Barking Up the Wrong Tree: A Qualitative Study of the Potential for Dog-Owner Technology

Current approaches to dog technology are predominantly aimed at owners monitoring and remotely engaging their dogs to prevent boredom when they are left home alone. The potential of technology to enhance the collocated dog-human experience has received little attention. This paper discusses a qualitative study with 10 owners and their dogs, exploring how technology could be used to enhance dog-human interaction in the home. Results highlight that dog toys are actually targeted at play involving both dog and owner; that playful interactions between dogs and owners focus on increasing bonding and affective symbiosis; and that the play isn’t the point for neither dog nor human, the relationship is. The study concludes that dog-human technology for collocated enjoyable interaction will be significantly different than that used in remote human-dog interaction and requires further work.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Lynne Hall

Sharon McDonald

Shell Young

Conference

Publication date: July 2018

Publication date (Print): July 2018

Pages: 1-12

Affiliations

[1 ] University of Sunderland

Sunderland, UK, SR6 0DD

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/HCI2018.54

SO-VID: 0b3708ec-318a-4bb8-afc1-aae153d0f224

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Proceedings of the 32nd International BCS Human Computer Interaction Conference

Conference acronym: HCI

Conference number: 32

Conference location: Belfast, UK

Conference date: 4 - 6 July 2018

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Human Computer Interaction Conference

History

Product

1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/HCI2018.54

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

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Comments

Comment on this article

[1] S. Adams 2016 How PlayDate Used Indiegogo To Raise $580,000 And Test A Remote-Controlled Pet Toy. Forbes Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestreptalks/2016/10/26/how-playdate-used-indiegogo-to-raise-580000-and-test-a-remote-controlled-pet-toy/

[2] APPA 2017 Pet Industry Market Size & Ownership Statistics. American Pet Products Association Retrieved from http://www.americanpetproducts.org/press_industrytrends.asp

[3] M. K. BenskyS. D. GoslingD. L. Sinn 2013 The World from a Dog‟s Point of View: A Review and Synthesis of Dog Cognition Research - ScienceDirect Advances in the Study of Behavior 45 209 406

[4] D. Beren 2017 The 8 Best Pet Cameras to Buy in 2017 22 December 2017 from http://www.lifewire.com/best-pet-cameras-4134642

[5] J. K. Burgoon 2017 Social Signal Processing Cambridge UK Cambridge University Press Retrieved from http://www.cambridge.org/core/books/social-signal-processing/834565FD44AED8C4FB112A6A8DE54318#

[6] CleverPet 2018 CleverPet | Exercise your pet‟s mind + body 16 April 2018 from http://clever.pet/

[7] S. Coren 2016 Which Toys Do Dogs Prefer? Psychology Today Retrieved from http://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/canine-corner/201602/which-toys-do-dogs-prefer

[8] S. DiGuilio 2017 Pet Tech Will Transform a Dog‟s Life in Some Surprising Ways NBC MACH Newsletter Retrieved from http://www.nbcnews.com/mach/technology/pet-tech-will-transform-dog-s-life-some-surprising-ways-n764756

[9] M. J. DotsonE. M. Hyatt 2008 Understanding dog–human companionship Journal of Business Research 61 5 457 466 http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2007.07.019

[10] Findster Technologies 2017 Findster GPS pet tracker 22 December 2017 from http://getfindster.com/

[11] Fitbark. (2017 FitBark Dog Activity Monitor 22 December 2017 from http://www.fitbark.com/

[12] Furbo. 2017 Furbo - World‟s Best Treat-Tossing Dog Camera - videos 22 December 2017 from http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/1722469

[13] GoBone 2018 GoBone - All-day play for you and your dog 16 April 2018 from http://mygobone.com/

[14] GroomArts Academy 2018 UK Pet Market Industry Statistics 16 April 2018 from http://groomarts.com/student-advice/marketing-insights

[15] iFetch. 2018 iFetch Pet Toy - Automatic Ball Launcher 16 April 2018 from http://goifetch.com/

[16] M. M. JacksonC. ZeaglerG. ValentinA. MartinV. MartinA. Delawalla, … T. Starner 2013 FIDO - facilitating interactions for dogs with occupations: wearable dog-activated interfaces, 8

[17] S. LawsonB. KirmanC. LinehanT. FeltwellL. Hopkins 2015 Problematising Upstream Technology Through Speculative Design: The Case of Quantified Cats and Dogs In Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2663 2672 New York, NY, USA ACM http://doi.org/10.1145/2702123.2702260

[18] C. Mancini 2011 Animal-Computer Interaction (ACI): a Manifesto 18 4 69 73

[19] C. Mancini 2017 Towards an animal-centred ethics for Animal–Computer Interaction - ScienceDirect International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 98 221 233

[20] A. R. McConnellC. M. BrownT. M. ShodaC. M. MartinL. E. Stayton 2011 Friends with benefits: On the positive consequences of pet ownership [Data set] http://doi.org/10.1037/e683152011-002

[21] M. PaldaniusT. KärkkäinenK. Väänänen-Vainio-MattilaO. JuhlinJ. Häkkilä 2011 Communication Technology for Human-dog Interaction: Exploration of Dog Owners‟ Experiences and Expectations In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 2641 2650 New York, NY, USA ACM http://doi.org/10.1145/1978942.1979329

[22] Pawbo 2017 Pawbo 22 December 2017 from http://www.pawbo.com/uk/

[23] Petcube 2017 Petcube Wi-Fi Pet Cameras - Monitor & Interact With Pets Remotely 22 December 2017 from http://petcube.com/

[24] Petzi 2016 Petzi Treat Cam - WiFi Pet Camera & Treat Dispenser Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA0YO_2Mr84

[25] PFMA 2017 Pet Population 2017 Pet Food Manufacturer‟s Association Retrieved from http://www.pfma.org.uk/pet-population-2017

[26] PlayDate 2017 PlayDate: World‟s First Pet Camera in a Smart Ball 22 December 2017 from http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/1711382

[27] A. J. PullenR. J. N. MerrillJ. W. S. Bradshaw 2012 Habituation and dishabituation during object play in kennel-housed dogs Animal Cognition 15 6 1143 1150 http://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-012-0538-2

[28] C. L. RobinsonC. ManciniJ. van der LindenC. GuestR. Harris 2014 Canine-centered Interface Design: Supporting the Work of Diabetes Alert Dogs In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems 3757 3766 New York, NY, USA ACM http://doi.org/10.1145/2556288.2557396

[29] N. J. RooneyJ. W. S. BradshawI. H. Robinson 2000 A comparison of dog–dog and dog–human play behaviour Applied Animal Behaviour Science 66 3 235 248 http://doi.org/10.1016/S0168-1591(99)00078-7

[30] Technavio 2017 Global Pet Wearable Market 2016-2020 - Market Research Reports - Industry Analysis Size & Trends Retrieved from http://www.technavio.com/report/global-machine-machine-m2m-and-connected-devices-global-pet-wearable-market-2016-2020-0?utm_source=T4&utm_campaign=Media&utm_medium=BW

[31] Tractive 2017 Tractive GPS Pet Tracker 22 December 2017 from http://tractive.com/uk_en/pd/gps-tracker

[32] Whistle 2017 Whistle GPS Pet Tracker 22 December 2017 from http://www.whistle.com/

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