Overview
During camping trips, there comes a time when (after getting out all your ‘Kumbuyas’ and soaking up the intimate campfire glow) you face that cold, lonely retreat to your sleeping bag and zip yourself in — realising that after all the team bonding, it really is just you and the stars. It can be a solitary life as a snoozing camper.
But Seattle-based designer Andy Storms has realised that humans aren't the only great outdoors enthusiasts and has come up with a remedy — in the form of the BarkerBag. It’s a sleeping bag made for your favourite camping canine friend. Developed after his dog Barker kept hogging his own sleeping bag, Storms decided to make a teardrop-shaped bunk for his (and your) four-legged friend. And as if that isn’t cute enough in itself, it’s fitted with zips enabling attachment to yours. Snuggles ahoy.
Not only can you look forward to some loyal company through the long dark night, you also take advantage of your furry friend’s warm-blooded body heat. There’s also the option of slipping him/her between you and your nearest sleeping-bagged human buddy, in a three-bag option.
The obvious question is, how do you stop your dog from slipping out and snuffling into the communal food supplies/going chasing wild pigs/leaving you abandoned, cold and sad? Ol' Stormy’s given it some thought and added an entrapment mechanism by way of a reinforced cinchable collar.
Storms turned the concept into a reality via a successful Kickstarter campaign. "I was tired of crowding my sleeping bag and actually making my feet colder since over-stuffing the bag compresses the insulation," he explains in the promo video.
The BarkerBag is available in three sizes (small, medium and large, catering to pretty much every breed from poodles to border collies and malamutes. There's even a double version, for campers with two outdoorsy dogs in their care. Prices range from US$69 to $89 and the first production run is now underway, with shipping scheduled for July.
Via Gizmag.