Furry, fuzzy and frazzled?

A couple of months ago, we decided to bring home a robotic vacuum cleaner for the first time. Get it at your own risk, a few well-meaning friends warned, recounting how their pets had loathed the new addition. A poodle had sent the robot tumbling down the stairs on day one. Another lab had chewed up some of the moving parts. The internet brims with hilarious videos of pets reacting to a moving, whirring ‘monster’ in their houses.  

I, on the other hand, was curious how Pippi would respond. Would his prey drive mean we were throwing our money down the drain (or the stairs)? We decided to try anyway. With ears perked up, he sat beside us on the couch when we unboxed the robot. Once we switched it on, his eyes gaped, and he followed the robot, sniffing around to find some whiff of ‘life.’ I don’t know what ‘life’ smells like, but I’m sure our pets know it’s a specific cocktail of scents. Convinced there was none in the robot, he soon lost interest. Instead, he flopped on the floor and watched it run around the house.

Over the next few days, Pippi kept a keen eye on the noisy bot whenever it did its thing. About a month in, I’m happy to report the two have made some peace. The ‘smart’ bot has learned to stay away from Pippi, and he is letting it be — there’s no fondness, but they seem to tolerate each other’s presence.  Watching this interaction over the days got me thinking: how crazy must it be for our pets to navigate our gadget-ruled households, and how do they make sense of it all? If I were a pet today, I’d perhaps be frazzled to hear the microwaves ding and washing machines sing without rhyme or reason. It’d drive me crazy to see humans ‘speak’ to orbs and boxes (think Amazon Echo or Google Home), an unexplained ‘hand’ throwing treats, or listening to my favourite human’s garbled voice come from seemingly nowhere (or somewhere).

Of course, there’s the constant din of these devices running— which, although we might not hear — our pets do. 

Yet, they make sense, somehow. Over time, they learn that an unexplained ding is no cause for panic, that a moving robot isn’t necessarily harmful or that wherever a treat comes from, it must be enjoyed. Their ability to learn from observations and recognise patterns, a superpower humans are now giving machines, is incredible, isn’t it? Without this power, our everyday lives with pets in today’s world would be a scene straight out of a dystopian novel!

Then again, technology has also revolutionised how we interact with and care for our beloved furry friends. Propelled by consumerism, the pet-tech industry is booming, with big players in the fray. GPS trackers are a godsend for pet parents who constantly worry about their pets getting lost. Smart pet cameras track your pet’s movements inside the house and report to you in real time. Baby monitors on steroids, you say? Of course! A busy day at work? Leave it to automatic feeders to fill up your pets’ food and water bowls on time. 

As pet parents, we live in exciting times where people are betting millions of dollars on ideas that appeal to technophile pet parents. The thrifty sceptic in me isn’t convinced these gadgets are worth splurging on, but who am I to say? I’ll leave the last word to our pets — they must navigate our techno world, after all! 

Tailspin is your monthly column on everything that’s heartwarming and annoying about pet parenting.

The writer is a science communicator and mom to Pippi, a five-year-old Indie, who is behind her drive to understand dogs better. She posts on X @RamanSpoorthy