Doggy Armour and the latest inventions to help our canine friends

WHEN you think of an inventor and his dog, Wallace and Gromit spring to mind.

But Bradley Davis and best friend Tilly have come up with something far more important for pups than anything dreamt up by the plasticine pals.

When Bradley’s wife Rachel heard about The Only Way Is Essex’s Bobby Norris having to put his beloved Beau to sleep after the little Yorkie was mauled in a park, she asked Bradley if he could come up with something to protect their pet who’s a “Puggle” or Pug-Beagle cross.

And the result is Doggy Armour, a company that supplies bespoke body armour to protect pooches from attack by other dogs.

“I’m a bit of an inventor anyway so my wife just asked: ‘Can’t you make something to protect Tilly?’” says Bradley.

“There are other companies out there that do armoured jackets, but they’re mainly American and aimed at protecting dogs from hawks and coyotes and are covered in spikes and things like that — would you walk your dog in that?

“You’re hardly going to be attacked by a mountain lion in Essex!

“So when we designed our doggy armour, I had to think about what was reasonable protection, and it had to be light and flexible so the dog could walk and feel like had a normal jacket on, not looking like something out of Mad Max.

“I had one lady who’d lost one of her three greyhounds to a pitbull and she wanted beefy coats for the other two, literally armour all over them.

“I said to her: ‘Look, the dogs have got to have a life when you walk them, you can’t just wheel them down the road!’

“When I set out to look into this, I went through pretty much every armour you could imagine in my shed, shooting it, stabbing it — you name it, I went through it.

“But I eventually found this light, flexible fabric that’s often used in the military.

“It’s eight times stronger than Kevlar, 15 times stronger than steel — you wouldn’t believe how strong this stuff is, but you can literally get a jacket and screw it up in your hand.

“It’s everything you need in a dog jacket. Our jackets are designed to withstand the teeth of a dog, and an American pitbull can bite down with a pressure of 380 pounds per square inch.

“The only way I could test that was to hammer a load of nails into some wood, put the jacket on top of it and drive over it.

“I thought: ‘I’m not using my car!’ so I grabbed my wife’s keys and she was standing in the driveway shouting at me, but it worked fantastically!

“It’s actually slash-proof, too, you can’t cut it with a Stanley knife, and pretty much stab-proof.

“The neck’s protected because that’s where dogs tend to grab and shake smaller dogs,” says Bradley.

“It won’t stop the crushing effect, but what usually kills a dog is the teeth penetrating, and this will give people vital minutes to control the situation or get the other dog off.

“I work very closely with Essex Police and there are certain breeds we will not do unless we meet the owners and the dog, because if we put armour on a dog that’s already dangerous, we’ve made it even more dangerous.”

Doggy Armour jackets come in a range of colours and Bradley’s just introduced a trendy camouflage range, so one wouldn’t look out of place on one of the Kardashians’ pups.

He’s tailored many breeds and says: “German Shepherds are the hardest to measure, because their backs slope away and when you make a jacket it tends to sit up at the tail so you have to make another cut.

“My wife and I have full-time jobs, I’m a kitchen fitter, so when I come home from work, I cut jackets out and weekends is when I do the tailor-made service.

“But if anything, it costs me money to run this business because anything we do earn, we use to give away jackets to working dogs who serve and protect us.

“Most working dogs out there don’t have any form of protection, and the better the business does, the more I’ll be able to do.”

For more information visit www.doggyarmour.co.uk

Here are six other devices to help us look after our dogs…

CAUGHT ON CAMERA

ElectrIQ Wi-Fi pet monitoring camera with audio, £39.97 from £49.97, www.laptopsdirect.co.uk

If you’ve ever wondered what your pooch gets up to when you’re not at home, this camera might help.

Hook it up to your smartphone and the camera will provide live HD streaming to your device.

You can call to your pet through the app, or offer reassurance if they are is pining for you, and you can also use the app to manoeuvre the camera so it focuses on another area in the room.

THIRSTY WORK

Drinkwell Platinum Pet Water Fountain, £46.99 from £49.99, Argos

This water fountain offers a tech hydration solution for thirsty pups.

All you do is add the filter, pour some tap water into the top of the device, put the lid back on and then plug into the mains.

Adjust the speed at which the water flows to suit your pet and let them drink from the fountain. Because the water is constantly circulated, it stays cool and any nasties are removed as it filters.

FUR YOUR EYES ONLY

Vileda Cleaning Robot, £149.99, shop.vileda.co.uk

The reality of owning a dog is that their fur ends up everywhere — if there’s even the tiniest space, fur will get in it.

Take the detritus to task with an intelligent cleaner. Being a robotic device, this one by Vileda requires little from you, apart from programming.

With two counter-rotating brushes, it makes short work of ridding hard floors and carpets of pooch hair. You can use it on stairs too — the drop sensor ensures it won’t crash down them.

DOG EAT DOG

TD Design 4.3L Automatic Pet Feeder for Dogs & Cats, £75.99 from £99.99, Amazon

Turn to tech to get you out of a tight spot with this automatic dog feeder that takes three D batteries.

Although wet food is off the menu, you can add dry food to the dispenser and programme it to serve up meals to your dog at set times. You can also select how many portions — from one to 10 — you want your pooch to have.

The device allows recording, so you can add a message, which will play three times before the device starts dispensing the goods.

Suitable for small to medium dogs and cats, a magnetic safety lid means your pet won’t be able to snaffle snacks from the top of the gadget.

ON THE RIGHT TRACK

PitPat Pet Monitor, £39.99, Argos

Fitness tech is a trend that continues to grow, with trackers, monitors and apps all designed to keep us aware of our activity.

And now you can get your best friend in on the action, too.

This small device fits onto your dog’s collar and connects to an app on your phone to monitor their activity levels.

There are 200 breeds on the app to ensure the data and guidelines on calories and activity are appropriate for your mutt.

GET THE BALL ROLLING

PetSafe Ball Launcher, £134.99, Argos

Throwing balls for a dog can get tiring if the dog in question has more energy and interest in fetching a ball than you do.

The PetSafe Ball Launcher is an investment, but it does relieve the pressure on tired arms.

Add tennis balls and programme it to launch them, either in your garden or at the park. You can choose up to nine different distances (of between 2.5-9m).

To keep it going, either plug it in or add six D batteries so you can roam free.

There’s also an automatic rest mode to ensure your dog doesn’t tire.