17 January 2008: Could you bark that again, please?

Ever wondered why you dog is barking? Is there a burglar in the vicinity or does it just was to play? Hungarian scientists are working on a computer program that may give you the answer.

Their experimental software analyses a dog's barks, and the aim is that it could allow people to better understand what a dog is trying to communicate.

So far the computer only correctly identifies the emotional reaction of the dogs in just under half the tests, but the scientists are confident the software can be improved.

SaintFM thinks that maybe the people most interested in this software would be the burglars themselves.