MediGate - Cooperative Care made easier

Husbandry and Medical procedures are part of every animal in human care. They can be made less stressful for the animal (and for the handler) if the animal is voluntarily taking part in it. In this choice-based interaction the animal gives the signal to start the procedure and is given the option to stop it at any time. As the animal can’t tell us its choice using language, an easy behaviour is used as a ‘read-out’. When the animal shows the behaviour, the caretaker is allowed to start the behaviour. When the animal stops the behaviour, that’s the signal for the caretaker to also stop.

A typical “I am OK” behaviour for a dog is putting its chin onto a target – Chin on target = Go On; Head lifted = I need a break. Implementing this strategy made life easier for both, my dog and me. Still, I found it challenging to at the same time observe my dog’s behaviour and focus on the medical procedure (like removing a tick). Using an Arduino Uno, I’ve built a IR LightGate to observe the dogs behaviour. As long as the beam is interrupted, the dog has it’s chin on the target and I am allowed to go on. Using BlueTooth, I connected the Arduino to my Training App (PlanTrainDoc). This app no gives me a audible cue (Start / Stop) when the dog changes it’s behaviour. Additionally, the App tells me when to reinforce the dog relying on a variable duration around a selected mean.

Here's a video where I explain the rationale behind cooperative care, show the setup and how I use it to work together with my dog. The video has different chapters, so you can jump to the part your interested in.

Taken together, this technology made it easier for me to implement cooperative care with a consent behaviour despite my non-existing multi-tasking capabilities.