Back in December, talk of a noise-canceling doghouse hit the news. It’s understandable if you missed it, considering all of the other crap that bogarts the front page these days, but in my humble opinion, this headline should have had top reading priority.
You might be wondering, “Wait… what? Why?” Let me catch you up: Ford (yes, the same Ford that makes trucks) designed and built a noise-canceling dog house to relieve some of the stress canines experience due to fireworks. While this might be an issue that we only really consider once or twice a year, for our furry friends those few yearly instances are nightmares of bangs, pops, and whizzes that cause great anguish. The press picked up on this mid-December and reported some of the impressive specs including active noise-canceling speakers and sound-deadening panels. At this time, the doghouse hasn’t hit the market, but the design is stellar and the technology is seriously on-point. I don’t even have a dog and I’m gearing up to get in line for one of these puppies when they hit the market.
I have a few reasons to explain my admittedly overzealous response to this news. I’ve listed them below:
Reason No. 1: Happy Dogs
For some reason, America decided to celebrate its birthday with colorful gunpowder of the hellishly noisy variety without even considering the nervous system of man’s best friend. According to the ASPCA, “nearly one-in-five lost pets first go missing after being scared by the sound of fireworks, thunderstorms or other loud noises.” A runaway pet is devastating for owners, traumatic for the animal, and a strain on the resources of local animal shelters which are oftentimes already strapped for resources. Other than some bright momentary flashes that cause brief feelings of awe and patriotism, this is a lose-lose-lose situation that clearly needs a think-tank’s worth of solutions.
Like most innovations, the noise-canceling doghouse may be reserved for only the supremely bougie right now—but give it a few years and the market will drive its price down with cheaper materials and more cost effective manufacturing, making it more affordable. From a dog lover’s point of view, this means more tail wagging and more slobbery kisses. And that makes me happy.
Reason No. 2: Innovation
If that’s not evidence enough, here’s another reason this may be the best news ever: innovation. Over 100 years ago, Henry Ford started the Ford Motor Company, which primarily stuck to being good at one thing—automobiles. However, a byproduct of making the best cars in America has been all of the new inventions that are applicable in other ways.
For example, the noise canceling technology that keeps the interior of Ford vehicles comfortable and quiet is the same technology that will keep your dog on Chill Level 10 come firework time. That’s freaking incredible. Only in America will you find a market so free that it provides room for innovations targeted at increasing the comforts of humans to evolve into improving the quality of our pets’ lives. Not only did we invent the car and we celebrate our birthday with a literal billion dollars of fireworks, we took innovation developed to make cars even better and put it in a dog house so our best animal companions can enjoy the party too.
Reason No. 3: America
Reason No. 3 for why I was delighted by the news of a noise-canceling dog house is directly related to Reason No. 2 but deserves its own category. If it’s innovation that conceives such brilliant ideas, it’s the American business model that births them. Nothing brings me more joy than seeing problems solved through the free market economy. Here in this great nation anyone—I mean anyone—can form a legal business entity. (Heck, that’s what we do here at Northwest Registered Agent.) It’s a system that allows everyone to play and promotes entrepreneurship. Granted, times were a little different when Henry Ford started up his company, but even today, companies can still grow, thrive and expand according to the needs of the people.
I cannot say for sure how the idea of a noise-canceling dog house came to be, but I speculate that it was based on an observed problem. Someone, somewhere, probably came to their senses and realized that it’s a damn shame that dogs have to get so stressed out on the Fourth of July and started pondering a way that issue could be fixed. Or, someone at Ford was developing the materials for their new models and realized that it’s not just humans that like to feel safe and secure. Whatever the case was, that person knew that there was a way this idea could be brought to life.
That being said, that way is never achieved without hard work, but the journey of conceived idea to prototype, to actual product is the American way and that’s something that’s worth celebrating with or without fireworks—depending on whether or not your fury BFF has a cozy place to relax.