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John Watson

Screenwriter
Joined
Jul 14, 2002
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I saw something about that on TV a few days ago.

No news? that's ruff :)

Today the "news" reported that British poultry farms have been playing music for the turkeys being grown for the Christmas market, and that the ones that have been listening to Gregorian chants were much happier and have put on weight better.

Ain't art and science wonnerful?
 

Joe Spratley

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Aug 5, 2003
Messages
107
Real Name
test
I'm thinking of getting one of these some day. I know the concept sounds funny but there is some scientific fact behind it. Dogs do have certain barks for different emotions and situations. Since I have read up on this a lot I probably don't need it but I was mostly interested in the logging function. It will tell you how many times your dog barked while you weren't home and try to interpret why they were barking.
 

Joe Spratley

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Aug 5, 2003
Messages
107
Real Name
test
Found this on the net tonight:


Dogs May Be More Intelligent Than People May Think
Wed Jul 31, 3:48 PM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Dogs are probably much cleverer than most people think, according to a new study.

Slideshow: Dogs at Work and Play

Scientists are convinced that dogs can count and researchers at the University of California Davis say they try to convey different messages through the pitch and pace of their barks.

"Animal behaviorists used to think their bark was simply a way of getting attention. Now a new study suggests that individual dogs have specific barks with a range of meanings," New Scientist magazine said on Wednesday.

Dogs usually use high-pitched single barks when they are separated from their owners and a lower, harsher superbark when strangers approach or the doorbell rings, according to Sophia Yin, an animal behaviorist at the university.

Playful woofs are high-pitched and unevenly spaced.

Dogs also know when they are being short-changed on treats because they have a basic mathematical ability which enables them to tell when one pile of objects is bigger than another.

"But to count, an animal has to recognize that each object in a set corresponds to a single number and that the last number in a sequence represents the total number of objects," New Scientist added.

Robert Young of Brazil's Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte, tested the theory on 11 mongrels using dog treats.

The canines were shown treats and then a screen was lowered and the goodies were left as they were or some were added or taken away.

If a treat was added or taken away the dogs looked at the treats much longer than they did when the goodies were not disturbed, presumably because they had done their sums and the numbers did not meet their expectations.

"Dogs are descended from wolves, which not only have a large neocortex -- the brain's center of reasoning -- but live in large social groups," the magazine said.

Young believes the mathematical ability could have been used to work out how many allies and enemies they had in a pack.
 

Lee L

Supporting Actor
Joined
Oct 26, 2000
Messages
868
I have been following this thing for a couple of years since they announced it will be available, here is the official site http://www.buybowlingual.com/index.html . The reveiws I have read seem pretty favorable in that the device can get 6 or 7 main emotions right. One extra step it does do is add one of like 100 phrases to go with the main emotion group. Mostly the phrases are arbitrary, but the main amotion is right most of the time.

I have 2 Basenji's and the Bow-Lingual claims to work with them but they are called "barkless dogs" and the sounds they make are very different than most dogs' barks so I can;t see how it would work. I might still try it but I can tell how my dogs feel pretty well by their sounds, facial expressions and tail position.
Now, if someone were to come out with some real Star Trek type "universal translator" way to tell what my dogs were really thinking, who knows how much I might be willing to pay for it.

Also, we give a few differnt treats to keep up some variety with our dogs and one of them will always check what the other has to make sure it is not better before he eats his.
 

Yoshi Sugawara

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Nov 13, 2000
Messages
206
My fiance's parents got our dog Bowlingual from Japan a year ago - overall, it's sort of hit-or-miss. It's a toy, you have fun with what messages appear, and it's amusing at times.

The problem is that our dog doesn't bark that much, unless she really has to (someone walking by the apartment, telling other dogs to lay off, etc). And if you've owned a dog for a number of years, you know what he/she is thinking without a machine telling you :)

I'm kinda interested in the Meow-lingual for our cat, who is Siamese and "talks" a LOT :)
 

KerryK

Stunt Coordinator
Joined
Mar 3, 2003
Messages
214
I agree that if you've ever owned a dog, you get to know its barks pretty well and you generally know what they're trying to say.

I have two cats and I know they have different meows for different things (my favorite is "hey, I was sleeping!") but sometimes they'll unleash a big rant and I honestly don't know what they're trying to say. Knowing cats, I'm sure it's a complaint, but I'm with Yoshi and I have a chatty cat and I'd like to know what he's saying.
 

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