This guy used 3D printing to help his blind 18-year-old puppy

You know, 3D printing has produced some wild things over the years, from small spaceship Yes doll guns shooting candy a whole houses Yes personal protective equipment. But while some creations have been absolutely cursed (I’m looking at you, tongue brush), this safety ring designed to help an older puppy move around is as healthy as it gets.

Amateur designer Chad Lalande made the device using a Creality Ender 5 3D + printer to prevent his 18-year-old Pomeranian Sienna from accidentally hitting walls and door frames.

“I just saw a need and set out to resolve that need,” Lalande told Gizmodo via email.

In its design, your pet’s head goes through the central ring, which is surrounded by a larger ring held in place by an arm that covers it. The rest of the device fits over your pet’s back and has three slots for sliding the harness straps to secure it.

Lalande said this is not the first time he has created assistive devices for puppies. There was a time when her sister’s dog started to have difficulty walking, struggling so hard to get up that she often tripped over it. Lalande made a pair of boots that were attached to the dog’s harness using rubber bands to give him a little extra help at each step. His father’s puppy also began to experience mobility issues, so Lalande built a makeshift wheelchair with a harness and aluminum rods to help the dog move more easily.

There are anti-collision pet hoops that are already on the market, but they can be pricey and the options may be limited for a dog of Sienna’s miniature size. Plus, Sienna hates anything that comes close to her head, according to Lalande, so she knew that using some sort of head-mounted device was not possible.

Using a 3D printer like the one you have on vacation makes creating and iterating your designs a lot less complicated, he said. He went through six versions of Sienna’s pearl ring trying to get the design, which he prepared using LightWave 3D and Cura, just right. The former were too narrow to prevent me from sticking my head over the sides of the rim and colliding with objects. So he widened and lengthened the hoop so that she could move her head freely while remaining protected from all sides. By this time, however, the hoop was getting so big that it began to lean towards the ground as she ran. Lalande, who shared his design process online, said a colleague from a 3D printing Facebook group gave him the idea of ​​placing an arm on top of the hoop to help support it. This solution would also help avoid another problem she had encountered: Sienna managed to put the front of the rim under the doors and get stuck.

You can see the design progress in the version one through five blueprint below.

The finished product successfully protects her from collision with objects while allowing her to jump at will. The only downside is that it works a bit as well Well, you can’t reach your food or water bowl with the safety ring, so you have to remove it periodically throughout the day, Lalande said. Oh, and the jury is still out when it comes to Sienna herself.

“Sienna is still getting used to wearing it, but now she complains less,” Lalande said. “She’s 18, so she might not be around much longer, but if I can make her comfortable during the time she has, so much the better.”

Because it was made with such a small animal in mind, the design might not fit larger animals well, he warned, and also warned that “as with most things for animals, supervision is a must! “

You can find the final design here on Thingiverse if you want to print one for your own pet. If you do, you are legally obligated to share photos of them in the comments. Sorry, I don’t make the rules.