I once saw a cartoon where a dog was typing on a computer while explaining to another standing beside him, "On the net no one knows that you're a dog." Well, due to technological advances your dog can now have his own site on Twitter, and send you messages in the form of the usual tweets of 140 characters or less. These messages supposedly will be the same kind of thing that humans post on Twitter, namely brief comments about his current activities.
Psychologists studying the human-canine bond have long understood that one of the ways that dogs improve our lives is by providing a social presence. Humans interact with dogs in much the same way that they interact with other people, or at least with children. We talk to our dogs, and their presence relieves feelings of loneliness. Research suggests that this is why people who live alone, especially seniors, are much less likely to become clinically depressed if they have a dog as a pet. Because of this new technology, even when we are physically separated from our dog, as long as we have access to the internet, we can benefit from social contact with our dogs, which are actually initiated by the dog.
I encountered this new technology when it was unveiled at the Toy Fair at 
the Javitz Center in New York City. It is manufactured by Mattel. They call it Puppy Tweets and it should start to appear on store shelves by the end of the summer. There are two parts to this device. The first is a USB receiver that you connect to your computer. Next you download the software which is online, and create a Twitter account for your dog. The second part is a sensor, which looks like a big dog tag in pink or blue. This tag contains a microphone to pick up any sounds your dog is making, and a motion sensor that detects movement and acceleration as your dog goes about its daily activities. Based on the sound and motion readings the programming then analyzes, or makes a wild guess, as to what the dog is doing and at random intervals informs you of his activities. Mattel claims that it can detect 500 different activities, and then signal a clever short tweet which updates your dog's Twitter page. You can program your portable messaging devices to alert you to any incoming messages from your dog (even during important meetings), or you can check Twitter to see your dog's latest posts.
There are 500 programmed tweets that the computer selects from. Thus after a session of fast movements and turns you might get the posting, "It's not the catching of the tail, it's the chase." A short period of moderate movement but no acceleration might result in the message "Guess what I'm licking right now." A bout of barking might yield the message, "I bark because I miss you - there, now hurry home." There is even a tweet to indicate that your dog is sleeping.
In speaking with a representative of Mattel, however, he continually emphasized that this product is "a toy." When I pressed him a bit he admitted that the degree of processing of sounds and activities was "not very high powered."
"Look," he said, "this is not like advanced really high powered pet devices, like the GPS tracking collars that keep tabs on where your dog is at the moment. It just determines if sounds are coming in, and how much movement there is, and then selects from a set of candidate messages. So if you get a tweet saying that he is chasing a squirrel, he might actually be chasing a cat, running to the door, or digging a hole."
I asked, "Do you mean that the device is simply randomly picking out phrases from the list of alternatives and tweeting messages at random times?"
"No," he insisted, "it's not as random as all of that. The device is paying attention to the sound and movements to some degree. However its accuracy should not be an issue. Look at it this way, several times each day the dog's owner will get a message posted that the dog is doing something. Whether the tweet reflects what is actually going on at the moment or not, it gives his owner the feeling that the dog is connected to him or somehow near to him, and his loving owner then thinks about his dog for a moment or two. This makes the person feel good, and loved, even if it is more of an illusion than reality. That's what toys are supposed to do-to make people feel good and happy even if it is just for a short time and even if they are merely based on fantasy."
I suppose that his reasoning is correct. The toy does seem harmless enough. However, for the moral health of our dogs we should probably monitor to see who is linking up with our dogs and responding to their tweets. If we give our dogs a taste for online social networking we might next find them hanging around coffee shops looking for free wireless access to the net and lying about their age on dating sites while trying to befriend underage puppies.
Stanley Coren is the author of many books including: The Modern Dog, Why Do Dogs Have Wet Noses? The Pawprints of History, How Dogs Think, How To Speak Dog, Why We Love the Dogs We Do, What Do Dogs Know? The Intelligence of Dogs, Why Does My Dog Act That Way? Understanding Dogs for Dummies, Sleep Thieves, The Left-hander Syndrome
Copyright SC Psychological Enterprises Ltd. May not be reprinted or reposted without permission.
