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Observations & Interviews

1. 

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How long have you had a dog?

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<2

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How old is your dog?

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5-7

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How big is your dog?

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medium

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How often do you exercise your dog?

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2 times a day

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What kind of outdoor activities do you involve
your dog in?

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Walking in the park, hiking, playing fetch

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How often does your dog socialize?

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At least once a day

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What concerns do you have while letting your
dog socialize with other dogs?

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Worried about aggressive dogs

. Fred and Wilma Flintstone and their dog Dino.

Fred and Wilma adopted a five year old Golden Retriever, Dino, a few months back. Dino is very active and hates staying indoors. Fred and Wilma generally take Dino out for a walk every evening after they get home from work. It's tough to keep Dino on a leash as he keeps running around trying to meet other dogs. Fred says

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What problems do you face while involving your
dog in out door activities?

"We meet other dogs and dog-owners when we go to the park but often need

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to coordinate with them to make sure we meet."

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Any ideas for applications that might help improve
your/your dog lifestyle?

  Recently, while on one such walk, Dino was bitten while playing with another dog and had to get stitches and a cone. Ever since this altercation, Fred and Wilma are very apprehensive about letting Dino off the leash and interacting with other dogs.

Fred and Wilma love hiking and other such outdoor activities but ever since they adopted Dino, they haven't really been able to indulge in such activities since most hiking trails don't permit pets. Wilma says "Access to dog relevant information (for e.g. dog friendly places to visit such

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as hiking trails, outdoor restaurants, etc.)

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would be very useful. Finding dog-owners in the neighborhood and organizing activities with them would be great too."

Lessons learnedKey Observations

• Dog owners are probably willing to have his/her dog socialize
• However, they are concerned about aggressive dogs.
• Dog owners faced problem of coordination with other dog owners
• Dog owners might expect a platform that collects info about dogs and their owners 

2. 

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How long have you had a dog?

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>5

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How old is your dog?

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>7

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How big is your dog?

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medium

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How often do you exercise your dog?

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everyday

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What kind of outdoor activities do you involve
your dog in?

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• would like to have access to information regarding locations that are pet-friendly.
• Dog owners would like to organize activities for their pets.

2. Betty and her dogs Fido and Dido.

Betty has had 7 year olds, Fido and Dido, for more than 5 years. She makes sure both of them exercise daily. Fido and Dido are generally let out to play in the backyard everyday. Betty enjoys taking them out of the house. She remarks "In the summer there is an underground pool that the dogs enjoy swimming in.

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Usually 4-5 times a week they

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are taken down to a meadow down the street where they can run and play.

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 A few times a year the dogs are taken on hunting trips as well.

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". Betty feels that Fido and Dido are lucky to have each other to play with, since it is not easy to find other dogs. Betty isn't very comfortable letting them play with other dogs, since she is concerned about their cleanliness. 

She says "[Why aren't there any] Doggie

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How often does your dog socialize?

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Well, we have two dogs, so they socialized everyday.

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What concerns do you have while letting your
dog socialize with other dogs?

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The friendliness and cleanliness of other dogs

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What problems do you face while involving your
dog in out door activities?

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n/a

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Any ideas for applications that might help improve
your/your dog lifestyle?

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play groups? There are kid play groups, so why not? This actually could be a great idea.

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 It could also be a way for people to meet other people who love dogs.

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Lessons learned

• Our user interface can be not only for pets group fun, but also for human social network.
• People who have more than one dog may not need our UI as much as others who only have one dog.
• Dog owners care much about other dogs' friendliness and cleanliness

3. A girl who owns a small dog but none of her neighbors has a dog.

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How long have you had a dog?

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<2

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How old is your dog?

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3-4

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How big is your dog?

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Small

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How often do you exercise your dog?

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everyday, unless someday when I am too busy

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What kind of outdoor activities do you involve
your dog in?

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Playing in the garden is the most frequent activities. I have him get out to the park about 2 times a week.

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How often does your dog socialize?

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Not often. The only opportunity is when we meet someone in the park who also have his dog playing nearby

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What concerns do you have while letting your
dog socialize with other dogs?

"

Key Observations

• Dog Owners are not only interested in group activities for their dogs, but also in meeting like minded dog-lovers.
• Cleanliness is another concern owners have wile letting their dogs play with others. 
• Owners with more than one dogs aren't very concerned with a 'lack of  interaction' for their dogs.

3. Pebbles and her pet chihuahua Bambi

Pebbles has had Bambi since 2 years. She is generally very busy to take Bambi out for walks, who generally plays in the garden. Pebbles tries to take Bambi out to a not-so-close park, at least twice a week, but Bambi gets to socialize only occasionally when there are other dogs present in the park. However, even this occasional interaction worries Pebbles since "[the other dogs might be] aggressive

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, unclean, too big (my dog is relatively small)

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What problems do you face while involving your
dog in out door activities?

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do not know info about other dogs.

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Any ideas for applications that might help improve
your/your dog lifestyle?

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1. find dog-owners
2. find a good place for dog activity
3. check info about the dogs
4. schedule dog social activities

". She wishes for a better and safer way to get Bambi and herself meet other dogs and participate in outdoor pet activities.

Key Observations

• Size and Nature of the dog is vital to the interactions dog owners permit.

Lessons learned

• People who owns a small dog are less willing to let his their dog socialize.Without a nice
• UI, the number of a dog's social activity depends on whether the owner's neighbors have dogsThe only way dogs interact with other dogs is if the the owners know each other.
• Dog owners think much are concerned about other dogs' friendliness when considering do dog social activityactivities.

User Classes

Dog Owners

• As what we observed and interviews, dog owners strongly needs need a platform to communicate with other dog owners
• Dog owners care much ' concerns about other dogs' friendliness and cleanliness , which can be collected and shown in our User Interface

People who are interested in dogs

• sometimes prevents them from having their dogs meet other dogs
• Lack of information about Pet friendly locations / activities prevent Owners from indulging in such activities.
• Many people want to own a dog, but they do not have any experience about it. The best way is to communicate with some experienced dog owners.
• For people who like dogs, they would be able to know and attend the dog social activities that publicized in our User Interface

Needs & Goals

• A way to find and meet other local Dog-owners and dogs.
• A way to organize/schedule meetups and outdoor activities.
• A way to find pet friendly locations for different activites.
• A way to learn about characteristics of various breeds of dogs in general and local dogs specifically.
• An easy way for a new user to create an account for himself and his dog 
• Enable the users to describe their dogs, including uploading pictures
• Allow users to set up activities and invites others to join
• Each user can sign up to join and discuss in the blogs in our User Interface