SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
The Daily Mail reports that:
Basil the blind dog was picked up by rescuers who noticed he could not walk five yards without bumping into something.
Now, thanks to an innovative new gadget from America, Basil has been given a new lease of life - and his carers hope they will now be able to find a family to permanently house him.
The four-year-old Corgi cross has been given a special guard to wear around his head, which manufacturers call the 'Muffin's Halo'. The light-weight tubular metal ring stops Basil from bumping into objects, allowing him to run around freely without bruising himself. It is attached to his body with a harness and a pillow, which is fashioned to look like angel wings. The 'halo' is designed to be slightly longer and wider than the wearer and when it touches an object, it puts pressure on Basil's shoulders, teaching him to turn away.
Yes, the device is as simple as it sounds but it seems to work and the dog seems happy. Sometimes, going hi-tech just isn't necessary.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Reziac on Wednesday July 09 2014, @04:30PM
...whiskers! or more accurately, vibrissae.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiskers [wikipedia.org]
Okay, so whiskers is easier to type.
I had a cat who became totally blind in his old age. He doddered around for six years after that, relying entirely on his whiskers for navigation -- both for objects and air currents.
Now, most dogs don't have long whiskers, but several long wires (ie. flexible plastic) attached to an ordinary flat collar manages the same trick; yes, this has been done, and the blind dog quickly learns to navigate by the scrape of the wires and the resultant tug on the collar.
Seems to me what they've invented is a lot more cumbersome for the dog, not to mention more expensive for the owners, which is probably more to the point.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 09 2014, @05:11PM
Whiskers are good for identifying objects to the side. If you're a rat, and you can sweep them forward, then you get a little warning of imminent collision, but not if you're moving very fast. This blind dog apparently still liked to run around like a puppy. His problem wasn't bumping against walls so much as running straight into them. This is a great solution. The notion of prosthetic bumpers or whiskers is not common knowledge, and a little publicity is well deserved.
(Score: 2) by PinkyGigglebrain on Wednesday July 09 2014, @06:38PM
Of course Cats are better than dogs, they are the Superior Species.
Though having a cat for 17 years may have biased me a little :)
"Beware those who would deny you Knowledge, For in their hearts they dream themselves your Master."
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Wednesday July 09 2014, @09:48PM
Having had numerous cats and dogs... the cat that can compete with a dog is rare indeed. I like my cats, but I've only seen one that could think as far as an average dog, and this cat was a freak all around.
As to the AC's response, cats do point whiskers forward; in fact the easy way to tell when a cat is blind is that it holds whiskers fully extended (which brings some of them due forward) ALL the time.
I don't think their solution is bad, but it struck me as ungainly compared to the "artificial whiskers" technique.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.