An IoT and analytics platform for characterizing adolescent dogs' suitability for guide work

Abstract

Evaluating potential guide dogs is crucial for guide dog schools as raising and training is an expensive process. During adolescence, volunteers raise dogs in training away from guide dog schools and expose them to a variety of stimuli and teach them obedience skills. However, no objective data exists about the dog's behavior and environment during this period, usually lasting several months to a year. We developed an Internet of Things sensor-equipped collar to quantify dogs' behaviors and environments during this stage. Raisers collect data from the collar using a smartphone app which in turn uploads data to a central processing pipeline. We present an overview of the system and an evaluation showing how we can learn meaningful information about a dog's environment and physical activities while away from the school for months on end, ideally to help predict which dogs will be successful in training.