This Tail-Mounted Sensor Can Tell You What Your Dog Is Feeling

Well hi there! Thanks for clicking by. Great to see you. Coffee's freshly brewed and I made some pumpkin treats for you today. Recipe is below. Segue...to the entirely different topic of wagging doggie tails, okay?

There’s a tale behind every wagging tail, or so believe the founders of New York tech company DogStar Life. They’ve created a wearable device called TailTalk that accurately translates dogs’ emotions by analyzing their ‘tail language’.

The company is currently trying to raise $100,000 through Indiegogo, in order to develop the technology further and also prepare for mass production. “The tail is the dog’s social interface, like a smile for humans,” the campaign page reads. “Understanding the tail means understanding the dog.”

The device is a lightweight sensor that is placed on a dog’s tail to capture movement patterns all day long. “It basically combines an accelerometer and a gyroscope much like the Fitbit, but it’s picking up on the way the tail is moving,” co-founder Mark Karp told Yahoo News. “The idea is to capitalize on all the research that’s been done in the last two to three years on what tail movement means, and translating that into emotion.”

The makers claim that TailTalk is most useful for owners to understand what happens to their pets when they’re not together; like when dogs are alone at home, with dog walkers, or at the dog daycare. 

The device connects to a smartphone app that provides real time information on how the pet is doing.

“TailTalk has a 3-axis accelerometer and a gyroscope, capturing the tail movement as it happens,” the company claims. “Our proprietary algorithm translates tail wagging into emotions the dog is expressing, where pet parents can see their dog’s emotional diary throughout the day.” Pets are assigned a happiness score, and an emotional graph helps interpret their mood swings.

The makers apparently consulted professors at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine in the early stages of product design. They learned that tail wagging could reveal a lot about what dogs were feeling. 

For instance, left wagging indicates negative feelings like fear, aggression, or anxiety, and right wagging could mean positive feelings of happiness, excitement, or satisfaction. They also spent a lot of time talking to pet owners, and most of them seemed concerned about the health and happiness of their dogs.

According to co-founder Yannis Tsampalis, TailTalk is meant to empower pet parents, not make them feel guilty. “If you know that your dog is really unhappy during the day, it’s probably in the best interest of both of you to have a dog walker or dog sitter come over,” he explained. “We feel that pet parents are wonderful, but if they had more data, they can probably make better decisions and create a stronger bond between them and their dog.”

My take... Generally when a dog wags its tail, it is happy (unlike a cat which wags its tail when it is annoyed). But if you don't know the dog, check the eyes, hackles and ear position, too. Wagging can be deceptive.

Does the world really need Tailtalk? It might be more useful as a 'receptability' device in bars, don't you think? Maybe I'll get my research assistant working on that one... Have another virtual pumpkin tart, why don't'cha? Recipe follows...

See ya, eh!

Bob 

Recipe for Bob's Scrumptious Pumpkin Tarts:

I used the standard pastry recipe found on the back of Crisco shortening. The floured top of a glass cuts out the right sized pastry shells.

I precooked the shells for about 5 minutes @375F/200C or so. Then let them cool.

Filling
1 1/2 cups cooked pumpkin or squash. I used acorn squash but don't tell anybody...
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs (though I only used one)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp clove (I didn't put this in)

Tossed everything in a blender and whipped it round then poured it into the cooled muffin shells.

Baked them @375F/200C for 20 + minutes, turning the trays around halfway through.

Once cooled, topped them with whipped cream and they were done!