The Brief

The Brief

Rowan Roudebush

  20% of dogs have separation anxiety. There are many causes for this type of anxiety, but a dog being left alone at home is the main one. It makes sense, everytime you leave the dog alone at home the dog doesn't know for sure when or if you're going to get home.  The Dog timer is a timer for dogs to know when their owner is going to get home. It gives off a soothing odor up until the owner clicks a button on an app on their phone which lets the machine know that they're going to be home in 30 minutes. The machine then gives off a scent to the dog which lets it know the owner will be home in half an hour. It gives off a different scent for when the owner is going to be home in 20 minutes, then 10 minutes. 

       The body of the timer is curved so that it will tuck in nicely next to the dog's bed. It has cups filled with a scented liquid with a screw going down the middle. It will also have a sealed lid on the screw which will move above and below holes releasing and sealing off the scent of the liquid. I was inspired to make this project when I first heard about this issue when I came across a box of pills in the kitchen at my friend's house. My friend asked his mom who they were for, and she said they were for their dog, who has anxiety. In the pill box, there were somewhere between 10-20 pills per day. I made this project hoping to reduce the 20% of dog's in this situation, with a simple, and easy to work product.