Can a children’s videogame in which they buy and care for virtual pet dogs encourage kids to have more compassion for animals and their humane treatment? Yes, according to SFU education professor David Kaufman, who spent three weeks studying Grade 4 and 5 kids playing Nintendo's Nintendogs on the video-game company’s DS2 portable gaming console. He says most of the kids found the experience so realistic they actually thought of the pets as real animals and developed emotional attachments. Kaufman plans to send the results to Nintendo, which was not associated with the study. The results “are encouraging," says Kaufman, "as they show that some videogames can have a positive benefit that approximates real life".