The latest for dogs: A collar that talks
The Dallas Morning News
Posted July 23 2002
A man and a dog walk into a bar. The bartender says, "Hey, we don't serve dogs in here."
The guy says, "But this is a talking dog."
The bartender says, "If you can get that dog to talk, the drinks are on the house."
So the guy turns to his dog and ...
It's an old joke. But there's a new punch line: Actually, it's not the dog that's talking -- the collar is a ventriloquist.
A wristwatch-size digital recorder attached to the collar allows the dog's owner to record information. So if Fido wanders, anyone who finds him knows where he belongs.
Michael Bowling, who invented the Pets-Talk Talking Pet Collar, runs Tech Enterprises Group Inc., an Otsego, Mich., electronics company. He says the idea came to him partly because one of his children had a small, simple recording device, and partly because he is the owner of two wandering Labradors.
One morning at work, the two ideas came together when talk around the table turned to the pet-supply business. "We looked through the industry and found there was no such device available. So we immediately jumped on it."
Dog owners can record a 20-second message on the device, Bowling says. Information might include the owner's identity and phone number, the dog's name and any special dietary or health needs.
A label on the Pets-Talk collar advises the dog's finder to flip the cover to play back the recorded message.
The company has been marketing the $29.95 collar on its Web site,
Pets Talk , and through television and catalogs since October.
