Can dogs recognize Facetime?
How Can I Watch My Dog While I’m At Work?
Having a dog while you’re working full time may not seem ideal. Nonetheless, you can still make it work with a little creativity and some help from technology. If you’re unable to take your dog to work with you, there are different apps which allow you to watch your dog remotely. You can watch your dog while at work through a video surveillance app and home cameras. Though dogs generally can’t recognize faces on screens, your voice could have a calming effect on them. To watch your dog remotely, you can directly connect a camera to a computer or use your computer’s webcam. It’s natural to miss your dog and want to know what he’s up to when you’re not home. Read on for some of the best solutions for monitoring and interacting with your dog remotely.
Is There an App to Watch My Dog at Home?
There are several free and paid apps for watching your dog remotely. Most of the apps can work with either Android, iOS, macOS, or PC desktop. Some of the most popular dog monitoring apps include:
Manything
Manything means to monitor anything. The app allows you to connect to your CCTV system to monitor anything within and around your home remotely. It works with iOS and it’s simple to use and free of charge.
Furbo
Furbo offers two-way audio communication and video monitoring. You can see what the dog is up to. You can also hear them and they can hear your voice. The app, bundled with a treat dispenser, allows you to offer treats remotely. You get barking alerts and can also take photos and videos.
FaceTime
If you have a Mac computer you can set up a simple home surveillance system to watch your pet remotely. You can easily use your iOS device to access your Mac’s webcam. Simply call yourself and your Mac automatically answers your video call.
Petcube
Petcube is a Wi-Fi enabled camera allowing pet users to remotely monitor their pets. You can watch, talk, and even play with your dog by pointing a laser using your phone. Using the Petcube app, you can also share access to the videos with family and friends.
Barkio
Barkio allows you to watch your dog remotely. You also get alerts whenever the dog barks. You can also activate a Night Light for better visibility. You can pre-record your voice or talk to your dog in real-time to keep them calm. You may also stream videos so your dog gets to see you too. Barkio is available for Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, and Linux. All you need is two internet-connected devices. No need for camera installations.
Pawbo
The Pawbo Life Pet Camera is a battery-powered wireless device that connects to your home Wi-Fi. The device transmits video to an app on your phone. It allows you to watch your pet, dispense treats, and talk to the dog. A laser pointer allows you to play with the dog remotely and keep them engaged.
How Can I Watch My Dog While I’m At Work?
- No night or low-light visibility
- No motion detection or motion alerts
- No sound/barking alerts
- Limited recording ability
- Limited sharing capability
- Unstable audio
Apps offer much better functionality and stable connections. Apps also increase your ability to record video footage with local storage and cloud options. With apps, you can more easily share connections with family members.
You don’t have to keep a call running. Family members simply switch on the app at any time without having to call their home gadget. Upon logging into the app, users can view live footage or rewind recordings.
Another advantage for apps is you can monitor multiple cameras without having to connect multiple computers. Pet monitoring apps can also double as your home security system.
Pet-specific apps also come with options for play, feeding, and dog training. For instance, some of the apps can connect to a food dispenser system. You can remotely click a button to add food to your pet’s bowl or offer treats.
Do Pet Cameras Help with Separation Anxiety?
A pet camera is a great solution for keeping you connected to your dog. Talking to your dog frequently throughout the day can help calm your dog and ease their sense of loneliness and boredom.
Humans too suffer some separation anxiety when away from their dogs, especially if it’s a new puppy. Knowing you can see and talk to your dog at any time works to ease our fears. We want to know that the dog is safe, calm, and comfortable and video monitoring takes away the guesswork by showing live footage.
With all the additional features, pet monitoring apps can ease separation anxiety by:
- Providing positive reinforcement with a click sound.
- Distract an anxious dog by dispensing timely treats.
- Determine if you need a pet sitter and whether you need to get back home.
- Monitor for destructive behavior such as chewing pillows and furniture.
- Enhance potty training even when you’re away from home.
- Journal the puppy’s eating and potty habits.
- Monitor visitors and the dog’s reaction. For instance, how does the dog behave when the dog walker or postman comes by?
- Talk to your dog remotely. If the dog can identify your voice, you may have a calming effect when they feel anxious.
Hey there, I’m Gui! These are my 2 good pals Ozzy and Luna. I’ve gone through the headache of figuring out what to do when either traveling with them or leaving them behind, and I know it can be a pain. I created Pets Travel Guide to make your life a bit easier when you love your pet but also love to travel!
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About Us
Hey there, I’m Gui! These are my 2 good pals Ozzy and Luna. I’ve gone through the headache of figuring out what to do when either traveling with them or leaving them behind, and I know it can be a pain. I created Pets Travel Guide to make your life a bit easier when you love your pet but also love to travel!
Can Cats See Phone Screens?
We all know that like any other animals, cats see differently compared to humans and it is related to seeing screens as well. In recent years, the use of smartphones has been increasing and we watch lots of videos including cute animal videos through our phone screens. We also use our smartphones to browse about important subject matters and other times, we use them to phone our loved ones via a video call. Furthermore, some cat owners may show their cats a couple of pictures or videos that may hopefully interest their cats through their cell phone screens or other times, other cat owners even try to have a video call with them when they are away from home. However, the big questions are: can cats see phone screens? What do cats see while looking at a phone screen? Do they recognize their owners through the screen? Let us try to find out.
