2011 finalists & winners > Up to 12 years > Water Dog
Caitlyn McMillan
Water Dog
Balmacewen Intermediate
12 years
Print thisCaitlyn’s dog, Mishka, likes to drink out of the bath tap instead of her dog bowls. Caitlyn has created a clever device that mimics a bath tap for Mishka to drink from whenever she’s thirsty.
“The inspiration for my project came from my dog, Mishka. She doesn’t like drinking out of her dog bowls and insists on drinking from the bath tap. It is annoying having to turn the tap on and off for her whenever she’s thirsty. It’s also annoying for her because she waits for us to come home to drink rather than drink when she needs to.
The best part of this project was designing the fountain. I enjoyed coming up with all the different ideas for what was needed, then looking at the positives and negatives of each idea and deciding what ideas to keep in the design.
I also really enjoyed working with my Dad and I was really pleased when the fountain worked and Mishka drank from it.
My biggest challenge was figuring out the electronic work. It was confusing at the start and it took a while to get all the wires and components set up properly.
My favourite sport that I do is synchronised swimming. My coaches, Lisa and Nina Daniels, are my biggest inspirations. They’ve shown me that nothing is impossible to achieve if you work for it. If I could invent anything in the world it would be a comfortable swimming cap.
When I’m older I really want to have an archaeology job that goes all around the world.”
