As screens become increasingly embedded in homes, dogs frequently encounter moving images and sounds from televisions and other devices. Yet little is known about how much attention dogs actively give to such media, or whether they would choose to engage with it if allowed control over viewing. The 2018 study by I. Hirskyj-Douglas and J. Read introduces DoggyVision, a proximity-based switching device designed to let dogs turn a television on or off independently in a natural home environment.
The system was tested with two dogs to explore how dogs interact with this form of autonomous media control. DoggyVision proved to be non-invasive, practical to use, and well-tolerated by the animals. Recordings confirmed that dogs did visually attend to the screen content. However, the study found no clear change in dogs’ activation behaviors toward the screen between conditions in which they had no control (first week) and partial control (second week) over TV activation.
These findings align with dog-centered research approaches that emphasize respecting the dog’s agency and minimizing human-imposed constraints. While the sample size was intentionally small, the pilot demonstrates that dog-driven interfaces can successfully collect meaningful behavioral data within real homes. Importantly, this work marks the first system within the Animal Computer Interaction field to allow dogs to trigger device activation while automatically logging interaction events.
DoggyVision opens the door to future studies exploring how autonomy, content type, screen design, and context might influence canine engagement with digital media. More broadly, it highlights the value of designing technologies that consider dogs not only as passive subjects but as active participants in human–animal environments.
Source: Hirskyj-Douglas, I., & Read, J. (2018). DoggyVision: Examining how dogs (Canis familiaris) interact with media using a dog-driven proximity tracker device. Animal Behavior and Cognition.
