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Digital technologies that help us take care of our dogs are becoming more widespread. Yet, little research explores what the role of technology in the human-dog relationship should be. We conducted a mixed-method study incorporating quantitative and qualitative thematic analysis of 155 UK dog owners reflecting on their daily routines and technology's role in it, disentangling the what-wherewhy of interspecies routines and activities, technological desires, and rationales for technological support across common human-dog activities. We found that increasingly entangled daily routines lead to close multi-species households where dog owners conceptualize technology as having a role to support them in giving care to their dogs. When confronted with the role of technology across various activities, only chores like cleaning up after our dogs lead to largely positive considerations, while activities that benefit us like walking together lead to largely negative considerations. For other activities, whether playing, training, or feeding, attitudes remain diverse. In general, across all activities both a nightmare scenario of technology taking the human's role and in doing so disentangling the human-dog bond, as well as a dream scenario of technology augmenting our abilities arise. We argue that the current trajectory of digital technology for pets towards allowing dog owners to interact with their dogs while away-feeding, playing, and so on-is an example of this nightmare scenario becoming reality, and that it is important to redirect this trajectory to one of technology predominantly supporting us in becoming better and more informed caregivers.

Digital technologies that help people take care of their dogs are becoming more widespread. Yet, little research explores what the role of technology in the human-dog relationship should be. We conducted a qualitative study incorporating quantitative and thematic analysis of 155 UK dog owners reflecting on their daily routines and technology's role in it,disentangling the what-where-why of interspecies routines and activities, technological desires, and rationales for technological support across common human-dog activities. We found that increasingly entangled daily routines lead to close multi-species households where dog owners conceptualize technology as having a role to support them in giving care to their dogs. When confronted with the role of technology across various activities, only chores like cleaning up after their dogs lead to largely positive considerations, while activities that benefit themselves like walking together lead to largely negative considerations. For other activities, whether playing, training, or feeding, attitudes remain diverse. In general, across all activities both a nightmare scenario of technology taking the human's role and in doing so disentangling the human-dog bond, as well as a dream scenario of technology augmenting human abilities arise. We argue that the current trajectory of digital technology for pets is increasingly focused on enabling remote interactions, an example of the nightmare scenario in our thematic analysis. It is important to redirect this trajectory to one of technology predominantly supporting us in becoming better and more informed caregivers.

Animal shelters deal with many challenges: they are understaffed, overcrowded, run on limited budgets and have very limited resources. An important issue in this context is behavioral assessment and screening of behaviour, temperament and personality of animals in shelters. Technological solutions, and specifically AI, have the potential to support shelters in these challenges. This, however, calls for better understanding the potential benefits of technology in the context of shelter dogs' behavioral assessment and evaluation, as well as barriers to its adoption. This paper reports on our ongoing exploratory study, which focuses on perceptions and attitudes of shelter officials in Israel with respect to technological solutions supporting behavioral assessment. CCS CONCEPTS• Human-centered computing → Human computer interaction (HCI).

This article outlines the emergence and development of human-animal studies in Israel (HASI). It sketches the changes the field has undergone and its accomplishments to date, identifying key challenges and opportunities. The article highlights two major shifts that HASI has undergone throughout the years: the first, an initial focus on animal-assisted therapy (AAT) that eventually gave way to a multidisciplinary approach to human-animal relations; and the second, a transition from a humanistic perspective to growing critical involvement in HAS and partial post-humanistic epistemology. The past and current institutional state of human-animal studies in Israel is traced, characterized by ongoing infrastructure changes, alongside a growing group of scholars that aim to develop the field. We conclude with a contemplation of future directions and prospects for HASI.