AI Dog Detector | Dogs Bond | Biden's Dog Bites Again

Transcript

>> James Jacobson: [00:00:00] Hi, I'm James Jacobson.

>> Pamela Lorence: [00:00:07] And I'm Pamela Lorence.

>> James Jacobson: [00:00:08] Welcome to Dog Edition. The first show designed for you to listen to while you walk your dogs. Today, Major Biden once again makes Dog Edition. Unfortunately, the President's dog has bit someone for a second time at the White House. Unfortunately it is. And, and it's a serious problem because, you know, he's already had to leave and go back to Delaware and then he's come back.

And so we decided that we needed to talk to someone who can maybe help the President and Major, not have this problem. So we reached out to a certified animal behavior consultant. That's our first segment.

>> Pamela Lorence: [00:00:46] And in our second segment, we are all so sick of staring at screens during this pandemic. So we talked to somebody who has invented a board game that's coming out soon, by the end of the summer, about dogs, for dog lovers, for gamers, everybody's going to love this game is very fun, family-friendly and it gets us away from those screens. Have you been staring at your screen too much?

>> James Jacobson: [00:01:10] Just a few. I, I spent so much time looking at screens, both at work, and then when work is over, I go and watch TV after dinner. But instead of watching TV, I've gotten into the, I don't know if it's a nasty, it's an interesting habit of watching YouTube on the big screen. And it's scary because YouTube can figure out all sorts of things that I never thought I'd want to watch.

It's like, you know, dog food commercials from the 1960s and, and all sorts of things, but what's great about it is you can learn anything you want on YouTube these days.

>> Pamela Lorence: [00:01:41] Oh, I have absolutely confused the YouTube algorithm with all of the searches I've done. Um, so yeah, you can learn a lot of new things, including how to make a dog detector.

And we talked to a YouTuber who did just that.

>> James Jacobson: [00:01:55] You found this video with this guy was basically teaching people how to build some sort of AI thing that detects dogs?

>> Pamela Lorence: [00:02:03] He's a biomedical engineer and also a software engineer. And he in his free time builds these ridiculous machines. And one of them is a machine that detects dogs walking by his house and it alerts him when, uh, whenever a dog goes by, there's a megaphone that yells at him.

>> James Jacobson: [00:02:19] And if you wonder what's the utility of that, stick around.

>> Pamela Lorence: [00:02:22] If you like what you hear, follow Dog Edition in your favorite podcast app. Just click that little button and follow Dog Edition, so you never miss an episode.

>> James Jacobson: [00:02:30] So if you love dogs as much as we do, pause what you're doing, leash up your pup, and let's take a walk.

We've got a lot to talk about on today's episode of Dog Edition.

>> Pamela Lorence: [00:02:42] Hey Pepper, want to go for a walk?

>> James Jacobson: [00:02:46] Here are the headlines you may have been hearing, major problems that the White House, does one of Biden's dogs have a major issue, White House staff under attack from a major foe. The news media says Major is in the dog house again. A second time, he's bitten someone at the White House. What is going on here? Is it the fault of the biter, the bitee or just circumstances? This week is National Dog Bite Prevention Week. Yes, there is one of those. And so we decided to check in with a certified animal behavior consultant, but not just any CABC, certified animal behavior consultant.

We spoke with the host of two nationally syndicated radio shows and author, a contributor to so many veterinary journals, and an all around nice guy, a friend of mine who lives in Chicago. His name is Steve Dale.

>> Steve Dale: [00:03:37] Well, I think first of all, attack is too strong of a word. Uh, as at least according to the White House Press Secretary, that's not what happened.

>> James Jacobson: [00:03:43] Here is what White House Press Secretary, Jen Psaki told him the media.

>> Jen Psaki: [00:03:47] Uh, Champ and Major, the President and First Lady's dogs are members of the family are still getting acclimated and accustomed to their new surroundings and new people. And on Monday, the first family's younger dog, Major, was surprised by an unfamiliar person and reacted in a way that resulted in a minor injury to the individual.

>> James Jacobson: [00:04:07] Steve Dale explains the issue of acclamation.

>> Steve Dale: [00:04:10] Now that dog was adopted during the pandemic, I believe, during the beginning of the pandemic. So one would presume that the Biden Family didn't have a ton of people going in and out.

Maybe some people, I don't know, I didn't live with the Bidens. I'm not sure. But the White House is very different. And to give any animal, whether you're moving into the White House or whether you move into just a new house, the acclimation period really matters.

>> James Jacobson: [00:04:39] But Steve says the first thing to do when a dog has bitten someone is to bring the dog into a vet. It's something that people don't often think to do, but he gives us an example of a typical golden retriever, a friendly, gentle, tail wagging dog, who bit a young boy.

