Animal exercising apparatus

Claim 1

In an inclined treadmill having a movable tread and front and side walls disposed on opposing sides of said tread, said side walls being able to contain an animal on said tread with the head of said animal extending forward of said tread, said head further extending forwardly of said treadmill, an improvement to said treadmill comprising: at least one loading guide releasably and pivotally connected at an end to the rear edge of one of said side walls, said loading guide being substantially rectangular in shape with a length more than the width between said side walls and a height less than the height of said side walls, the aforesaid end of said loading guide being positioned near the vertical center of said edge, said loading guide being capable of freely swinging at the second end in an arc from the rear of said treadmill to substantially side-by-side alignment with said one side wall, said loading guide being further capable of selectively abutting the rear of said animal to direct said animal in the direction of the moveable tread between said side walls, said loading guide being capable of aligning with said side wall rear edges for temporarily restraining said animal in said treadmill, means for releasably attaching said loading guide to said one side wall when said loading guide is in the aforesaid side-by-side alignment, each of said side walls having the upper front corner angularly slanted to allow said animal's head to extend beyond the confines of said side walls thereby preventing injury to said animal's head, means operably connected to said moveable tread for imparting movement thereto after said animal is loaded into said treadmill, said imparting means being further capable of selectively imparting a plurality of speeds to said surface when said surface is moving, means for selectively restraining the breast of said animal, said restraining means engaging front portions of said side walls to position said animal behind said front wall of said treadmill, a frame connected to said treadmill, said frame having at least two opposing female mating surfaces disposed substantially midway between said side walls, said frame further having two opposing protrusions extending forwardly from said opposing surfaces, at least two wheels, the center of each of said wheels having an extending male mating surface, said male mating surface being cooperative with said female surface for releasably coupling thereto, and a front towing yoke releasably coupled to said forward extending protrusions.