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How AI will train and choose our dogs

How AI will train and choose our dogs

AI and pet tech

The Digital PawPrint
April 29, 2024

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📈 A bite-sized stat tastier than kibble

U.S. Pet food sales soar 17% to $50B

In 2023, the U.S. pet food market reached a milestone with sales totalling $50 billion, driven by rising inflation, according to the NielsenIQs Pet Trends Report. The average prices in pet care rose by 9% over the previous year, resulting in a 17% increase in dollar sales of pet food. However, higher prices and a tough macro fuels a shift to lower-cost private label foods, which saw an increase in dollar sales of 22%, as well as a shift of mix from offline to online.

🐾 The purr-spective: As inflation and volatile interest rates persist, we anticipate further increases in pet food sales and a shift towards online purchases and private label options. Subscription models are particularly appealing due to their convenience and cost savings, driving a 16% growth in online sales last year. This trend reflects a broader move towards automated, regular deliveries that make it easy for pet parents.

🎾 What we’re chasing: New advances in pet tech

Transforming pet engagement: the innovation behind Porter Labs' PupStation

Sponsored content

When people are occupied so much of the time with work or other commitments, pets still need to be engaged. Often poorly trained dogs result in dangerous or destructive behaviors, damaged property or legal cases, and even worse surrenders and euthanasia. Dog owners often don’t have the time or money to train their dogs as much as needed to get the desired outcomes and engagement.

That’s where Porter Labs’ technology called PupStation comes in. Unlike conventional pet devices that merely dispense food or offer basic tracking capabilities, PupStation represents a shift to customized training, with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) used to identify and reward desired behaviors.

“We’re a data-driven company, working from a foundation of canine behavior science,” says Scarlett Trillia, co-founder and CEO of Porter Labs. “We are working from a deep understanding of canine skill-shaping and healthy engagement activities and have adapted these into an autonomous system.”

Many trainers work independently and have a limit to the number of dogs they can train at the same time. The vision is that PupStation can train simple skills, so dog trainers can focus on more advanced training. Porter Labs represents more than just a pet device; it makes dog training more effective and accessible to pet owners.

Read the full article here.

AI determines dogs’ behavior to make a good adoption match

Researchers are using AI to accurately predict dogs' personalities to better match dogs with new prospective owners. UK-based scientists analyzed the behavioral records of over 70,000 dogs from the University of Pennsylvania and developed an algorithm to classify dogs into five personality categories with 99% prediction accuracy.

These categories include: 1) excitable and hyper-attached, 1) anxious and fearful, 3) aloof and predatory, 4) reactive and assertive, 5) calm and agreeable. These classifications are based on behavior rather than breed or gender.

🐾 The purr-spective: Currently, approximately half of the dogs rescued from U.S. shelters are returned, frequently due to behavioral mismatches. In 2023, more than 3.2 million dogs entered U.S. shelters and rescues, marking the fourth consecutive year of overpopulation and insufficient adoption rates.

AI technology helps people train their pets and decide what toy or food is most suitable for them, so it’s only a natural progression for it to help families find the ideal dog for adoption. This technology aims to alleviate the pressure on shelters by ensuring a better initial match between the dog's personality and the adopting family's expectations.

Makes you wonder...

Dogs board first for $6k with BARKAir

Today people take their pets everywhere with them, and for those who must travel with their dogs, BARKAir might be the solution they were looking for—that is, at a pretty price tag. Known for its subscription Bark Boxes and dog products, BARK partnered with a charter jet company to launch BARKAir. Upon its launch next month, BARKAir will offer routes from New York City to Los Angeles and London.

The new luxury airline for dogs symbolizes a shift in how we perceive pet travel and the importance of accommodating our furry companions' needs, with amenities like calming pheromones and noise-canceling ear muffs.

If you’re not ready to fork over the $6,000 for a flight, check out this recap of pet airline requirements before booking a summer vacation with your pet.

🐾 The purr-spective: The exclusivity and hefty price tag raise questions about accessibility and equity in pet travel services. While the airline offers a luxurious experience for dogs and their owners, its limited routes and high costs may restrict access to a select few. Services like BARKAir will need to be made more inclusive and affordable to appeal to a wider range of travelers and scale. However, as pet ownership increases, and more owners want to bring pets in the cabin, lower cost options will arise, but don’t expect it to be close to the price of a basic economy ticket on United!

Solving the parasite issue for animals: a $10B market

Parasites have always been a threat to our pets, but now more than ever, we’re facing an increase in vector-borne diseases that harm our pets.

The spreading issue of parasites

With global warming, parasites are spreading faster, and climate change is changing the types of ticks that spread Lyme disease and mosquitoes that transmit malaria and Zika.

New areas that haven’t experienced diseases are now facing them, according to Boehringer Ingelheim. For instance, heartworm disease in cats and dogs was only a concern in southern European countries in the past, and now it’s expanding.

That raises bigger challenges for humans and our pets. With more parasites comes more complexity in managing and preventing them, with prior methods less effective. Parasite prevention is the only way to keep ourselves and our pets safe, but how can we anticipate parasite problems to come based on climate patterns and create solutions against what we foresee?

A new type of tick prevention for pets and people

Olivia Abrams faced Lyme disease firsthand, which spurred her to create a new way to prevent tick-borne diseases by removing ticks more effectively. TiCK MiTT is a tick-removing glove for pets and people that provides a non-toxic alternative to chemical-based products to help prevent tick-borne diseases. Backed by Lehigh Ventures Lab, TiCK MiTT has quickly gained national recognition as an innovative alternative to classic parasite prevention methods.

🐾 The purr-spective: The traditional methods of preventing these parasite-borne diseases are tick medicine and heartworm preventative, and thorough inspection of people and pets after being in a tick-prone area. As the impact and risk from parasites rise, we need more non-conventional solutions like the TiCK MiTT.

Does pet food follow human food trends—or vice versa?

Pet food can be sustainable and embody all the qualities we seek in human food, sparking debate over whether pet food trends influence human food trends or vice versa. The top claims in pet food, such as high protein content, natural ingredients, and being a good source of vitamins, closely mirror those in human food.

Health and sustainability are important for both pet and human food, influenced by increasing sensitivities to foods and rising environmental awareness. This demand for healthier, more holistic products for their pets led to searches for "human grade" cat and dog food to rise 30% to 28,000. Similarly, searches for "holistic" in the pet food category increased to almost 60,000.

🐾 The purr-spective: We’ve always assumed that pet food mirrors our human food trends. This trend may reverse, however, there are many foods like BSF proteins that may not be as palatable to other family members. Soon we may see human food product development trying to catch up with pet food trends.