24 January 2015

Canine prosthetic legs


This is your feel-good video of the week, which I found at Oregon Expat.

Note from the OP: "Many of you have pointed out that Derby's prosthetics seem too low. We started this way to give him a chance to get used to his new legs. But with 3D printing it's easy to iterate design, so he is being fitted with progressively longer legs until he reaches his optimal height. Work is ongoing and we are about to 3D print the 4th version of his prosthetics."

4 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 25, 2015 at 5:11 AM

    sorry but watching and advertisement for a 3d printing company does not make me feel good. they went and looked for a handicapped dog to sell their service. not cool

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    Replies
    1. AnonymousJanuary 26, 2015 at 1:16 PM

      I have to agree, with almost 8 mil hits it's definitely viral, but also manipulative and insidious. Prosthetics are a little yucky and frightening for humans, but they are cute on a puppy.
      It's also correctly labeled as "feel-good" story, or how a whole village went through all the trouble and effort to make a little sad girl smile again, except the "trouble and effort" are replaced with a product. So the message is conveniently skewed, instead of "sometimes it's worth it to go to great length for the runt of the litter", the actual message is something like "3D printing makes puppy lovers happy".

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    2. AnonymousJanuary 26, 2015 at 4:57 PM

      I hate to interupt this grumpy-fest. But I'm wondering what you think the 3D company SHOULD do??

      Should they NOT make prosthetics for dogs? Stick to 3D printing toys and junk? I don't think that's what you are suggesting. And you're not saying they're not telling the truth.

      If they make them for dogs, should they NOT tell anyone about it? Why not tell people by means of a cheerful video? It went viral - so what. Are you jealous, or do you feel someone tricked you somehow? If millions of people saw it, maybe a couple hundred will remember when they have a dog born with a bad leg or one that had a leg broken by a car that they don't have to have dad take it out back and bash its head with a brick but maybe instead they can get an artificial leg for their pet. If thats the case then this video did its job.

      Sorry it wasted your personal time. Sheesh.

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    3. AnonymousJanuary 27, 2015 at 5:00 PM

      There are a lot of ?-marks, but I don't think those are the right questions to ask. Any skeptical inquiry ought to question who is talking, with what intention and what methods are they using to persuade you.
      People accept ads, even though they are disingenuous by design, because that's how capitalism works. But that doesn't mean advertisement couldn't use some more honesty, or that it cannot be appreciated in any other way than an instinctive emotional response.

      Ads try to force a decision on us, "rescue" a dog and buy custom made veterinary prosthetics or put the animal down or entrust your elderly parents/animal shelter with the chores. Those are all valid choices. Advertisement always tries to mislead us that there is only one valid/good choice.

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