Many of us look back on the early- to mid-20th century as a time when life was simple, intentions were pure, and America was a shining beacon to which the rest of the world looked for guidance and inspiration.
That is until you see this ad from the June 1936 issue of Popular Mechanics featuring the Dog Sack, a handy-dandy device used to strap your dog to the side of your car so it can ride "safely and comfortably" on the running board. Then you realize that some of the inspiration America was selling involved truly insane ideas. Those poor dogs!
Here is hoping that no one actually bought this thing.
That is until you see this ad from the June 1936 issue of Popular Mechanics featuring the Dog Sack, a handy-dandy device used to strap your dog to the side of your car so it can ride "safely and comfortably" on the running board. Then you realize that some of the inspiration America was selling involved truly insane ideas. Those poor dogs!
Here is hoping that no one actually bought this thing.
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Ignorant people will buy anything. The most interesting part about this is how the ad shows more "safety features" for the car than the dog.
Who cares? Those dogs are all dead by now anyway.
Much safer for the dogs and humans than driving with a dog on your lap. Ever seen what happens when an airbag goes off with a dog in your lap. It's not pretty.
I'm sure this was "state of the art" back in 1936, but if I ever tried to put my Lacey in there, we would have a huge fight on our hands...and she would win, no doubt.
how funny! that would be weard to be drivig and loking out the window and see a dog in a sack!what if the get in a car acident that would be a suvire hurtnes! Good thing they don't sell those in real life or do they???......
What's the problem with this device, exactly? Most dogs would enjoy it (providing the weather isn't too cold, and you aren't going on the freeway). Believe me, there were a LOT more crazy inventions than this thing from long ago. The author needs to do more research. How about the old "dimple makers" for babies and children to make them more cute but punching a hole in their face in an attempt to give them a dimple? Those things were sold in dozens of magazines for years and years.
I can think of a couple of reasons why this dog bag was a terrible idea. One, the dog wouldn't have been able to move around at all. And what would happen if another car had happened to hit the car with the dog bag on the side? The poor dog has absolutely no protection and could have gotten squished like a bug between the two cars!
Why throw in a bash against the greatest country in the world when talking about a dog bag? This article reads: "America was a shining beacon to which the rest of the world looked for guidance and inspiration. That is until you see this ad from the June 1936 issue of Popular Mechanics..." Hello!! it was 1936! The next time you decide to write a peice, leave bashing America out of it.
Spaceman - "the greatest country in the world"? You need a serious reality check, guy. America has the most prisoners in the history of the world and the largest debt of any nation in the history of the world. Nearly 20% of your income tax goes to paying the INTEREST ONLY on loans from Europe and China. In the 2009 PISA global review of academic standards, America was ranked #25 out of 28 nations compared at the high school graduate level. Congratulations - you beat out Slovenia, Turkey and Mexico. America hasn't deserved the title "greatest country in the world" in decades now. I say that from having grown up there as a citizen, then having lived in six other nations. I'm writing this right now from Europe, and like every other expat I know here, we all have one thing in common - absolutely ZERO desire to go back to your crime ridden cess pool of decaying ugly strip malls populated by flag waving morons.
Chill bud! America is great, but it isn't perfect. No one is "bashing" America. It's usually people like you who "bash" everyone else.
To Reality Check –
I agree with you that America has lost standing in the world and certainly has many problems. That said, which countries would you consider “better?” I notice you and the other expats you mention have not yet returned your U.S. passports nor renounced your U.S. citizenship. I am not saying you should not be an American, but merely that it seems you find being a U.S. citizen preferable to the many other choices available to you. In your zeal to condemn, I remind you that you have the freedom and ability to have lived in six other nations. And you have the freedom to write your true feelings about your home country without fear of repercussions. You mentioned China. How many Chinese citizens do you suppose will write and post comments on the internet today about China similar to yours about America?
