Understanding Dogs' Engagement with Interactive Games

Dogs are being increasingly exposed to interactive technology aiming to entertain them with playful experiences. However, work that investigates how dogs engage with tangible play interfaces, whether they manifest different interaction patterns and how these might relate to their personality has so far been limited. In this paper, we explore how dogs interact with a novel physical game. Our study involved 60 participants, whose personality was assessed using a standard personality test and whose interactions and behaviours during the game were observed. Findings suggest that dogs' engagement with physical games presents with specific interaction styles and behavioural patterns, and that these might correlate with specific personality characteristics. These engagement modalities could provide a criterion to customise the design of interactive games for dogs and optimise their gaming experience. Additionally, findings suggest the possibility that identifying relevant personality characteristics could help predict dogs' preferred engagement modalities.