Sorry to butt in.. Labrador Zack’s on the dog & bone

I COMPLAINED to my wife the other day about how rarely our 21-year-old son phones me.

She looked at me quizzically, as she often does, and asked: “How often do you phone him?”

She has a fair point, I guess. Neither of us are very good at the old phone thing but when we do need to talk, we do.

However, I now think I have an extraordinary solution.

Step forward Dr IIyena Hirskyj-Douglas, of Glasgow University, and her colleagues from Aalto University in Finland.

She is an assistant professor in animalcomputer interaction and studies how animals cope with computer systems.

Mindful of the recent increase in separation anxiety in pets who have been accustomed to owners staying at home during the pandemic but now find themselves left to their own (pardon the pun) devices, she has very cleverly come up with the “DogPhone”.

Separation anxiety describes abnormal behaviours that result from an extreme distress response associated with the departure and absence of the most important person in the pet’s life – usually the owner.

It is manifest by agitation and restlessness around the time of departure followed by house soiling, salivation, destructiveness and vocalisation when finally left alone.

Less obvious signs include inactivity (but not sleeping or resting) and anorexia.

Other pets show evidence of persistent following (which many owners find endearing), attention seeking (again loved and encouraged by some owners) and even aggression towards the owner when leaving (which owners don’t love).

“DogPhone” aims to help by enabling Dr HirskyjDouglas’s 10-year-old Labrador, Zack, to video call the family whenever he wants.

All he has to do is pick up and shake a ball, which is fitted with a device called an accelerometer.

When the device senses movement, it initiates a video call on a laptop in the Hirskyj-Douglas living room, allowing Zack to chat to his owner whenever he likes.

What they talk about is beyond the scope of this article but I guess there must be numerous glorious occasions when she gets to say to colleagues: “Sorry to stop you there but I have to go. My dog is on the phone and it could be something important.”

Now all I need to do is fit an accelerometer to my son’s sweetie tin and I’ll be getting calls from him 10 times a day.