This is Barking Awesome

How are my dogs feeling right now? Here, let me find out… ah, they’re in a playful mood. I can’t read minds - but I can read LCD screens. There’s a new product on the market called the Bow-lingual. Gag gift? Yes and no. I saw it sitting on the shelf and couldn’t resist its promise. A dog toy that won’t wear out in less than an hour? Too cool for words. It’s clearly labeled as an “entertainment” device, but I think there’s a bit of truth sitting somewhere within these circuits. Here’s the scoop:

What is the Bow-Lingual? It’s a dog emotion translator. It uses voiceprint analysis to determine your dog’s emotions, then gives you a phrase to represent what your dog’s trying to say.

What does it look like? It’s a small wireless microphone you put on your dog’s collar, with a handheld unit that looks like a cellphone.

How does it work? It transmits a dog’s bark from a small wireless microphone attached to the dog’s collar to the main devise where the sound is analyzed. The results of this voice translation are then displayed on the screen.

How do we know it really works? The product was developed using an enormous database of voiceprints and uses sophisticated voice analysis technology developed by the Japan Acoustic Laboratory. These voiceprint data, about 5,000, were statistically analyzed based on the expertise of an animal behaviorist, Dr. Norio Kogure. Bow-Lingual divides sounds into six categories of emotion (happy, sad, frustrated, on-guard/territorial, assertive/showing-off and needy). Takara then conducted extensive interviews with dog owners (with their dogs) to confirm these results.

And from preliminary tests, it seems to be pretty accurate (as far as dog tranlsators go). Getting Wicket to bark was the hardest part; he’s the more vocal of our two kids, with Pixie being a more reserved pup. Eventually, I conned him into barking a few phrases - and he told me that he was in a defensively frolicsome mood. Good to know! If you’re a dog owner, or if you know someone who owns a dog, this is going to be the treat to beat this season. FWIW, we’re giving it two paws up.