Product lets pet owners 'defend' furniture against dogs | dogs, sofa ...

NED B. HUNTER

Kathryn Alberti loves her dogs. But she hates the saliva stains, scratch marks and torn cushions they leave on her sofa and chairs.

For years, Alberti tolerated the mess, letting her dogs climb up next to her and her husband, Gordon. Then, in November 2011, she bought a new sofa and recliner and the struggle to keep her beloved pets off the furniture took on more importance.

?When we left the house, we?d cover it (the sofa and recliner) every day with chairs, or bar stools, or whatever it takes,? she said.

But the Colorado Springs couple got tired of having to engineer a barricade each day. Then Gordon Alberti had a ?eureka? moment when he used a laundry hamper with a pop-up lid to keep Dover, a yellow Labrador, and Toby and Ripken, two mixed breed pooches, off the new furniture. The spring-action top of the clothes hamper prompted him to invent the Couch Defender and Chair Defender, a device that looks a bit like an oversized Slinky, covers the sitting area of a sofa or chair and can?t be pulled down by most dogs.

Gordon Alberti said the birth of his idea was exciting and ?kind of scary? at the same time.
?Because I am thinking, maybe I have something here,? he said, ?but it is going to be a tremendous amount of work and a tremendous amount of money.?

It took the Albertis seven months and $70,000 to develop, patent and bring their Defenders to market, Kathryn Alberti said. The Defender is an 18-inch-wide, nylon tube wrapped with a black, beige or brown colored mesh around a circular spring. The Couch Defender expands to 72 inches in length or less to cover a sofa. The Chair Defender stretches to 28 inches or less. Defenders can be locked together at the ends with plastic snaps to cover longer furniture, Kathryn Alberti said.

The secured ends also lock the spring when compressed for easy storage. The covered ends prevent pets from climbing into the tube and getting caught. The product?s spring does not have enough tension to hurt anyone if it were suddenly released, Kathryn Alberti said. Nor does the Defender use alarms or other noises to frighten dogs off the furniture, as some products do.

?And you don?t have to wash it, shake it, or anything,? she said.

Kathryn Alberti works at Roundup Fellowship as a therapist with special-needs children. Gordon Alberti works as a maritime analyst for NORAD. The Albertis sold their first Defender in October, Kathryn Alberti said, and have sold nearly 200 since.

Why not just cover the furniture with a sheet or blanket? ?

?I used to do that, but our dogs would get on the couch, do turns, dig as they turn, and ball up the blanket and sheet,? Kathryn Alberti said, ?and it would not stay where it was supposed to stay.?

The Albertis also tried to train their dogs to stay off the furniture, but were unsuccessful.?

?Our dogs are a little bit unruly,? Kathryn Alberti said.
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Contact Ned Hunter: 636-0275.

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Source: http://www.gazette.com/articles/dogs-149700-sofa-alberti.html

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