>> Steve Dale: [00:04:57] Well, the child was petting the dog over and over again on the dog's ear. Didn't recognize the dog's warnings.

I assume, I wasn't there, that the dog probably offered a warning, but there was no adult supervision to confirm or deny that, and, bit the child. It was not a severe bite. It was just saying stop, that hurts. Because the dog has no other way of saying it.

>> James Jacobson: [00:05:24] The family didn't realize the dog was suffering from an ear infection.

When they called Steve for help.

>> Steve Dale: [00:05:29] This dog might have been euthanized, if I didn't say absolutely, please see a veterinarian, first. Ear infection treated by the way. Rest of the story is a nice, happy ending. The dog lived to the age of 12 or 13 and lived wonderfully with this family for the rest of her life.

>> James Jacobson: [00:05:49] Without being at the White House and observing Major's environment and his behavior,

it's difficult to say exactly why Major has been biting people, but Steve thinks that if a medical issue can be ruled out, it's most likely anxiety.

>> Steve Dale: [00:06:05] We know most dogs that bite, unless there's a medical reason for them to do so, are doing so because they're fearful or anxious.

>> James Jacobson: [00:06:15] Dogs may be better suited to the sudden changes that Major has faced in the last few months.

Champ, for example, seems to be doing okay. Steve says a dog's temperament may play a role.

>> Steve Dale: [00:06:26] I mean, we're, we're talking about an extraordinary circumstance here, right? I mean, I don't, again, I don't live in the White House. I'm not certain, but I'm thinking that a lot of people come and go all the time and they are different people all the time.

So, so the dog has no way to acclimate to that without prior experience or just the right temperament to do it.

>> James Jacobson: [00:06:47] People may overlook how they're normally well behaved dog. Might've had a hard time adjusting to new circumstances.

>> Steve Dale: [00:06:53] You know, the President says, and I believe him, you know, because this happens all the time.

I was really surprised that this happened. The dog has never done anything like that. Well, the dog has never had experience around so many people.

>> James Jacobson: [00:07:05] President Biden explains.

>> Joe Biden: [00:07:07] You turn the corner and there's two people that don't know at all and, you know, and they move and, you move to protect. But he is, he's a sweet dog, 85% of the people there love him.

I mean, he just, all, he does lick them and wag his tail.

>> James Jacobson: [00:07:22] But before that 15% of the staff call for Major's ouster from the office, there are some things that everyone around Major can do to help him adjust.

>> Steve Dale: [00:07:32] So every time a stranger comes around, there's a cookie. There's something in it for the dog that the dog says, Major says, wow, strangers, they're not so bad after all.

>> James Jacobson: [00:07:44] The saying goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

>> Steve Dale: [00:07:49] Keep the dog on a leash, keep other people away from the dog who you are concerned that the dog could turn on and whatever. Uh, and except a handful of people, those people giving that dog treats and then grow the number of people.

You know, add to the number of people gradually and control where a Major goes in the White House and outside as well. So Major does not have free reign

>> James Jacobson: [00:08:14] Most bites can be prevented, which is amazing when you think there are almost a hundred million dogs living in homes in the United States.

>> Steve Dale: [00:08:23] There are dog bites that happen every day in America.

Now the good news is that it doesn't happen severely, very often.

>> James Jacobson: [00:08:33] But when it does happen and a bite is severe enough to cause injury, the costs can be staggering. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association in 2020, insurance companies paid over $850 million, for almost 17,000 dog bite and injury claims. While the dollar amount is huge, the actual number of incidents decreased from the year before.

>> Steve Dale: [00:08:59] And, and in fact, I'm going to say something controversial here, but it's true. People are more dangerous to people than dogs are to people. Uh, unfortunately that is the case, uh, at least in this country.

>> James Jacobson: [00:09:14] Basically, if a dog bite happens, it's because of us, because most of the time it can be prevented, if we're just more responsible. It's not the biters fault, which is why the American Veterinary Medical Association started Dog Bite Prevention Week. We will put links to that information in the show notes. And if Major is still in the doghouse, Steve has a message for the President

>> Steve Dale: [00:09:38] I can go to the white house. I'm available, uh, Mr. Biden.

>> James Jacobson: [00:09:42] If the pandemic has you staring at a screen more than you ever thought possible, take a listen to the next segment, but first, a quick break.

>> Pamela Lorence: [00:09:51] You're listening to Dog Edition.

Welcome back to Dog Edition.

>> James Jacobson: [00:09:57] Game Designer, Alex Lu, like many of us looked around his holiday gatherings and noticed a trend this year, too many screens and not enough personal interaction.

