Woof: Now listen carefully, this is your pet dog talking

And now, a toy manufacturer has unveiled a device that detects the emotions of a pet dog. Six senses – sadness, joy, alertness to danger, neediness, happiness and frustration – can be deciphered by

"Bowlingual Voice", which has a recorded repertoire of spoken phrases such as "play with me", "leave me alone," and "I feel sad".

The device, which was unveiled at the International Tokyo Toy Show 2009, is said to work best on adult dogs.

The 129 gadget, produced by Takara Tomy, has a microphone that is placed around the dog's neck and a hand-held operating device for the owner to carry.

When the dog barks, the microphone records the sound and transmits the data to the owner's wireless device, which then "translates" it.

A speech synthesiser featuring a woman's voice reads out the dog's intentions, which also appear on the gadget's screen.

The inventors insist that the phrases used are "for entertainment purposes only" and are not meant to be actual translations of each bark. The model was first created seven years ago by Dr Matsumi Suzuki and sold more than 300,000 units, but the latest version will be the first to include sound.

It is due to be released in shops across Japan on 27 August.

It is said to work on any breed of dog, with more than 80 different breeds pre-programmed.

As yet there are no plans to launch an English language version of the device.