Unlock your chicken safety skill with this harness

NEWS – Do you lose sleep at night worrying about the safety of chickens crossing the road? Honestly, who hasn’t? Your worries are over my friends because here is the Yesito Chicken Harness.

This breathable mesh harness is available in gender typical colors and is designed to clip around your hen or rooster’s body to provide an attachment point for a 6-foot leash. Think I’m kidding? Nope. You can get one for your favorite poultry today for $16.99 from Amazon.

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Unlock your chicken safety skill with this harness originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 30, 2019 at 10:57 am.

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Cheerble Wicked Ball pet toy review

REVIEW – Cheerble Wicked Ball is a “smart toy” aimed at keeping your pet active and engaged, especially when you’re not home.

What is it?

With three different activity level settings and a spot to stash treats, this pet toy alternates between play and rest mode to entertain your dog or cat for hours with built-in breaks.

What’s in the box?

Mine arrived only with the ball itself in heavy-duty bubble wrap. However, the web site says it should have come with:

  • The ball
  • An instruction manual
  • USB charger

My instruction manual and charger may have been missing because I received a review sample. However, it wasn’t a problem because the Wicked Ball Web site has extensive instructions, including videos.

And I was able to easily charge it with my Kindle charger.

Hardware specs

  • Sensor: 6-axis MEMS
  • Processor: ARM Cortex-MO
  • Material: Polycarbonate and TPU
  • Motor: High-Torque DC
  • Charging time: 1 hour
  • Battery Life: Up to 8 hours, depending on mode/activity level
  • Model: C1801
  • Weight: 200 grams
  • Dimensions: 77mm/3 inches across
  • Battery: 3.7v 300mAh
  • Operating Temperature: 0-40 C / 32-104 F

Design and features

First, you need to unscrew the outer shell in order to reach the power center that controls the toy. This is also where you find the charging port.

Setup

It’s pretty simple to set up. To turn it on, you press the little dog-bone button for 3 seconds. Then you hold down the button to select your mode. As you press it, it will switch from green (gentle) to blue (normal) to purple (active). Just leave it on your preferred color/mode selection.

Also, rest assured that it won’t start twitching and vibrating until you’ve safely screwed the outer shell back together.

Performance

I was surprised at how turbulent even the most gentle mode was. Because of this, I’d suggest starting on green and then deciding if your dog wants more. With its wild movements, I wasn’t comfortable with the Wicked Ball gyrating across my new bamboo floors or around my antique furniture. I know it has sensors, but even so, I’m very protective of our family heirlooms, and it just wasn’t worth the risk. For my own piece of mind, I kept it in our carpeted lower-level.

The sensors did a good job of preventing the ball from getting wedged in tight spaces. My dog has a different (non-motorized) ball that releases treats but it’s forever getting jammed in awkward corners and under the couch.

I love the concept of entertaining a lonely dog, but in all honesty, my own canine companion didn’t much care for it as a toy. (We found another valuable use for it, but more on that later). My dog isn’t afraid of the ball. She just has no interest. Maybe my house full of boys and their friends has desensitized her to lights and motion. Maybe it’s her robot-vacuum pal, Rosie. But sadly, the Wicked Ball simply didn’t engage my own pup. Chasing chipmunks and bunnies in the backyard is more her jam.

The Web site claims “lazy dogs” could be lured by sticking treats in the inner-shell. My dog isn’t lazy, in fact, she’s very active. Regardless, even stuffing it with her favorite goodies wasn’t enough to entice her.

Since my dog wasn’t cooperating, I had a friend test the Wicked Ball on her Jack Russell Terrier. He had the same reaction: Not interested.

As I mentioned earlier, we did find another important use for the Wicked Ball that turned out to be just as valuable to us as entertaining our puppy girl. It helped distract her when she was having an episode of separation anxiety. We’re working through her anxiety with several treatments and vet supervision. However, at her worst moments, my pup fixates on our backdoor, where she’s scratched the heck out of the doorframe, hurt her teeth by repeatedly biting the door handle, and has even dug up the carpet and metal doorframe. And that’s where the Wicked Ball saved us! We keep it by the backdoor when we leave, and we’ve seen on our security camera that when puppy starts to approach the door (where we now keep the Wicked Ball), the toy’s jerking motion is just enough to break her focus, which prevents total panic mode from taking over.

