This should, in theory, lead to the owner of the pet having to spend less time manually putting away their dog's toys themselves.

 

Tidy Dog uses sensors that detect the weight of a toy when the dog puts it away, and automatically dispenses a treat as the reward. The designers claim that this will generate a conditioned response that will, over time, cause the dog to put away the toys on its own. The creators promise that it can detect even the lightest dog toys, which is key for people who own small animals. Essentially, this is doing the same job as a human giving the dog a treat for doing a good job, but it's handling it automatically.

One of the first concerns addressed by the Tidy Dog team is the fact that a smart dog would be able to trick the system by simply placing its own weight inside of the bin to get it to dispense the treats. The creators promise that the load cells can detect small vibrations that happen when a dog is pressing down on the bin, and it will not dispense a treat until it is completely stabilized.