With the DogPhone, lonely dogs can take the initiative to call their owner.

During the corona pandemic, everyone suddenly wanted a dog. Not only because a four-legged friend is great company during the lockdown, but also because there was now enough time to guide a puppy through the first months. However, there comes a time when the owner has to go back to work. And now researchers have come up with a fun and effective way to slightly relieve the stress of suddenly being home alone.

DogPhone

Researcher Ilyena Hirskyj-Douglas developed in a new study a real telephone for her 10-year-old labrador Zack, with which he can call her at difficult and lonely moments. Called DogPhone, the system is the first of its kind to allow animals to contact their owners over the Internet.

smart toys

It’s a gap in the market. Because with the DogPhone, the initiative lies entirely with the dog. “At the moment there are already hundreds of types of ‘smart toys’ for sale,” says Hirskyj-Douglas. “Think from fitness monitors to remote-controlled treat dispensers. But the vast majority are developed with the owner’s needs in mind. Very few seem to consider what dogs themselves would like, or how technology could benefit them. Instead of dogs being ‘used’ by technology – and thus have no choice or control over a device – I wanted to make Zack a ‘user’, where he can actively make decisions.”

Ball

And she succeeded with the DogPhone. With the dog phone, Labrador Zack can call his owner by picking up a ball containing an accelerometer and shaking it back and forth. When the accelerometer detects movement, it initiates a video call on a laptop in the living room. That way, Zack can see his owner and communicate with her whenever he wants. Hirskyj-Douglas can also call Zack using the same system, though the dog is free to answer or ignore the call.

To properly test the dog phone, the researchers conducted experiments. During the first two days of the experiment, Zack called his owner eighteen times. However, half of those were ‘accidental’ phone calls, because, for example, he just slept wrong on the ball. It means that pocket bells are apparently not strange to our four-legged friends. During several phone calls where Zack was awake, he showed his owner toys they often play with and approached the screen, suggesting he wanted to communicate with his owner.

Sensitivity

The researchers tweaked the accelerometer’s sensitivity over time to completely eliminate the accidental calls and leave only the intentional calls. In the final phase of the experiment, Zack called a total of 35 times over seven days, which equates to an average of about five (conscious?) calls per day. During these conversations, Hirskyj-Douglas showed her surroundings, such as her office, a restaurant, the metro station and a busker. Zack showed interest in these interactions again, pricked up his ears and approached the screen.

Conscious

Although it is of course a wonderful invention, the question is to what extent Zack understands the situation. “Of course we’re not sure if Zack is aware of the causal relationship between picking up the ball and making the call,” Hirskyj-Douglas says. “However, it was clear that during several phone calls he was very interested in what he saw. He sometimes showed the same behavior as when we are physically together.”

While the dog phone still needs some refinement, such technology could lend a helping hand in the future to dogs with separation anxiety – for example, having become accustomed to companionship during the lockdowns. Because thanks to the DogPhone, they can stay in touch with their owner. “Whatever form it takes, we’ve taken another step toward developing a kind of ‘dog internet’,” says Hirskyj-Douglas. “It gives pets more autonomy and control over their interaction with technology. And that could help ‘pandemic puppies’ better cope with the stress of being home alone when their owners go back to work.”