He asked himself one important question.

>> Alex Lu: [00:10:11] How can I engage with, you know, young kids, friends group, and adults, and all bring them to the same table.

The answer was to turn that kitchen table or dining room table, into the game table. Conversations flow, healthy competition is fostered and memories are made when we gather as family and friends around the games table.

>> Gamers: [00:10:34] Oh, I forgot what I got. What I get five, five, four, two, one.

>> James Jacobson: [00:10:41] Your game closet might not always hold the exact right game that will appeal to the gambit of ages and tastes at your table.

>> Alex Lu: [00:10:48] Um, really popular games were either, you know, really raunchy, like not appropriate for kids, right?

>> James Jacobson: [00:10:55] So no Cards Against Humanity when the little nieces and nephews visit.

>> Alex Lu: [00:11:00] Or, you know, they were too simple and adults would be like, eh, you know what, like, you know, let the kids play. I don't want to do this.

>> James Jacobson: [00:11:07] And not another round of Candyland, or you might find grandpa hiding in the garage with a six pack, and a radio tuned to the ball game.

You to pitch in the air, to left center field that is going to drop in front of the left fielder and score two runs.

>> Alex Lu: [00:11:23] For me growing up, a lot of our conversations and a lot of our stories that we still tell today are about, Hey, do you remember when this happened? And there was an activity or, you know, an event or something funny happened, right? No one cares about sharing that last meme that you saw. Like I'm not going to remember.

That's not how I'm going to build my bond and relationship with my nephews and niece.

>> James Jacobson: [00:11:48] An idea began to take shape around that concept. He created a game rooted in that idea. One about the bonds that humans and dogs form.

>> Alex Lu: [00:11:57] Dogs Bond is a board game where players take on the role of a rescue dog in a shelter environment, collecting and sometimes competing for the attributes they need to be adopted into one of six forever homes.

>> James Jacobson: [00:12:08] He's turned the tables on traditional games involving dogs, by having the players walk in the paws of a shelter dog. It's a way to infuse the rescue story with some play and whimsy. But also compassion and hope.

>> Alex Lu: [00:12:24] This is you, right, with your puppy, dog eyes, and you're trying to find your forever home. Right. And then that is where you kind of get into the conversation of what does responsible dog ownership look like. When did rescue, when did dog impact your life?

>> James Jacobson: [00:12:40] Alex has had a lifelong commitment to dogs and animal shelters. As a child, he and his friends wrote and published a comic every Friday, which he sold for a dime.

>> Alex Lu: [00:12:51] And, uh, all of the proceeds went to Guide Dogs for the Blind up in San Rafael, California. So I got involved there and then I had been involved, you know, San Francisco Bay area, like rescues, like kind of, throughout.

>> James Jacobson: [00:13:02] It was important to Alex that the game be mission-driven, that's why he took this concept of a game about rescue dogs finding their forever homes to more than 100 animal shelters around the U.S.

>> Alex Lu: [00:13:14] And we got thumbs up from everyone. Right. We got like two paws up from everyone. It was great. Um, and so of course, naturally, right, the progression is that we want to be, uh, leverageable as a fundraising tool.

>> James Jacobson: [00:13:29] Alex enjoys a good dog pun as much as we do here at Dog Edition. Shelters that partner with Dogs Bond get publicity and a portion of proceeds from game sales.

>> Alex Lu: [00:13:40] You know, after playing the game, your dog is finding that forever home.

When you support our game, you're supporting that happening in real life.

>> James Jacobson: [00:13:49] Sounds like a game for dog lovers.

>> Alex Lu: [00:13:52] My hope is that I bring dog people to board games, to the hobby, cause, uh, I'm I'm of the mind that like there's always room at the table for one more player.

>> James Jacobson: [00:14:02] And also for gamers.

>> Alex Lu: [00:14:04] Gamers, maybe they will look at this and say, you know what, we've been talking about, getting a dog. Why don't we have a conversation about getting a dog? And perhaps through that, you know, that, that partnership, you know, um, they'll find our game. Uh, and find a rescue that's local to them and, uh, have that match as well. And we can find homes for these animals.

>> James Jacobson: [00:14:25] You start by picking a dog character to play as. There are eight to choose from.

>> Alex Lu: [00:14:31] You have to give your dog a name.

>> James Jacobson: [00:14:33] There are attribute cards.

>> Alex Lu: [00:14:35] These cards are, you know, your obedience, your grooming, these are what you're collecting. So yeah, you'll shuffle that up. You will then deal out three cards to each player

>> James Jacobson: [00:14:46] All the while, barking at each player when it's their turn to go.

