Pet Doorbell

Of course - a Pet Doorbell, why aren't we surprised? Just when you thought "they'd" thought of everything, it appears they hadn't. If you're sick of your dog scratching the heck out of your door trying to get back into the house, then consider this ludicrous but practical alternative. It may also be worth considering the question 'how intelligent is your dog' first. Apparently dogs can easily be trained* to stand on (or press a paw onto) the Pet Doorbell, which will then transmit wirelessly to an inside unit, which will chime or bark to let you know Fido is waiting to be let in.

It's easy to set up - considerably easier to set up in fact than it is to get your dog to use - but since when has that been the point? There's a school of thought (not necessarily a good school) that thinks this is great for house-breaking a dog. Just set it up inside rather than out, and train your dog to press it whenever nature calls; it could put a stop to air-freshener and kilos of shake and vac.

The unit can transmit up to 50 feet away and is battery-powered, and the wall unit (for the chiming or barking) is wall-mountable (which is not only tautological, but since when has the word 'wall-mount' been an actionable adjective? It's as bad as 'ovenable', actually no, nothing is as bad as ovenable, whoever came up with that one should be sent to live on the Isle of Man, or something equally terrifying.) Anyway, we digress - Pet Doorbells, the ultimate present for dog lovers everywhere, and undoubtedly the most original one.

*It's also said that men can be trained to do all sorts of things, though there's little evidence to support this as yet. Still, if Pavlov could get a dog to do calculus (which, come to think of it, he may not have), then how hard can it be?