What Colors Do Cats See?
It is known that cats are able to see the color blue better rather than the colors red, yellow, and green, and any other colors, and this helps them see and watch on our smartphone screens or TVs. This means they are colorblind when seeing red to yellow to green spectrums but can see the blue spectrum good enough. Most of the screens that we watch through emit blue light therefore cats will surely be able to pick up colors dancing around our digital screens.
Animals cannot see light as humans do but they can see better and more lights than dogs can and it is therefore highly likely that they can better perceive what is going on in our smartphone screens.
How Cats See The Screens Vs. Human
There may be times when some cat owners might have observed their cats looking at their phone or watching the TV from time to time especially when there may be something interesting that might have caught their attention. Cats much like dogs see things on screens very differently from what humans do. Dogs do not see colors like humans do but they see the moving objects or images on the screens differently. Cats on the other hand would see what looks like desaturated photographs with the colors till being there and seen however the red, yellow, and green spectrums would all look desaturated.
Cats are also able to see at a faster rate more than us, humans, so the screens flicker for their eyes. Humans can process images at about 45 hz while cats can process them at around 70 to 80 Hz, and this is why the screens flicker for them while we are able to watch clear and solid videos.
Therefore, while humans can enjoy all the wonderful colors being shown on screen, cats may still appreciate such moving images but not as much as we would.
Can Cats Recognize Their Owners From The Screen?
I think that this is the question that most cat owners would like an answer to: “can my cat recognize me in a photo or video or video calls?” The unfortunate truth is, for cats, it might be just the same as any other image or faces they see all around them and this is based on a study by researchers from the University of Texas and Pennsylvania State University. In that study, the researchers showed photos of faces of humans, and the cats were only able to recognize their owner only about 54% of the time but were able to recognize other cats in those photos around 91% of the time, which is still pretty impressive albeit not the result that we truly wanted.
Conclusion
Science does not completely comprehend how a cat’s mind works however the perseverance of researchers to study and observe cats and other animals as well has lead to different studies that can help inform us at least about their behavior and other characteristics such as how cats see color, if cats can see our phone screens, and if they can recognize their owners through photos and video calls.
And today we have learned that they may be able to see a limited color spectrum, which is blue, but the red to green spectrum is not as good as they see blues. This means that they may appreciate moving objects or images on our smartphone screens but they will not be able to recognize the faces of their owners on photos shown to them. Therefore, try not to get disappointed whenever you try to have a video call with your cat and they just ignore you through the screen.
Dogs can understand what you’re saying and how you say it
It might not seem like it when you’re shouting «sit» or «fetch» to a blank canine face, but it turns out dogs understand both the words we speak and how we say them.
That’s the conclusion of a new study from Hungary, in which researchers studied the MRI scans of a bunch of dogs and found that they’re using the same parts of their brain as humans to process what they hear.
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In a project conducted by Attila Andics, a research fellow at Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest and published in the journal Science, researchers found (opens in a new tab) that dogs process words with the left hemisphere and pitch with the right.
During the experiment, the 13 dogs sat inside an MRI scanner and listened to their trainer speaking different combinations of words and intonation in both praising and neutral ways.
The trainers said words like «super» or «however» in both a high-pitched cheerful voice and with a more neutral delivery.
Researchers discovered that the dogs process vocabulary separately to intonation, and actually responded better when praising words were used in combination with praising intonation.
Meaningless words spoken in an encouraging voice or meaningful words said in a neutral tone didn’t have the same effect.
The dogs listened to their trainers via headphones. The study’s author said getting the dogs to lie still was the hardest part. Credit: APEniko Kubinyi/Eotvos Lorand University via AP
«Dog brains care about both what we say and how we say it,» Attila Andics said (opens in a new tab) . «Praise can work as a reward only if both word meaning and intonation match.»
Andics believes that the findings show that the mental ability to process language evolved earlier than previously thought, and that it was the invention of words that sets humans apart from other species.
Other animals could also understand language, but its dogs’ close contact with humans for thousands of years that make them ideal to study.
Six border collies, five golden retrievers, a German shepherd and a Chinese crested were used for the study. They had to lie awake, unrestrained and motionless for seven minutes in the scanner during the test — something many humans find tough to do. They listened to their trainer’s voice through headphones.
Brian Hare, associate professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University, told the Associated Press it was a «shocker» that word meaning seems to be processed in the left hemisphere of the brain.
Emory University neuroscientist Gregory Berns, meanwhile, cautioned that the study involved a small number of dogs. Before concluding it’s a smoking gun for word processing, «they should have looked for other evidence in the brain,» he said in an email.
While the news might make you feel closer to your dog, don’t expect to be recognized if you FaceTime them while you’re away. Andics says (opens in a new tab) that his research indicates dogs can’t recognize their owners on screens.
“Realistic size matters,” he said. “If the size is not realistic, you become something small in a little box.”
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