What I like

  • Easy to us
  • Keeps my dog distracted

What needs to be improved

  • Suggest a lower setting option
  • Perhaps a treat-release feature or something similar to entice uninterested pets

Final thoughts

The Wicked Ball is easy to use and a sound concept. How your pet will react and engage with it is very much dependent on your individual dog or cat.

Price: $34 for one Wicked Ball/ $89 for a three-ball set (Cat-specific version and cat/dog combo packs are also available)
Where to buy: Indiegogo Indemand
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Cheerble.

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Cheerble Wicked Ball pet toy review originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on June 9, 2019 at 11:00 am.

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Taking Rover for a ride? Check out BWOGUE safety harness.

NEWS – Dog is often my copilot. And we’ve tried various ways of strapping her in. I didn’t know canines could get carsick, but my mutt becomes one sick puppy if you put her in a crate or even the backseat of a moving vehicle.

Her favorite place is riding shotgun, so we’ve previously used harnesses that clip into the passenger-side seatbelt. However, that presents another problem: What if we need that seatbelt?

I have a five-seater car, and if I’m toting my two sons plus any school buddies or random neighbor kids, those seatbelts are at a premium.

My teen likes to ride shotgun with puppy on his lap. But one day he jumped out at the school car line, and his best friend tried to chase after him!

That’s when, after some searching, I found the BWOGUE safety belt for pets, which fastens securely around the headrest on one end and on the other it clips into your furry friend’s harness just like you’d attach a leash. BWOGUE emphasizes that the design is meant to attach to a pet harness, never directly into a dog or cat’s collar.

They’re nylon and highly adjustable to fit all sizes of pets and vehicles. You can even pick from safety straps in black, blue, dark blue, green, yellow, orange, pink, purple or red.

Two-packs are convenient for two-vehicle homes like mine. And the loop design and quick-release fastener easily convert from a seatbelt to a back-up leash if needed. In fact, just keep one of these in your car, and you’re all set for outings with your four-legged friend.

Find a two-pack on Amazon with Prime shipping for $10.49.

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Taking Rover for a ride? Check out BWOGUE safety harness. originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on May 10, 2019 at 2:00 pm.

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Dirty dog got you down? Try Dexas Mudbuster.

NEWS –April showers bring May flowers … plus, a whole lot of dirty pawprints.

Thanks to my Lefant robot vacuum, my floors are cleaner than ever. But with a muddy yard and white floors, I’m constantly battling puppy prints. Sure, I keep a towel by the back door and wipe off Maya’s little feet. But that never seems to do a good enough job.

Enter the Dexas Mudbuster.

This little cuplike device with silicone bristles claims to quickly, easily and effectively clean up your canine friend. With more than 1,200 reviews and a 4.5 out of 5 star rating, customers seem pretty pleased with the results.

My pup hates getting her nails clipped, and really doesn’t like anyone touching her paws, yet the Mudbuster claims to be very gentle. The instructions say to just add a little water, insert the muddy paw, twist and you’re done, just dab them dry.

The Mudbuster comes in three sizes, depending on your pooch’s paw size.  It retails for $14.99 (small), $18.30 (medium) and $21.89 (large) on Amazon.

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Dirty dog got you down? Try Dexas Mudbuster. originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 16, 2019 at 10:00 am.

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Scrubby Rinse-Free Pet Bath Mittens make bathing your dog easier and less stressful

NEWS – Have a dog that doesn’t like bath time? Now you can fully bath your best friend without using a tub or running water. With the Scrubby Rinse-Free Shampoo Mittens all you do is add a little water, scrub, and towel dry.

To use add a small amount of water to the mitten. Rub the mitten to get a lather. Scrub your dog thoroughly and towel dry.

There’s no rinsing necessary, and there’s no soapy residue left behind.

The mitts use a fragrance-free hypoallergenic formula with a low pH that’s gentle on your pet. One Scrubby is good for one bath, or you can use it multiple times for touch-up jobs.

April showers bring May flowers, but they also bring muddy dog paws. So, these might be great to have in the trunk of your car or the mudroom.

Scrubby Rinse-Free Shampoo Mittens come in packs of 5 and are available from The Grommet for $8.95.

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Scrubby Rinse-Free Pet Bath Mittens make bathing your dog easier and less stressful originally appeared on The Gadgeteer on April 13, 2019 at 8:00 am.

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