Does Your Pet Have a Computer?

Does Your Pet Have a Computer?

Computer technology has infiltrated virtually every facet of modern day life. Our pets currently seem blissfully unaware of it all. But pets aren't unaffected by computers, they just don't use them...or do they?

Austrian scientists in Vienna have used touch screen technology to allow dogs to interact with computers. In an effort to test the cognitive ability of the four dogs involved in the study, the dogs were shown a landscape picture beside another landscape picture with a dog in it. When the dog "nose selected" the picture with the dog in it he received a treat. Then the researchers flashed different pictures with and without dogs in them. Each time, the dog involved in the study selected the dog pictures showing that, according to the authors, the dogs could form the concept of a dog.
http://www.livescience.com/animals/071128-computer-canines.html

This might not mean that Fido will be begging for a new laptop anytime soon but here are some more examples of how computers and pets are getting together in the 21st century.

Israeli prison guards have employed computer software to interpret the barks of their guard dogs. Noam Tavor, head of the Israel Prisons Service canine unit, said the program is designed to overcome mistakes in which guards have either not heard dogs sounding an alarm or failed to speedily identify its significance."It collects the dogs' barks through microphones...and sorts and grades them," Tavor told Army Radio. "It relays only the barks that are significant in terms of security barks that reveal stress or aggression in the dog."
The system has been developed by Bio-Sense, a high-tech company headquartered near Tel Aviv.

Computer software can benefit pets in everyday ways as well. Veterinary practice management software such as Vetpoint, Spellex Veterinary Spell Checker, PremVet5 and RoboVet3 from Vet Solutions and many others have been helping veterinarians to save time, keep and access records and stay up to date on new information.
Municipalities use software to maintain databases for dog licenses and related statistics.
A company called Zoombak.com offers software to track the location of your pet wearing the appropriate tag via GPS. The system sends the owner an email if the pet leaves a specified "safe zone" essentially ending the heartbreak of lost dogs and cats.

Recently, the hatching of a brood of eaglets on the west coast and the subsequent fledge was broadcast via webcam to computers worldwide and adults and school children alike watched constantly as the eaglets grew before our very eyes.
Here in Vancouver, the recent birth of a beluga whale and the activities of mother and newborn have been available via belugacam from the Vancouver Aquarium's website. Check out seaottercam as well to view these delightful creatures on a round the clock basis.

So if you have a computer but can't keep a pet just now, how about a virtual pet?
PF.Magic, a San Francisco company, offers Dogz and Catz online for adoption. You choose your pet(s) from a virtual litter, name them and choose toys such as a ball or a shoe. Then you can play with your pet(s) on your desktop, watch them grow and develop a personality while you form a relationship with them. The program is distributed from the website.....not sure if you need a virtual plastic bag or not.

If a virtual dog or cat seems like too much responsibility, consider a virtual hamster. http://www.maniform.com/stuff/hamster.htm

Or how about a robot dog?

Eungsang Park is a South Korean inventor who has designed a robot dog that he says is actually similar to a real dog. The “dog” Arin has life like eyes and it can run! It has an internal computer and an LCD screen on it’s back on which you can check email and surf the net. Below it’s tail it has a slot where you can insert DVD discs and watch movies on the screen. Its tail is a joystick for playing games. Arin can sense touch and also function as a mobile phone...it seems that when you're out with Arin for a walk you can make a call on your dog!

http://www.ditii.com/2006/03/18/korean-robotic-dog-all-set-to-replace-aibo/

If you have concerns that your cat might have your password and is using your computer at night, check your outbox for messages sent to addresses such as fluffy@scratchingpost.com

Also check your mouse for teethmarks.

Bill Gates now has pets (one dog two cats and one bird) but I'm not sure what kind of pet software he uses.
He was keeping details to himself during a visit with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show last year.

Jon: What's your password?

Bill:

Jon: You don't have to answer that. Is it 'Gates'?

Bill: I'll tell you later.

Jon: Hey, do you have pets?

Bill: Well actually, we keep putting off having pets. Our kids put on a lot of pressure.

Jon: Did you ever have a pet when you were younger?

Bill: Sure I had a dog.

Jon: What was the pet's name?

Bill: That's not my password.

You can watch the interviews on Soapbox beta: Part 1 and Part II

Okay so it doesn't seem that our real pets are actually using computers very much yet but the accelerating rate of computer technology probably puts the day when they will in the foreseeable future.

Perhaps Miss Mews or Spot will nose touch a computer screen to dispense food and by doing so, tell the computer to order more food on line. In the meantime we humans will have to perform all the regular functions in the regular way.

copyright JulianOnePlanet Publications
November 19th 2008

first published in Vancouver in THE METRO PET GAZETTE

http://metropetgazette.ca/