>> Alex Lu: [00:14:50] You get like a group of adults and kids all barking at each other, right, in that moment.

>> James Jacobson: [00:14:56] And it's those moments that Alex wanted to bring to the experience.

>> Alex Lu: [00:15:00] You're building the bonds of friendship when you're playing the board game. But what's also interesting is I will end up sitting there for another half hour, 45 minutes learning about that person's dog or learning about how rescue impacted their life.

>> James Jacobson: [00:15:16] So put down your devices, pick up Dogs Bond, and maybe get a game night together when the pandemic is all over.

>> Alex Lu: [00:15:23] There are going to be reunions, right? We're going to, we're going to high five and hug each other. Uh, but we're also going to meet, I think a lot of new furry family members.

>> James Jacobson: [00:15:34] But don't worry if you don't have any dogs that have joined your family during the pandemic, you may have to rely on the kindness of those dogs that walk by your house. Ryder Damen has invented something to help you find those dogs.

>> Pamela Lorence: [00:15:51] I recently learned how to skateboard by watching Aaron Cairo videos on YouTube. You can learn almost anything by watching YouTube videos. I've learned how to play some basic drum beats and fills. I learned how to cook dishes featured in my favorite movies and shows.

And recently I found out how to use machine learning to build a dog detector. It was created by this guy.

>> Ryder Damen: [00:16:15] I read online that looking at photos of dogs and cats will increase the amount of serotonin and dopamine in your brain. And as someone with a degree in science, I get all of my scientific information from Business Insider.com.

>> Pamela Lorence: [00:16:27] Ryder Damon is a biomedical and software engineer who runs the YouTube channel Ryder Calm Down.

>> Ryder Damen: [00:16:33] Mostly. I just like to build ridiculous ideas and put them out there into the world.

>> Pamela Lorence: [00:16:39] Like the time this one went out into the world.

>> Ryder Damen: [00:16:43] This is the story of how I convinced the internet to churn butter in my backyard. Sounds so weird.

>> Pamela Lorence: [00:16:48] He's built a machine that pours him a glass of wine every time he gets a message from work.

>> Ryder Damen: [00:16:53] And as you can see, I've gotten a few messages already.

>> Pamela Lorence: [00:16:56] He's built an emergency stop button for cutting Zoom meetings short.

>> Ryder Damen: [00:17:00] For the times when I'm online and someone asks me a really tough question or really anything. Stupid, but something to do in quarantine.

>> Pamela Lorence: [00:17:09] Ryder came across a machine learning model on the internet and a light bulb went off for his next quarantine project.

>> Ryder Damen: [00:17:17] And I said, this is really fun. What can I use this for? Uh, and I saw that it recognized dogs and I was like, okay, dogs. Yeah. Yeah. But how, how can I build this into a project?

Like how could I, how could possibly recognizing a dog help me? And then I was like, well, the pandemic, we're all kind of a little low key depressed right now. Maybe seeing a dog would make me feel better.

>> Pamela Lorence: [00:17:39] There are plenty of dogs in Ryder's neighborhood just outside of Toronto.

>> Ryder Damen: [00:17:44] I don't have time to, you know, stand at my window all day and look.

So why don't I just build this to recognize any dogs that go past my house.

>> Pamela Lorence: [00:17:54] Okay. So what exactly goes into making a dog detector?

>> Ryder Damen: [00:17:59] Um, a small computer and a camera and it uses machine learning, um, which in some circles is called artificial intelligence, uh, to recognize various objects in front of the house.

Um, it uses a specific algorithm called Yolo version three. And what that does is it's trained to recognize a variety of different household objects. I think 80 something objects. So it can do like microwaves. It can do like forks and spoons and people, and also dogs and cats, et cetera, et cetera.

>> Pamela Lorence: [00:18:34] Ryder set up a camera in his window, pointing out towards the sidewalk.

>> Ryder Damen: [00:18:38] And that camera is fed directly into this machine learning model and what the machine learning model does is identifies any time there is an object of interest, in this case, a dog.

>> Pamela Lorence: [00:18:48] There's a megaphone hooked up to the machine that alerts Ryder anytime a dog is recognized. He took it a step further by pointing the megaphone outside and programming the machine to shout compliments anytime it recognized a dog walking by. The dog detector was active in Ryder's window for about a week. He took it down over concerns about privacy, but in that time, there were a bunch of people who strolled by with their dogs.

>> Ryder Damen: [00:19:16] I think it was maybe like three or four times a day, I would get a notification saying there was a dog in front of my house.

