[HN Gopher] I designed and printed a custom nose guard to help m...
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       I designed and printed a custom nose guard to help my dog with DLE
        
       Author : ragswag
       Score  : 330 points
       Date   : 2025-11-30 06:56 UTC (2 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (snoutcover.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (snoutcover.com)
        
       | rcarmo wrote:
       | This is pretty awesome, regardless when it was originally done.
        
         | OmriHIllel wrote:
         | Thanks!
        
       | bitmanic wrote:
       | How wonderful! Also, please tell me you at least _considered_
       | naming it the "Snoot Boot..."
        
         | OmriHIllel wrote:
         | haha actually i missed that
        
           | junon wrote:
           | There's always time. Snoot Boot is golden.
        
       | yellow_lead wrote:
       | I like that the creator is giving the STL away for free
        
         | gowld wrote:
         | The shop customizes measurements. Is it easy to modify the STL
         | with custom measurements?
        
           | embedding-shape wrote:
           | Not trivial, but not impossible either. Usually though the
           | product would be designed in some CAD program, and when the
           | shop customizes measurements they adjust them manually based
           | on copies of the model. The "pro" way would be to have a
           | parametrized version, but it's also trickier to create. I'm
           | not 100% sure, but I'm getting the vibe the author picked up
           | modelling/3D printing as they went along, so the easier route
           | would be hardcoded values changed for each customer.
        
             | OmriHIllel wrote:
             | Creator here, Thanks for the kind words
             | 
             | It's been a really harsh and long process to CAD this
             | model, it's also really complex to change measurements for
             | it.
             | 
             | As I do wish to have a simpler version for customizing, for
             | now by taking people orders I might either build a new
             | parametric model, or have a growing "bank" of models and
             | measurements to share for free like the main version.
        
         | embedding-shape wrote:
         | It's awesome, lots of kudos to the creator for doing so!
         | Personally I'm more likely to buy things where the authors
         | makes the schematic/3D object/whatever available for free for
         | the DIY people out there, and those who couldn't otherwise get
         | the thing to them for one or another reason.
         | 
         | > I know there are other dogs and owners out there facing
         | similar struggles. That's why I'm sharing this design for free.
         | While it's not adjustable by design, it should fit medium-to-
         | large dogs as is. If needed, measurements can be adjusted using
         | the scaling feature in your slicer software, but some slots,
         | like those for the straps, might deform in the process.
         | 
         | Only missing for it to be a parametric design people could
         | easily adjust based on their own measurements, but trivial to
         | change yourself too, so again, lots of thanks to the author for
         | improving the whole world, not just a tiny piece of it.
        
       | darth_avocado wrote:
       | This is so awesome! I actually think, with a few tweaks this can
       | be a really great protection against foxtails.
       | 
       | Foxtails are extremely lethal and can lead to thousands of
       | dollars in vet bills. All current protections in the market are
       | effectively a bag over your pet's face, which as you can imagine,
       | are not that popular with the pets.
        
         | ipsum2 wrote:
         | https://amosdudley.com/weblog/Designing-PPE-for-Hilde has a
         | story of designing a 3d print for foxtails.
        
           | OmriHIllel wrote:
           | wow that's a nice one
        
           | ge96 wrote:
           | dog's ready for WW1 trenches
           | 
           | also have to work on my own CAD skills for complex contours
           | like that, been in parameteric/SketchUp land
        
       | greenie_beans wrote:
       | cool. i wish okie had been diagnosed with DLE :(
        
       | ZeroCool2u wrote:
       | Billie is a good dog.
        
         | OmriHIllel wrote:
         | Thanks! She is quite amazing actually!
        
       | mkornaukhov wrote:
       | Billie is lucky to have such a dexterous owner!
        
       | browningstreet wrote:
       | Great write-up. Cute dog.
       | 
       | I'm glad the nose recovered too!
        
       | calmbonsai wrote:
       | Let's Goooo! This awesome! Let's have more of this.
        
       | moralestapia wrote:
       | Warning, pictures in the article might be unpleasant to see.
        
         | buellerbueller wrote:
         | Serious question: should the whole internet have content
         | warnings for anything that might be found objectionable by
         | someone? This seems super mild. Maybe embed it in site
         | metadata, and then you specify your preferred experience in
         | your browser of choice?
        
           | moralestapia wrote:
           | >This seems super mild.
           | 
           | To you.
        
             | buellerbueller wrote:
             | Yes; that's my point. Is there a way of making the internet
             | better, such that this can be handled more seamlessly, so
             | that the people impacted by things that others find mild
             | can just...avoid it?
             | 
             | Not all internet has a landing page where someone can post
             | a "trigger warning" (for lack of a better term). Nor should
             | it: trigger warnings don't work, and may even be harmful.
        
