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How I taught my dog to text me selfies

twilio.com

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Re: How I taught my dog to text me selfies

#21

Post by ChuckMcM »

gregorymichael wrote: post #17
ChuckMcM wrote: post #15

I have discovered that my labrador would kill himself trying to figure out how to solve differential equations if he knew he could get a bite of ginger bread for it :-). That said, having raised a puppy that was destined for guide dog training, the trick is early on getting the dog to understand that you are asking it to do stuff. That is a big part of puppy training, and once trained, the dog will look for you to as…

I feel like my dog has way more potential than I have the ability to unlock. Any resources you'd recommend on training?

Well besides the guide dog's puppy raising guidelines (which are fairly long and detailed) we took him to an agility school after he was career changed[1] which used a device that make a 'click' sound (clicker) which was used to tell the dog "yes that exact thing" and treats. Apparently that is pretty common (but I was not aware at the time). But between the two experiences I don't think there is anything I couldn't train him to do, if I can communicate exactly what it is.

[1] Seriously, that is what the Guide dog folks call it when a dog washes out of the program, in our case it was for a skin allergy which would have been undetectable for a blind person to notice, not for his lack of trainability.

Re: How I taught my dog to text me selfies

#22

Post by prawn »

dreamweapon wrote: post #10

Is there any evidence the Dog is actually aware that he's "texting (or otherwise sending) a selfie" -- or even knows what a selfie is -- in any meaningful sense? "How I taught my dog to thwack his paw on a big red button in response to a keyword signal" might be a better title.

The title doesn't say "How I taught my dog to understand that it is recording and sending a self-portrait."

Re: How I taught my dog to text me selfies

#23

Post by anon4 »

smt88 wrote: post #12
dreamweapon wrote: post #10

Is there any evidence the Dog is actually aware that he's "texting (or otherwise sending) a selfie" -- or even knows what a selfie is -- in any meaningful sense? "How I taught my dog to thwack his paw on a big red button in response to a keyword signal" might be a better title.

Does it matter? It's funny/cool whether or not the dog understands what a selfie is.

Parent has a point. If you can teach your dog that the button is a way to communicate with you when you're out of the house, that would be awesome. I suppose something like having a few signs it can hold when pressing the button, maybe? Training that would be incredibly hard, I'm guessing, but if possible, it would be amazing.

Re: How I taught my dog to text me selfies

#24

Post by dreamweapon »

smt88 wrote: post #12
dreamweapon wrote: post #10

Is there any evidence the Dog is actually aware that he's "texting (or otherwise sending) a selfie" -- or even knows what a selfie is -- in any meaningful sense? "How I taught my dog to thwack his paw on a big red button in response to a keyword signal" might be a better title.

Does it matter? It's funny/cool whether or not the dog understands what a selfie is.

It's funny/cool

Or mental masturbation (not to mention an abuse of the dog's natural instincts), from another point of view.

Re: How I taught my dog to text me selfies

#25

Post by gregorymichael »

anon4 wrote: post #23
smt88 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it matter? It's funny/cool whether or not the dog understands what a selfie is.

Parent has a point. If you can teach your dog that the button is a way to communicate with you when you're out of the house, that would be awesome. I suppose something like having a few signs it can hold when pressing the button, maybe? Training that would be incredibly hard, I'm guessing, but if possible, it would be amazing.

Great idea. My original plan envisioned something like:

  - I text into her number while out of the house
  - Twilio sends HTTP request to Arduino 
  - Piezo buzzer sounds 
  - Kaira has to hold the button for X seconds
  - Servo rotates auto treat dispenser
In the end, simplicity won out. That said, those are far from insurmountable challenges.

Re: How I taught my dog to text me selfies

#27

Post by amwelles »

gregorymichael wrote: post #17
ChuckMcM wrote: post #15

I have discovered that my labrador would kill himself trying to figure out how to solve differential equations if he knew he could get a bite of ginger bread for it :-). That said, having raised a puppy that was destined for guide dog training, the trick is early on getting the dog to understand that you are asking it to do stuff. That is a big part of puppy training, and once trained, the dog will look for you to as…

I feel like my dog has way more potential than I have the ability to unlock. Any resources you'd recommend on training?

In addition, check out Sophia Yin's website[1]. It's chock-full of free videos and articles. She also wrote an excellent book[2], which I highly recommend to all dog owners. I train dogs as a hobby (agility with my own dog, plus I do volunteer work for puppy and obedience classes). As a warning, dog training is highly addictive for both you and the dog!

[1]: http://drsophiayin.com [2]: http://drsophiayin.com/howtobehave

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