US 8,127,718 B2 · Kennel with automatically opening door

Abstract

The general goal of the present invention is to prevent damage to property resulting from the animal's separation anxiety which typically is a consequence of the pet owner's departure while minimizing the period of time the dog is confined. The most obvious objective is to restrain the animal until it calms down. A similar approach would be to reward the animal with a treat once it has calmed down. We have invented a device that incorporates an automatically releasing door of the kennel. For instance, the owner of a canine would place the dog in a kennel prior to leaving his or her residence. The owner would initiate a timer on the kennel, and the kennel door would automatically open after a pre-determined amount of time, for instance 30 minutes, or some other amount of time that was sufficient to calm the canine's emotions. After the door is automatically open, the canine would be free to exit the kennel for exercise, to access water and/or food, or otherwise explore the dwelling or its surroundings.

Claims18

Dependent claims

An apparatus for restraining a canine in order to reduce separation anxiety, the apparatus comprising:

an enclosure for limiting the movement of a canine, the enclosure comprising a door over an opening in the enclosure, the opening configured for both ingress and egress of a canine from the enclosure;
a locking mechanism configured to manually lock the door after ingress of a canine into the enclosure,
a timer capable of producing a signal;
and
a device configured to automatically unlock the door upon receipt of a signal from the timer, thereby permitting egress from the enclosure by the canine, said egress proceeding through the same opening by which ingress occurred.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Kennel with automatically opening door

Life of this patent

Kennel with automatically opening door

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims18