The Bowlingual, a gadget that analyzes a dog's bark to detect its emotion, is being relaunched. First put on sale in 2002, a new version from toymaker Takara Tomy is being reintroduced in Japan in August. The Bowlingual was created by an audio researcher and a veterinarian to analyze and interpret the acoustics of a dog's bark. It claims to be able to recognize and convey six basic emotions.

The new version has a more compact handheld unit with a built in speech synthesizer so it can audibly tell you what your dog is trying to communicate, along with displaying it onscreen.

Data can now be saved for later analysis. There is also a new answering machine function that makes it possible to monitor your dog’s feelings when you’re away.