Blind dogs need guides too: towards technological support for blind dog caregiving

Blind or visually impaired pet dogs have additional challenges to overcome in their daily life in environments typically built for sighted humans, as do their caregivers in supporting them. From simple activities like finding their food in a hopefully stable home environment, to more complex activities like navigating an ever changing outdoor environment safely. While some support exists for blind and visually impaired dogs, frequently in the form of physical safety products and veterinary guidelines for care giving, little interactive technology yet exists to inform and complement caregivers' abilities. In this paper, we present the results of an interview-based study with caregivers of blind and visually impaired dogs, using thematic analysis to construct core themes of support needed, and translated these into a prototype app. Our findings show that, while caregivers can adapt quickly to coping with a blind or visually impaired pet dog in their own environment, a gap exists in coping with (ever changing) outdoor environments, in particular identifying safe and suitable outdoor walking routes. We show an initial design of a mobile app for this purpose, and discuss to what extent software for informed caregiving of visually impaired pet dogs could benefit from further work

Seven Years after the Manifesto: Literature Review and Research Directions for Technologies in Animal Computer Interaction

As technologies diversify and become embedded in everyday lives, the technologies we expose to animals, and the new technologies being developed for animals within the field of Animal Computer Interaction (ACI) are increasing. As we approach seven years since the ACI manifesto, which grounded the field within Human Computer Interaction and Computer Science, this thematic literature review looks at the technologies developed for (non-human) animals. Technologies that are analysed include tangible and physical, haptic and wearable, olfactory, screen technology and tracking systems. The conversation explores what exactly ACI is whilst questioning what it means to be animal by considering the impact and loop between machine and animal interactivity. The findings of this review are expected to form the first grounding foundation of ACI technologies informing future research in animal computing as well as suggesting future areas for exploratio

DoggyVision: Examining how Dogs (Canis familiaris) Interact with Media using a Dog-Driven Proximity Tracker Device

With screen technology becoming ubiquitously embedded into our homes, these screens are often in places where they can be viewed by domestic dogs (Canis familiaris); however, there is a lack of research showing to what extent, and for how long, dogs attend to media on screens. One pressing question is to understand if a dog, given the opportunity, would or could control its own viewing. This paper describes a prototype system (DoggyVision) that gives control to a dog in regard to the turning on and off of a TV screen in order to study activation with screen media in home settings. The system is used with two dogs to explore the interaction modalities between machine and dog. DoggyVision is shown to be non-invasive for the dog and easy to use in the home. Recordings show that dogs did attend to the screen but did not appear, in this study, to change their activation behaviors around the TV screen between being in no control (week 1), and in some control (week 2), of the TV media presentation. The study builds on ‘dog-centered’ methods to examine a dog’s behavior non-invasively demonstrating that useful data can be yielded from dog-driven devices within the home. For the Animal Computer Interaction community, this is the first system that allows the dog to trigger the activation of the device as the system records the activation automatically

The Impact of Training Approaches on Experimental SetUp and Design of Wearable Vibrotactiles for Hunting Dogs

While designing a wearable vibrotactile solution to assist canine navigation we encountered multiple conflicting dog training methods that impacted heavily on design possibilities as well as the methods used in the experimental design. The VibroTactile Vest (VTV), was designed in an iterative process to provide vibrotactile commands to dogs, working with variable-intensity vibrating motors mounted to a modified hug shirt to keep the vibrators close but not restrict movement. We folded knowledge gained from instructional scenarios with trainers, handlers and owners and from working directly with four hunting dogs who had been trained in either obedience, hunting, competitive or non-competitive styles into the finished design. We contribute to research that incorporates technology to enhance communication and mobility with working and companion animals. We increment foundational research on wearable vibrotactile solutions for navigation that assist disabled dogs and/or dogs working at distances, highlighting the necessity to directly anticipate and address different training styles in the experimental set up in order to include a broader variety of dogs