               | toss1 wrote:
               | Now this actually sounds like a good use-case for
               | LLM/'AI'-enhanced browsers. Everyone has different
               | triggers and YUK! levels and it would take an insane
               | amount of time & effort to encode all that, and setup on
               | each different person's client side, but an 'AI-browser'
               | with 'smart filtering' (or whatever they'd call it) would
               | likely be quick to setup for each user's (dis-)tastes and
               | be quite flexible in recognizing the patterns and taking
               | the desired action (hide, warn, summarize w/o the
               | triggers, sanitize, etc.).
               | 
               | Maybe it already exists(?) but I've avoided 'AI-
               | browsers', keeping my use in their apps/sites.
        
               | kulahan wrote:
               | I don't think it's going to work to aggressively hide
               | from anything moderately uncomfortable for the rest of
               | one's browsing experience.
        
             | ericmcer wrote:
             | It's a dogs nose with a scab on it lol
        
             | throwuxiytayq wrote:
             | If you find these pictures distressing, you might want to
             | consider consciously and carefully exposing yourself to
             | more of the same to build a minimal amount of tolerance.
             | I'm pretty sure it's literally impossible to go through
             | life without experiencing (sometimes personally) medical
             | conditions that are significantly more visually unpleasant.
             | I'm not a huge fan of the meat-creature-universe we all
             | rolled, but it _literally_ is what it is.
        
       | jfarina wrote:
       | WHile this is cool, I can't imagine that this provides a
       | universal fit. It seems like they did a lot to tailor it to their
       | dog.
        
         | ablob wrote:
         | I feel like tailored treatments are a desired path anyway.
         | Instead of having a one-size-fits-all I'd rather have a process
         | made to fit everyone. While the "nose" would not fit other
         | dogs; "make nose that fits other dog" seems like a valid
         | process, no?
        
         | OmriHIllel wrote:
         | Hi there, Great question! In short - yes, it does provide a
         | pretty universal fit.
         | 
         | I originally measured only Billie because she's my dog and had
         | a problem. But after helping about 50 other dogs, I discovered
         | that the measurements work for most dogs with this condition.
         | So far, I've only needed 2 sizes to cover all cases.
         | 
         | Of course, no two noses are exactly the same, and there will
         | always be minor adjustments that could make an even more
         | perfect fit - just like with any human clothing item. But the
         | core design works well across different dogs.
         | 
         | I'd love to eventually offer truly custom fits for every dog,
         | but for now, this approach has been effective for everyone I've
         | worked with.
        
       | buellerbueller wrote:
       | This is the promise of tech and the hacker ethos that SV killed
       | long ago.
       | 
       | Thank you.
        
       | mallomarmeasle wrote:
       | Poor Billie's snoot! Glad you are such a caring owner.
       | 
       | Please consider the nickname "Tycho Brahe" for her.
        
       | yatopifo wrote:
       | It's the best thing i've read on HN lately! I'm so happy her
       | snoot has fully recovered!
        
       | roldie wrote:
       | This fantastic, thanks for sharing. So happy for you and Billie!
        
       | gwbas1c wrote:
       | Makes me want to print one with a giant red nose and dress my dog
       | up as Rudolph
        
       | jsrozner wrote:
       | Cool, but you used AI to write the article. Mention that
       | somewhere.
        
         | neogodless wrote:
         | Do you have proof? A hunch? Quality issues that detracted from
         | the article?
         | 
         | I despise AI slop, but this is a great article and a worthy
         | cause. If AI was used, and helped make this article a reality,
         | then the author did a great job of guiding the AI, and doing
         | quality checks.
        
           | jfindper wrote:
           | No 2025 HN thread is complete without someone accusing
           | someone else of using AI or someone using the word "slop".
           | 
           | Bullet points? Must be AI. Em-dash? Obviously slop. Not only
           | this, but that? Holy moly, AI slop.
           | 
           | (we ignore whether or not the writing is actually
           | interesting, engaging, educational, etc. of course)
        
         | adamhartenz wrote:
         | Your comment was written by AI, you should mention that
         | somewhere
        
       | greazy wrote:
       | Can you please make a very slightly longer to cover the mouth? My
       | dog is an amazing scavenger, I've tried a lot of different things
       | to stop him eating random food that upsets his stomach. Where we
       | live people are neglectful or think throwing away random food is
       | good for animals.
        
         | UniverseHacker wrote:
         | You can do that with a standard muzzle
        
       | bckr wrote:
       | Extremely inspiring
        
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       (page generated 2025-12-02 23:00 UTC)