In 1973, Ann Margaret Zaleski patented a dog-shaped vacuum cleaner. Why? From the abstract:

A toy dog closely resembling a real dog and having a hollow interior in which is mounted a vacuum cleaner having a suction hose which is retractable from the tail end of the dog. This enables vacuuming a dog after a haircut and grooming without causing fear to the dog, inasmuch as the vacuum cleaner noise is greatly muffled by such an enclosure.

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