Ringtones for dogs coming to Japanese cellphones

Just when you think you've given your dog everything it could ever want (gold plated water dish, rhinestone collar, a copy of Tegan and Sara's "The Con" on vinyl) the Japanese go and one up you. A Tokyo-based content provider named Dwango announced today that it would start selling specialized ringtones which can be heard only by dogs. The service, called Inu ni shika kikoenai chakushinon (ringtones only dogs can hear) will make free downloads available to current DoCoMo i-mode subscribers. No word on whether the company will provide Bluetooth headsets and holsters suited to our canine friends, but we understand plans are in the works for a line of bacon-themed wallpapers. [Warning: read link is a PDF, and it's in Japanese]

[Via CrunchGear]

[ishism @ Jun 20th 2008 8:18PM]

Oh killer? I think it's for you

[Taylor @ Jun 21st 2008 2:46AM]

The thing is, most mobile phone speakers couldn't even put out noises at the frequency too high for humans.

[Wwhat @ Jun 21st 2008 7:40AM]

Yeah I was wondering about that too, can those speakers even do 30KHz?
I know the ringtones 'your teacher can't hear' were in vogue with kids a while so that seemed to work, but that's 18-20KHz not even higher/

[Zero @ Jun 20th 2008 8:19PM]

Epic Fail.

[tidx @ Jun 20th 2008 8:32PM]

Nokia had that idea first! If only we would stop peddling their trade secrets...

[Rod Munch @ Jun 20th 2008 9:34PM]

Haha! Nice one!

[skulldriveshaft @ Jun 21st 2008 3:26AM]

Hey! Nokia doesn't make bicycles! sheesh.

Can't you see that the new N99 is already spec'd out with a lazers!

[Celtic @ Jun 20th 2008 8:37PM]

Discrimination against all other pets? what if i wanted to annoy not only my dog?

[Wwhat @ Jun 21st 2008 7:45AM]

Many animals can hear higher pitched tones, cats, mosquitoes, ferrets, etcetera, they will all get annoyed.

[Adam B @ Jun 20th 2008 8:45PM]

They better hope that they don't get sued by T-Mobile for color infringement.

[Sudo @ Jun 20th 2008 8:53PM]

Who calls dogs?

[Mile @ Jun 20th 2008 9:22PM]

If you don't call them, then how do you get them to come to you?

[Greg @ Jun 20th 2008 8:56PM]

My dog took back her copy of Tegan and Sara's "the con" to the store. It was causing her severe seizures and I would start to get unbearable vertigo when played on the stereo. Unfortunately, the store clerk refused to take it back because of trace amounts of vomit on the cover. I was very remiss about the whole situation.

[Kaw @ Jun 20th 2008 9:09PM]

How does a dog know it's the only one who can hear it ?

[Mile @ Jun 20th 2008 9:11PM]

After it rings a few times and nobody starts yelling at the dog to answer it, it figures it out.

[Smileypanda @ Jun 20th 2008 10:27PM]

I'll bet there isn't actually a ringtone at all...
You're just paying for silence..

[Mitch @ Jun 20th 2008 10:27PM]

So how would you even know your buying something?

Could just be a blank mp3!

[chad @ Jun 20th 2008 11:22PM]

thats most likely the case.

[Echo1 @ Jun 20th 2008 10:57PM]

I wonder if this could be classified as Weapon of Mass destruction; Set these ring tones off, dogs will not shut up

[bolezhinkov @ Jun 21st 2008 1:19AM]

kind of like those universal remotes that turn off tv sets. this can just turn dogs on.

[warrrennnnn @ Jun 20th 2008 10:58PM]

Baxter?? Baxter, is that you?? Bark twice if you're in Michigan.

[Matt @ Jun 21st 2008 12:24AM]

What kind of cell phones can reproduce tones that high? I'd imagine they'd top out at around 20kHz, which we know humans can hear.

[Jerry Whiting @ Jun 21st 2008 12:48AM]

First it was the Mosquito Ringtone. Now dog whistles.

OK. I'l bite: JetCityOrange.com/dog-whistle

[skulldriveshaft @ Jun 21st 2008 3:24AM]

I'm imagining that you would use this if your doggy has a holster for their own cellphone, and you call them to come and eat din din.

Because, honestly your mansion is so big, and it would take forever to find your doggy, so just call your doggy instead.

(please dear god, i hope i'm not dooming the world to a gadget that does exactly that, or now i have "inspired" someone to actually make something like that. it's all nokia's fault.)

[Andrew @ Jun 21st 2008 4:51AM]

Docomo? Weird, I would've picked Softbank for something like this.

[Wwhat @ Jun 21st 2008 7:42AM]

You know a high-pitched whistle just upsets dogs, makes them all hyper.
Of course that's how you can tell it works, if it works, but do you want that?

[Wwhat @ Jun 21st 2008 7:48AM]

I guess we have to keep in mind how dogs are viewed in japan, they have a very weird (to me) attitude to them, they keep them in large cages in the house I understand and they seem to treat them as dolls but don't seem to bond to them like westerners do, that's my impression from the information I came across over time at least.

[John @ Jun 21st 2008 8:30AM]

Shiba Inus are the coolest dogs.

[Phoenix @ Jun 21st 2008 12:02PM]

Presumably the point is dogs around you start barking when you get a call.. .What happens if there's none around? or if something else causes them to bark?