Robot dogs became cool. In 2000, Sega partnered with Tiger Electronics to create Poo-Chi, a robot dog with expressive (red) LED eyes. If you had two Poo-Chi dogs, they would sing duets together.

The biggest difference between the cava-poo-chon and your average mutt might be the price tag: between $2,000 to $3,500. One cava-poo-choon breeder justified it: "There's no reason they can't live ...