Remote Controlling A Dog

Until the industrial revolution, humans made use of animals to make our labor easier. This is still seen in some niche areas, like how no machine yet has been invented that’s as good at sniffing out truffles as pigs are. [William] has hearkened back to humanity’s earlier roots, but in a more modern twist has made something of a general purpose dog that could feasibly do any work imaginable. Now his dog is remote-controlled.

[William] accomplished the monumental task in a literally cartoonish fashion using the old trope of hanging a hot dog in front of something’s face to get them to chase it. The attachment point was fitted with a remote control receiver and an actuator to get the hanging hot dog to dangle a little bit more to the dog’s right or left, depending on where the “operator” wants the dog to go. [William]’s bulldog seems to be a pretty good sport about everything and isn’t any worse for wear either.

Believe it or not, there has been some actual research done into remote controlling animals, although so far it’s limited to remote-controlled cockroaches. We like the simplicity of the remote-controlled dog, though, but don’t expect to see these rigs replacing leashes anytime soon!

 

40 thoughts on “Remote Controlling A Dog

    1. Me too. Mine implements collision detection, and shortest path real-time computation. And it´s WAY faster than this clunky genetically deficient, malformed human-engineered creature.
      Those unfortunate puddles were selected only because of their look. Too bad they don´t come with an orange wave on the head, they´d look smarter.

  1. At one time, (and maybe still for all I know) there were remote controlled shock-collars being sold for training dogs. The casual cruelty of such a device left me shaking my head.

    1. Pretty sure some people use them to train humans too. Unclear if those are considered cruel or consensual though.

      Also, we still have nothing better to sniff out truffles, mines and drugs than dogs and rats? Why is smell so difficult to digitize?

    2. Any technology designed to “control” dogs is going to be very similar to technology designed to “control” humans. The reason being, dogs are willful creatures who rationally choose their loyalties using many of the same motives (comfort and food being top on the list). Anyone who thinks otherwise is probably dumber than the dog.

      The best way to “control” a dog is to raise them from childhood to think like you do, and be their friend. It’s that simple.

      1. Oh I completely agree with you. We have always kept dogs and beyond establishing that I am the Alpha male in this pack, I have never had to be harsh with my animals. If I ever found myself with a dog so willful that it needed (basically) to be tazed to manage it, I would have it put down.

    3. And here ladies and gentlemen we have the morons of HAD comment section come and see what completely misguided ill attempt at an logical opinion we can find today. Be amazed as someone will show them selves to be the moral authority, the safety police, and finally we have an example of someone expressing an opinion on something they have absolutely no experience with.

      1. Yes I do not like shock collars, and yes that is my opinion, which I am entitled to. First, I suspect that the bulk of these are sold to those with no idea how to use them effectively, if indeed they know how to train an animal at all. As a consequence they are abjectly cruel, and again that is my opinion. Second, working dogs have been trained for literally millennia without such aids, used properly or not, nor is it likely the sort of complex behaviors that dogs trained with those old techniques going to be realized with a shock collar.

    4. Shock collars aren’t cruel. If used properly, they are an effective and very precise means of positive punishment, much better than anything involving beatings or the like. Most collars have a vibration feature, which can be used as a warning. Now, for most dog-owners this is unnecessary. Only in certain cases, for example if the dog’s hunting behavior means he can’t be let off the leash at all, a shock collar is justified. Also, when training protection dogs, using punishment is justified in my opinion, because the dog must learn be stopped by verbal command 100% reliably. A lot of trainers achieve that without shock collars though.

      You can also hack shock collars to not give shocks, and just vibrate. Which is nice for communicating with deaf dogs. So if the dog is are a few meters away, you can “call” him with the vibrator.

    5. They don’t work the way you think. Yes they can get painful when completely maxed out, but they’re meant to be left on a noticeable tingle and used to get a dogs attention at enormous distances. Actual pavlovian aversion training just isn’t that effective when a human drives it, it’s applied to inconsistently and that’s when the dog even understands what’s desired at all. As a rule even the bark-activated ones are meant to distract as much as train, which is why models that beep or spray lemon scent in the air are actually more effective for dogs bred to ignore skin discomfort like pit-bulls and rottweilers.

      1. No, people really use them for immediate correction of behavior. If used properly, the dog knows exactly what he did wrong.

        It really depends on what kind of training and what kind of trainer. But that also means shock collars shouldn’t be used by anyone except experts.

      2. Horse whips are meant to be used as aids to signal the animals, not inflict pain, but that does not mean they cannot be misused. Shock collars can indeed be used properly, by someone that knows what they are doing, but they can be abused as well. I, personally consider them unnecessary, but note I am not calling for them to be made illegal.

  2. I can remotely control the bulldog 2 doors over. If he’s asleep outside, my going over causes his tail to wag. He’ll come bouncing over to see me if he’s loose, or if he’s out for a walk with a leash, he’ll dig his heals to stop until I get closer.

    Dog’s spend all their time sniffing, and it’s not just about food. They have great range, but they know people from smell, and somehow keep that memory, so even if weeks go by, that bulldog still recognizes me.

    Michael

  3. I did that with a lab, she just looked at me, craned her neck, realized the treat was out of range and freaking rolled over, knocking the stick out of the holster and are the treat

  4. Seems like a perfect recipe for making a dog barking mad…

    At least one bull-terrier bluey cross I once knew (who is probably now deceased by now) would likely have demolished that rig before claiming the spoils for herself. Then again, she used to catch mice and present their dead corpses proudly on the back doorstep for her owners to clean up.

  5. Sorry not a dog lover. or a people lover of dogs that bark and bark and bark.
    I just like dogs.
    But this video was funny. sorry that your remote didnt work maybe you need to try it in a chihuahua. that would be funny.
    good video

  6. I think this was meant mainly as a jest. It would be a lot easier to train the dog to listen to whistle signals coming from an arduino or something on his back. And yes, simple synthesized sounds/patterns would be more effective than human voice commands. Dogs are really bad at speech recognition, compared to Alexa.

    1. yeah, but my dog can pick up on tone, he knows when I’m pissed (american or british variations) and responds accordingly.
      Alexa, just keeps on pushing when I start to get angry with her…

  7. Perhaps this is showing my age, but I remember an old “Little Rascals” episode, where they did the “hang-fishing-pole-bait-in-front-of-donkey” trick, to power their little home made wagon (donkey = engine to pull them). Some of those old episodes aren’t ‘politically correct’ in todays i’m-easily-offended-snowflake-generation.

    One hilarious episode had Stymie sitting on a hot kitchen stove, going “it sho’ is hot in here!”, wipes the sweat off his brow, and you then see black ink spots on the wall…lolol…

    They’re use of animal conditioning was a staple. I believe the same donkey responded to sneezes and alarm clock bells. Said donkey being named “Algebra”.

    1. Cool attack bro, necessary to your awesome story. Out of curiosity, how is it that we get to both criticize younger generations and blame them in a way that absolves us of our complete responsibility?

  8. They set a Slamhound on Turner’s trail in New Delhi, slotted it to his pheromones and the color of his hair. It caught up with him on a street called Chandni Chauk and came scrambling for his rented BMW through a forest of bare brown legs and pedicab tires. Its core was a kilogram of recrystallized hexogene and flaked TNT.

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