What Is Your Dog Barking About?
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: When it comes to dogs, the saying goes, their bark is often worse than their bite. But what's Rover really trying to say with all that woof, woofing? Well, CNN's Andrew Brown looks at a new gizmo that may explain what all the barking's about.</s>ANDREW BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Bowlingual analyzes barking sounds that are picked up by a special microphone. It can be fixed to a dog's collar or you could try dangling the mike near a canine's mouth and get a reading that way. Don't be fooled by dogs that look aggressive. Experts say they might just be having fun. And if new products apparently helps us understand their complex emotions. Ask Ray Jones, the man who's marketing Bowlingual in Hong Kong.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is unhappy.</s>BROWN: No surprise there, but what about...</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is happy.</s>BROWN: Bowlingual is made by the Japanese company Tikara, which claims through painstaking research, you have matched different sounds with a dog's emotional stage. Once there's a positive match, the screen advises the user what the dog's feeling. (on camera): These feelings fall into several broad categories: happy dog, sad dog, frustrated dog and dogs that want something. (voice-over): Some dog lovers are intrigued by Bowlingual's potential. What kind of things do you think your dog says, I mean, when she's talking to you?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know. Maybe I can find out from that machine.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'd buy it. I think it would be cool to find out she really wants.</s>BROWN: But a lot of dogs don't want to say what they want. Can you make it bark? Dogs just aren't buying this technology. And at nearly $200 U.S., some consumers aren't either.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: $200 U.S. It's expensive.</s>BROWN: Yes, would you buy it?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, of course not.</s>BROWN: Now we're now joined by a special guest, Leo, who has promised to bark for us, generating some samples that we can actually test this device. Let's go, Leo. Bark, bark. It's got a bit of a sore throat, Carol. Yes. Let's see if we can get a reading here. I'm just trying to bring the reading up. It's actually in Japanese. So we're getting a translation. It's coming through. What does it say? It doesn't say -- well, it doesn't say. It's still trying to get a reading here. Leo, just carry on barking.</s>LIN: He's got a sore throat?</s>BROWN: Gee, I don't think it works, Carol.</s>LIN: You don't think it works. I'm just wondering if there's any science behind this, I mean, because it's not like a dog's going to say, hey, wait a minute, that's not what I said.</s>BROWN: I know. The dogs cannot give feedback. That's the thing. I mean, this has been invented by humans. It's not really fair, is it?</s>LIN: No, it's not. So what happens if a human barks into it?</s>BROWN: I can't hear you, Carol, because he's barking so loudly. I don't think he wants us to talk.</s>LIN: Oh. I was saying, Andrew, what happens when a human barks into it? Does it translate that?</s>BROWN: Ah, humans. Well, the thing is you've got to have different settings. You have a setting for each species of dog. And there is no human settings. But I've been barking into it. And it seems to work with me. I mean, you just, woof. See if we can get that coming up. I don't know. I promise you, it does work on humans. I don't know if it's accurate.</s>LIN: Andrew, you do realize that I just made you bark on international television?</s>BROWN: Well, I do that all the time.</s>LIN: That's probably more than I need to know. Well, tell Leo thank you very much for his time. He's probably asking for a drink of water. And Andrew...</s>BROWN: Carol says thank you.</s>LIN: Oh, that's the collar