Comparison of activity trackers in estimating canine behaviors

• DOI: 10.1080/01691864.2024.2343080
• Publication Date: 2024-04-28T17:40:00Z
• Authors: Miiamaaria V. Kujala; Anna Valldeoriola...; Sanni Somppi; Heini Törnqvist; Leena Inkilä; Aija Koskela; Anne Myller; Heli Väätäjä; Poika Isokoski; Päivi Majaranta; Veikko Surakka; Outi Vainio; Antti Vehkaoja
• Keywords: Sniffing; Sitting

Classifying behavior by tracking acceleration has received increased interest lately. Here, we evaluated the performance of three commercial activity trackers in differentiating seven dog behaviors. Adult companion dogs (N = 70) performed still (lying, sitting, standing) and dynamic (walking, sniffing, trotting, playing) tasks, while wearing ActiGraph GT9X Link, Kaunila FitBark devices placed on neck collar Link back. Each task was for 3 min within a session repeated two sessions; behaviors were confirmed from video recordings. Activity scores calculated as median values behavioral differentiation, minute-based inter-device correlations cutoff analysis. Measurements all correlated with each other, − unaffected age, weight or sex differentiated Dynamic also exception walking vs. sniffing back-placed Kaunila. The definition cutoffs between varied moderate to high accuracy; defined standing least accurate. classification had an accuracy 80% devices; thus, they reasonably well classifying these