Is Nothing Better Than Something? A Preliminary Investigation into Disembodied Stimuli for Home Alone Dogs

Remote communication technologies have become an essential tool in connecting families separated by distance. At the same time, as our notion of family moves beyond human members to include our pets, an increasing number of multi-species remote communication devices are being developed. However, the extent to which dogs understand disembodied technologies, and their perceptions of such technologies, remains unknown. Furthermore, such devices are often not developed within an ACI framework where the non-human users' needs and requirements are considered as equally as the humans'. Therefore, this work proposes a study which will explore dogs' perceptions of three stimuli often used in disembodied technology: treat dispensing/food, video, and sound. In this proposed study, dogs will be left alone with individual stimuli in a series of trials, and their reactions and behaviours will be recorded. Analyses of these recordings will offer new insights into canine cognition, while also having practical implications in informing the development of novel multi-species remote communication technologies within the ACI community.