And in fact for the video, I had to basically call a bunch of people who live in my town and I was like, hi, can you bring your dog and walk in front of my house? And I'll film it because I didn't want to put anyone in the video who, who didn't have their consent or anything. Right. So I just called a bunch of people and I was like, hey, bring as many dogs as you own, and just walk on the street in front of my house. It was a lot of fun.

>> Pamela Lorence: [00:19:46] And fun and feeling good was why Ryder created the dog detector in the first place. It's now been repurposed and is more utilitarian, but still fun.

>> Ryder Damen: [00:19:57] My dog often waits by the door when she wants to go outside. Um, and it's the only door that goes outside and she won't go there for any other reasons. So I have the same camera, exact same setup pointed at the door now. So whenever she wants to go outside, instead of, um, instead of a megaphone, it'll send me a text message. So it'll say that the dog wants to go outside, and then I can go and let her out. I don't have one for when she's outside and wants to come in yet.

Uh, but I, I, it's just one more camera. So it's, it's not hard to build.

>> Pamela Lorence: [00:20:32] If you absolutely need to have this dog detector in your life, you can hop online and learn to build one.

>> Ryder Damen: [00:20:39] Uh, with all of my projects, I post all of the code online. So if you're interested in getting it, you can just search Ryder Calm Down, Github, and you'll have access to all the code.

So you can do this project yourself.

>> Pamela Lorence: [00:20:53] Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks. It seems to me that's exactly why YouTube was invented.

>> James Jacobson: [00:21:03] It's time for our new segment, the Hydrant, where we catch things that are in the news and share them with you. What'd you find that was interesting this week, Pam?

>> Pamela Lorence: [00:21:13] I read about a new dog park in North Bethesda, Maryland, just outside of DC, where you can bring your dog. Your dog can have a beer, a dog-friendly beer,

>> James Jacobson: [00:21:25] like a really zero alcohol, right?

>> Pamela Lorence: [00:21:28] Yes. Yeah. Veggie broth, tumeric, ginger, that kind of stuff in the, in the dog beer. And then the humans can have, you know, your, your human beer and they're calling it bark social, which is fantastic.

>> James Jacobson: [00:21:40] I love it. And we got to get our whole hold of some of that. We've, we've eaten dog ice cream on this show, and now we need to drink some dog beer.

That's interesting. I saw a story, uh, from way far away from Washington DC. In Russia, where a news reporter was doing a very serious standup interview, uh, which she was talking to camera during a live shoot with her microphone. And a dog comes out of nowhere and grabs the microphone and the reporter starts running after it.

I have, of course, no idea what she was talking about, but she looked very serious. I will post a link to it in the show notes. You have to watch this dog that takes the Russian reporter's microphone. It's amazing.

>> Pamela Lorence: [00:22:18] Oh, please post it. I, as an audio person that hurts, that hurts as much as a mic drop.

>> James Jacobson: [00:22:26] Well, thank you for bringing Dog Edition along with you on your walk today. We will be back next week with another episode, but chances are you and your dog will be taking a walk between now and then can we have something else for you to listen to.

>> Pamela Lorence: [00:22:42] If you're interested in hearing more from some of our guests, please check out DPN sister show The Long Leash for Jim's extended conversations.

>> James Jacobson: [00:22:50] And follow Dog Edition so that you can take us along on your next dog walk.

>> Pamela Lorence: [00:22:55] We'll hear the remarkable story of a stray dog named Frankie and his treacherous journey to his forever home.

>> James Jacobson: [00:23:01] We'll also dig into how dogs can help a family through the challenges of divorce.

>> Pamela Lorence: [00:23:08] Dog Podcast Network is for dog lovers by dog lovers. And that means we want to hear from you.

>> James Jacobson: [00:23:13] Visit Dog Edition.com. There's a button at the bottom, right of every page where you can leave us a voicemail and share your stories with us.

>> Pamela Lorence: [00:23:22] Check the show notes for links and information about the guests on this episode. And that video Jim mentioned earlier.

>> James Jacobson: [00:23:28] We are looking for correspondents, perhaps Russian correspondents who speak English, as we grow this podcast and Dog Podcast Network. So if you are a content producer or a journalist or a podcaster or an audio storyteller who loves dogs, check out our Hundred and One Dog Stories Contest.

It has over $15,000 in prize money.

>> Pamela Lorence: [00:23:51] And join our pack. Be sure to follow Dog Edition in your favorite podcast app. And tell a friend about the show. I'm Pamela Lorence and I'll see you at the dog park.

>> James Jacobson: [00:23:59] And I'm James Jacobson. I want to thank you for listening today. On behalf of all of us here at Dog Podcast Network, we wish you and your dog a very warm Aloha.