Your blanket “crime ridden cess pool (which is one word, by the way) of decaying ugly strip malls” statement is overly broad. Surely you have seen crime ridden areas and far worse ugliness and decay in your worldy travels. Your “America sucks” attitude is as distasteful to me as the “America, love it or leave it” position which many hold. Certainly America has many problems, but again, what country does not? Yes, you are still a U.S. citizen, and that should not change unless and until you are ready to make it change. Undoubtedly there is a difference between the country and its citizens. But it is the citizenry that affects change in the country. As one who has chosen to avoid living in your home country, thereby avoiding the responsibility incumbent on the rest of us to work to improve it, how does it still seem right for you to criticize?
Excellent reply, Realistic. Well done!
Reality Check, I agree with you absolutely. Living part of the year every year in Europe has shown me that there is a much better quality of life outside of the USA. I look forward to my retirement when I will move to Europe permanently and leave all the noise, news and in your face attitude behind.
America at one time WAS just ONE of the greatest countries in the world. You need to look around. Things have changed in this country, and many not for the better.
You're all attacking Sparcman like HE said "America is the greatest country in the world"
Well, he didnt. He was simply pointing out the bizzare perspective that a Dog Bag is going to take one idealistic point of view and reverse it.
If we're going to talk about the faults of the US in the 30's lets talk about the Progressives support of Eugenics, or FDR jailing his critics.
The fact is, the progressive economics of the New Deal enacted at that time is the reason the US is broke today. The US is also one of the least crime ridden countrys- Leftists would know this if they every left California or NYC- Because this country jails its criminals.
This thread is a few months old. Maybe the current behavior of the Greeks, the economic slack of the EU and its Euro, or the fact Germany is acting to repeal its public health care, will cause You All to reconsider your idealist views of Europe.
"Buying" anything? That was pretty clearly a DIY project (look at the C clamps holding the bottom to the running board!). Let's not forget that standards were a little different in the 1930s; a woman carrying a tiny lap dog in a purse would have been considered eccentric, at best; dogs were routinely allowed to run free outdoors and put out for the night, letting the dog sleep on (or in!) the bed was seen as coddling the animal (unless you were a child under the age of about ten); commercially prepared dog food was a new item and not fully accepted, most pet dogs lived on scraps from the table, the stuff we'd now put down the disposer or in the trash. Given the cost of a new car in 1936 (just past the peak of the Depression) relative to family income (much higher than even the inflated, hyper-technological cars of 2010), keeping the dog from scratching up the interior and leaving dog hair (or worse, peeing or vomiting inside) was more important than the dog's comfort (and dogs will insist on putting their heads out the window, if they can).
Thank you! I was reading all these comments and thinking that people had lost the ability to imagine themselves living in a different time and place.
Things were just different in the 1930's. They also thought electroshock was a great way to handle mental patients at the time too. The "dog sack" is one of the nicer aspects of the era.
Although, given all the aspects of the 1930's, i.e., letting the dog out at night, not using a leash, feeding table scraps; it does make me curious for what or when they would use these bags. Did they have vets at the time? Thinking about the technology available for human health at the time, it's probably highly unlikely they even had any kind of advanced veterinary system. And they probably would not take the dog with them if they were just going to visit "grandma and grandpa's on Sunday".
That aside, I once saw a dog (just last year mind you) on the bed of a flat bed truck. No leash, no cage, no nothing. He was just sitting there enjoying the ride. And on the highway no less.
The article reads like a college composition assignment. Mr. Glazer should reread his history, and verify and confirm to us why he says the U.S. was a "Shining beacon to which the rest of the world looked to". In 1936? Really? Where was the rest of the world? In darkness? Other countries had technology which surpassed ours at the time, such as Germany, France and Great Britain.
Aside from that, the invention shows a poorly thought out idea, of which, no newsreels or archival photos have not surfaced showing it in use.. The "magazine" was full of interesting ideas, but many were never used.
His sarcasm about the U.S. really shows why he wrote this article. Why bother showing this now, Mr. Glazer?
Although it may seem insane to us animal lovers today, I do believe this device was considered a caring & humane item by most people back then. Cars were a luxury item (remember this was the depression era), not the necessity it is today. Very few people understood, much less attempted to, housebreak a dog. Most people didn't allow dogs inside their homes, much less their cars. So, this appears to be the solution of it's day for animal lovers.
It would have been interesting to incorporate this dog travel bag into a hood ornament. Love the clamps on the running board! They remind me of 8th grade wood shop.