Animal Footwear for Animal Suspenders and Animal Footwear Paw Insertion Guide
Disclosed is canine footwear with features making the footwear suitable for use with canine suspenders. The disclosure also describes multiple features or variations for a canine footwear guide device that makes it easier for attaching both the canine footwear intended for use with suspenders as well as attaching all other footwear whether being used with suspenders or not being used with suspenders.
This application claims priority to co-pending provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/673,975 filed on Jul. 20, 2012, and entitled “Canine Footwear for Canine Suspenders and Canine Footwear Paw Insertion Guide,” the contents of which are fully incorporated herein for all purposes.
TECHNICAL FIELDThis disclosure relates to canine footwear and accessories used to facilitate putting animal footwear onto an animal's paw. More particularly the present disclosure relates to a footwear style and type intended for easy placement on the animal paw and leg.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONCanine footwear is becoming increasingly popular. Canine footwear serves multiple purposes in protecting canine paws. However, canine footwear has two problems which discourage pet owners from using this paw protective product. One problem is the difficulty of putting the canine paw and leg into the opening of the footwear, the time required, and maintaining enough control over the footwear to be able to pull it completely onto the canine paw and leg. The second problem has been that canine footwear is extremely difficult to keep in place on the dog's foot.
The second problem has been solved recently with the development of canine suspenders that hold the footwear in place. However, the suspenders have placed greater urgency on the first problem and have created a third problem.
The third problem is that canine footwear has been focused on designs and means intended to keep the footwear on the leg in the absence of suspenders. This means ankle openings have been kept tight. Velcro and various buckle straps are there to tighten the footwear grip. This creates the first problem. This leads to the need for footwear that does not have all these straps, clamps and tight fittings. It leads to the need for footwear designed for use with canine footwear suspenders. At least one solution is presented in this disclosure. A preferred footwear concept eliminates all the tourniquet like straps for holding footwear in place and replaces them with highly resilient and wide elastic ankle bands. In general, dogs prefer footwear that has a flexible rubberized bottom and flexible fabric for the body of the footwear, something more like a sock. This type of footwear for use with suspenders is also intended for use with a device that is inserted in the top of the sock to hold the sock open and in place long enough to make it convenient, simple and easy to slip each squirming paw into an otherwise floppy piece of fabric footwear.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONTherefore, it is an objective of this disclosure to provide a style of canine footwear for use both with canine footwear suspenders and with a canine footwear paw insertion guide.
It is also an objective of this disclosure to provide multiple variations of an open ended canine footwear paw insertion guide that will make it convenient, easy and fast for pet owners to use canine footwear on the paws of their pets.
These and other objectives are achieved by providing an insertion guide that can be used to hold the top end of canine footwear, socks, or booties, open, steadfast, and convenient for simple, easy, and fast insertion of each paw into each piece of footwear.
The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the more pertinent and important features of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood so that the present contribution to the art can be more fully appreciated. Additional features of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention. It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and the specific embodiment disclosed may be readily utilized as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present invention. It should also be realized by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.
Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views of the drawings.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTIONThe generalized objective of this patent is to create canine footwear that is easier to use with a Universal Canine Footwear Suspenders and to disclose a device that makes it easier and faster to put that footwear onto a canine paw. Since there are so many variations of canine footwear it becomes essential to offer many variations on this basic device.
Embodiment 1 FIG. 1The guide 50 includes a center portion 52, or retainer, which is inserted into the top opening of an associated the footwear, which may be a shoe, sock or booty. The footwear can be constructed as noted in previous embodiments. In any event, insertion guide 50 assumes footwear with an elastic ankle band as described in connection with the prior embodiments. The elastic of the footwear holds the retainer 52 in place. The paw guide and slide chute 54 inserts down the leg of the footwear to as far as the shoe bottom. This chute 54 may be straight or curved depending on whether it is intended to be inserted into the front, back, or side of the elastic ankle band.
Above the retainer 52 is a U-shaped paw funnel 56 that is intended to gather the toes, nails, fur, and dew claw of each paw together for easy and comfortable insertion into the footwear. The insertion guide 50 can thereafter be pulled out of the footwear by any convenient means such as the grasping the U-shaped paw funnel 56 or an attached tether (not shown).
