There is a new addition to the Sanders household… no Lady (our dog) isn't getting a brother or sister… The Amazon Echo has infiltrated our house and is trying to replace several household gadgets or at least certain features of them. 

In this series, “Alexa, could you please”, I will chronicle my exploration of all the ways Alexa is helping out around the house or providing a little entertainment. 

Skill: HoundMe by Argusware
Helping Out Around the House: No
Entertaining: Yes

From the second I won the Echo at a conference, a text from my wife planted the idea to use the Echo to have some fun with our dog, Lady. 

So I started my search for an Echo "skill" to be able to ask Alexa to respond to specific questions with canned/provided answers but at the very least I wanted the following interaction...

Jeff: “Alexa, who is the best dog?” 
Alexa: “Lady is the best dog in the whole world”

After a few hours of searching, and no luck I changed my search from looking for a general skill with the ability to respond to specific questions with specific answers to a specific skill to interact with your pet.

And vuala! I found the HoundMe skill by simply typing “dog” into the Amazon Echo skill search. Check out the video below of me and Lady using the skill.

Does it make life easier, nope! But it's fun!