Computers are about to start becoming more like animals.

A working dog refers to a canine working animal, i.e. a dog that is not merely a pet but learns and performs tasks to assist and/or entertain its human companions, or a breed of such origin. In Australia and New Zealand a working dog is one which has been trained to work livestock, irrespective of its breeding.

{See also: search agents, datamining, automatic data collection, Tamagotchi teaching kids how to emotionally bond with alive-seeming computer devices}