The basic shape of the retainer 52 is a semi-circle with a short extension at the ends to accommodate larger legs. By leaving one side of the retainer 52 open the paw insertion guide 50 can be removed from the leg even with the footwear suspenders attached.
The canine footwear guide 50 is used by inserting the tips 72 of body 62 inside the ankle opening of the footwear. The footwear preferably has an elastic opening that is then stretched over body 62. Tips 72 may be pointed to facilitate this. Likewise, the cross section of body 62 can be chosen to assist body 62 being positioned within the elastic opening of the footwear. These cross sections can be angled (
The insertion guide of
Still yet a further embodiment of the insertion guide is disclosed in
Although this disclosure has been described in terms of certain embodiments and generally associated methods, alterations and permutations of these embodiments and methods will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the above descriptions of example embodiments does not define or constrain this disclosure. Other changes, substitutions, and alterations are also possible without departing from the spirit and scope of this disclosure.
Claims
1. A system for protecting the paw of an animal, the system comprising:
- animal footwear, the footwear including a closed bottom and an opened top, a slit formed along the side of the footwear, a zipper formed along the slit for selectively opening or closing the slit, a fabric liner positioned within the footwear and along the slit, the fabric liner protecting the animal paw during the opening and closing of the zipper, a leg strap for securing the animal footwear to a suspender;
- an insertion guide, the insertion guide including a lower, arcuate slide chute, an upper funnel, and a retainer positioned between the slide chute and funnel, the retainer position positioned within the opened top of the animal footwear with the lower slide chute being positioned within the footwear and the funnel positioned over the footwear, whereby the animal paw can be guided into the footwear with the aid of the funnel and chute.
2. A system for protecting the paw of an animal, the system comprising:
- an animal shoe from predominately formed a fabric material, the shoe including a closed bottom formed from a rubberized material and an opened top formed from an elastic band;
- an insertion guide, the insertion guide including body potion that is adapted to be retained about the elastic band and a lower chute for guiding the animal paw into the shoe.
3. The system as described in claim 2 wherein the insertion guide comprises an upper funnel, a lower slide chute, and a retainer positioned between the slide chute and funnel, the retainer position positioned within the opened top of the shoe with the lower slide chute being positioned within the shoe and the funnel positioned over the footwear, whereby the animal paw can be guided into the shoe with the aid of the funnel and chute.
4. The system as described in claim 2 wherein the shoe further comprises a slit formed along the side of the shoe, a zipper formed along the slit for selectively opening or closing the slit, a fabric liner positioned within the shoe and along the slit, the fabric liner protecting the animal paw during the opening and closing of the zipper.
5. The system as described in claim 2 further comprising a leg strap for securing the animal footwear to a suspender.
6. A device facilitating the insertion of an animal paw into the opening in an article of footwear, the device comprising:
- a U-shape body having an opened forward end and a closed rearward end, the body adapted to be positioned within the opening of the footwear, the body functioning to hold the footwear open and thereby make inserting an animal paw into the footwear simpler, easier, and faster.
7. The device as described in claim 6 wherein the body has an elongated, downwardly depending side wall that permits the device to remain stable and in place within the footwear long enough to guide the paw.
8. The device as described in claim 6 further comprising a handle for lifting the device out of the footwear after the canine paw and leg are inserted.
9. The device as described in claim 6 wherein the body has a cross section that is shaped to hold the footwear ankle openings in place and further wherein the body has surface finish that will securely hold the footwear ankle opening in place while the canine paw is being inserted.
10. The device as described in claim 6 further comprising a rounded scoop or chute that helps guide the canine paw into the footwear.
11. The device as described in claim 6 wherein the body includes sharply contoured ends to prevent the body from slipping when in place.
12. The device as described in claim 6 wherein the body has an opened forward end to allow removal of the device from around the animal leg.
Type: Application
Filed: Jul 22, 2013
Publication Date: Jan 23, 2014
Inventor: Waldemar F. Kissel, Jr. (Gainesville, FL)
Application Number: 13/947,585
International Classification: A43B 3/00 (20060101);