Exploring Behaviours Percieved as Important to the Human-Dog Bond and their Translation to a Robotic Platform

Abstract

To facilitate long-term engagement with social robots, robots can be modelled on ‘successful’ social animals – specifically, pet dogs. Unfortunately, scientific understanding is limited to qualities of dogs that are ‘liked’, opposed to behaviours that facilitate and maintain the human-dog bond. To better understand dog behaviours that are important for building bonds between owner and pet, we collected open-ended responses from dog owners (n=153). Thematic analysis identified 7 behaviour categories: the importance of 1) attunement, 2) communication, 3) consistency and predict- ability, 4) physical affection, 5) positivity and enthusiasm, 6) proximity, and 7) shared activities. We consider the feasibility of translating dog behaviours into a robotic platform, and potential barriers moving forward. In addition to providing insight into important behaviours for human-dog bonding, this work provides a springboard for those hoping to implement dog behaviours into animal-like agents, avatars, and robots.