dog’s bed or buying the latest, greatest dog house that only fits in the backyard, it’s up to you. Typically, dogs aren’t too fussy and they’ll find comfort wherever there’s a hint of it–on your lap or under the couch. The Cottage dog house from LSY and Jaeyeon Choi is a new kind of minimalist dog house that taps into comfort with a felt covering and sturdy build.

Designers: LSY . x Jaeyeon Choi

Like a traditional cottage, the dog house maintains a simple frame and homey appearance. Consisting of only three main parts, the Cottage dog house is formed around a weighty base that supports an internal cushion for resting, while an A-frame felt house covers everything. The internal cushion is meant to provide ultimate comfort for your canine friend and the removable roof allows for open-air or semi-enclosed sleeping.

Constructed on a hot press machine, the felt covering drapes over the metallic roof for a soft, plush exterior that feels warm and fuzzy to the touch. The hot press machine adheres the felt covering to the metallic roof for seamless covering and water cutting machinery is used to cut the felt down to precise corners and edges.

The felt used to cover the dog house is eco-friendly by design as it’s biodegradable and low-impact. The felt also provides soundproof features so that your dog can rest in peace day or night. The eco-friendly material also boasts a long life cycle so your dog will be able to enjoy its own tiny little home for as long as it needs.

“The cottage consists of three parts: base, cushion, and house.  Of course, various combinations of various colors are possible.”

“The cottage is made of ‘hot press’ method which takes the felt with high-temperature casting.  It is strong enough for an adult man to stay on the roof and maintain shape.”

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Parametric design systems can produce a customizable, 3D-printed wheelchair for aging dogs

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Alive is a customizable, 3D-printed wheelchair for dogs suffering from joint-related body ailments.

As our dogs grow older, age-related body issues, such as arthritis, hip dysplasia, and paralysis make it difficult to enjoy life. When even moving feels hard, aging dogs are less likely to spend time with family members and take care of bodily needs, leading to psychological stress.

Designer: Martin Tsai

While technical accessories and equipment do exist to offer some relief, antiquated building methods make it hard for dogs to adapt to wheelchairs and other assistive appliances. Revolutionizing the canine assistive appliance game, industrial designer Martin Tsai conceptualized a wheelchair for dogs called Alive that can be 3D printed to fit your dog’s body data and needs.

Noticing room for improvement within the canine assistive appliance industry, Alive represents Tsai’s attempt in combining modern technologies with canine health and wellness. Speaking on the design in his own words, Tsai mentions,

“The parametric design system uses 3D scans of the dog’s body data to generate an optimized wheelchair for each dog. Alive creates value through customized accessory options while eliminating the high cost of traditional, manual manufacturing processes. Alive also adopts a zero-waste production process, with each part being 3D-printed.”

Providing an interactive, customizable process for fitting, Alive offers individualized attention to each dog according to their needs. As dogs develop symptoms of arthritis, hip dysplasia, or any other joint-related ailment, dog owners can choose between a four-wheel- or two-wheel-chair for their dog. From there, Tsai’s 3D scanning technology generates data to inform the wheelchair’s structural design and shape.

Once the body data has been collected, it can then be applied to the parametric design system to construct a wheelchair that’s truly unique to your dog and their body. Constructed from fully-reusable, thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), the entire wheelchair is 3D-printed for your dog to hit the road.

The final product of Alives forms a customized, lightweight wheelchair for your dog to use in the home and on outdoor walks.

Dog owners can choose between a wheelchair that has four wheels or two wheels.

Alive fits over your dog’s frame the same way a harness might.

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Biometric dog collar monitors your pooch’s vitals, keeps tabs on its current location

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Thanks to the pandemic, we have realized the importance of tracking body vitals regularly and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Now a company has perceived the importance of the same for the man’s best friend and has devised a dog collar that should keep tabs on your dog’s activity levels, heart and respiratory health with medical accuracy.

As a pet owner, I often struggle in understanding my doggo’s health. Since the poor guy cannot speak, it’s difficult to comprehend his pain without the vet’s help. With this new biometric health collar designed for dogs – will eventually be miniaturized for pups and cats – Invoxia intends to help out many other pet owners like me, who can now constantly measure the vital stats of their dogs including respiration and heart rate.

Announced at CES 2022, the Invoxia smart dog collar in addition to monitoring the vital stats also doubles as a GPS and activity tracker for your pooch and uses Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, and LTE-M for connectivity. It can keep constant tabs on the dog’s activity levels such as walking, running, resting, scratching and barking and even provide pet parents with data regarding their dog’s daily routine on the accompanying app.

For constant heart and respiratory health readings, this smart dog collar features radar sensors. The radar, according to Invoxia, sends out a radio signal which is reflected by the dog’s first layer of skin on the neck. The radar sensors are then able to “know the speed and movement of the skin right under the collar.” The readings are tabulated by an algorithm to determine the pet’s heart and respiratory rate.

Since, we like the collar to sit loosely and comfortably around our dogs’ necks, Invoixa has taken that into consideration and made their smart dog collar more receptive than the similar kind of trackers in smartwatches for humans. So, you can have the collar sit comfortably around the dog’s neck and still be assured of medical accuracy from it. The comfortable yet smart dog collar comes with easy to wash, removable fabric cover, and is very aggressively priced at $99 with an additional $12.99 monthly subscription for GPS features.

Some pet owners can be skeptical of having their dogs fastened with a tracking and health monitoring device throughout the day and also feel they don’t necessarily want to know about vital signs constantly. Invoxia believes, the smart dog collar will be beneficial for post-operative monitoring and health tracking of dogs reeling with respiratory or cardiac illnesses. This dog collar is overly important since the heart and respiratory rates are first and true indicators for preventive care and the dog’s baseline anomalies can help owners and vets detect illnesses early.

Designer: Invoxia

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This pet-friendly e-scooter comes with a secure storage compartment for your dogs to ride shotgun!

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Mopet is a pet-friendly e-scooter with an integrated storage compartment so small dogs can come along with you on rides in a secure crate.

There aren’t many options for dog owners to get around cities with their little pup in tow. Resolving to pulling their dogs on leashes or stowing smaller pups inside bicycle baskets, the options are either inconvenient or unsafe. Providing a solution for dog owners to crate their dogs around with them, Mopet is an electric scooter design that integrates a spacious and secure storage compartment where owners can keep their dogs while they scoot around from place to place.

Mopet was primarily designed as a means for city residents to bring along their little pups on trips that would be too far for smaller dogs. Since safety is the number one priority when considering modes of pet-friendly transportation, Mopet is equipped with plenty of safety features. Users can turn on the e-bike’s high beam LEDs when riding at night to make their e-bike and little dog visible to oncoming traffic.

Whether their city is going through its annual summer heatwave or their dog is too tired to keep walking, Mopet is outfitted with a large-capacity battery that allows travel for 60km with a full charge.

Foldable by design, Mopet features a hinge fastening system near the base of its handlebars that collapses to optimize the e-bike’s storability. Weighing only 25 kilograms (50 pounds), Mopet can easily slip into the trunk of a car.

When it comes to bringing your dog along on trips, considering your pet’s safety is a top priority. The designers behind Mopet introduced an innovative answer to pet-friendly modes of transportation. With an integrated fastening system and folding mechanism, Mopet strikes the perfect balance of safety and practicality.

Designer: Mopet

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