Questions about modding a "Dog Training System"

[Spork Schivago]

Hello,

My sister has a very small dog that's a bit out of control. She sends it over to my parents (who live next door) to watch all day while she's at work. When she comes home, they just leave the dog out until night time. The dog doesn't want to come in or anything and is a bit feral. My dad has dementia, my mother has chronic kidney disease and can't really take care of the dog. My Aunt bought this dog training collar for my sister to help "train" him. By train, I mean using negative reinforcement. The collar has a few modes. They are:

Beep mode - Makes a beeping noise.
Light mode - Blink a little tiny red light
Vibrate mode - Vibrate, like a cell phone (the intensity is adjustable).
Shock mode - Shock the dog with what they call safe static electricity (the intensity is adjustable).

The collar is meant for larger dogs and on the smallest setting, the shock mode is way to strong. So, we don't use it. The problem is, my sister has a boyfriend who was shocking the dog to watch him jump and yelp. I took the collar the day after I heard him yelp a couple of times and hid it in my house. They just thought it got lost. The dog is a bit out of control now and I would like to try and modify the device to remove the shock mode all together.

The model number is P-998DR1 or P-998DR2. I can take it apart and shows pictures of the circuit board, but I wanted to know if you guys thought it'd be possible to somehow disable the shocking circuitry all together without breaking the whole thing (ie, maybe removing a capacitor or something?). As always, any help would be greatly appreciated.

[stj]

Re: Questions about modding a "Dog Training System"

that shock-collar is probably illegal and will only make the animal angry anyway.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Questions about modding a "Dog Training System"

that shock-collar is probably illegal and will only make the animal angry anyway.

If it's not illegal, it should be. I held onto it on the lowest setting and shocked myself and that freaking hurt. I mean it wasn't a little tingle, it was pain. I couldn't imagine what it would be like on the highest setting.

I feel that it could be effective on the vibrate mode though if I could disable the shock mode. The best thing would be for her to give the dog up to someone who has the time to properly train him. I've tried getting her to give him up but she says it's her son's dog and he'd never forgive her. I said he's going to get hit by a car and she says if he does, I won't have to deal with him anymore and Karter won't be able to blame me. Absolutely terrible! I've tried getting her to put a leash on him or fence him in, but she won't. I feel sorry for the dog, but you can't even pet him.

[stj]

Re: Questions about modding a "Dog Training System"

get it open, lets see the guts.
it must have a coil or transformer to step the voltage up.
btw, the police will shoot it on sight if it's loose outdoors.

[budm]

Re: Questions about modding a "Dog Training System"

"The problem is, my sister has a boyfriend who was shocking the dog to watch him jump and yelp." Too bad you cannot put that collar on him so he will know what it feels like, I really feel bad for the dog.
Upload good clear pictures of the board.

[stj]

Re: Questions about modding a "Dog Training System"

"my sister has a boyfriend who was shocking the dog to watch him jump and yelp." Too bad you cannot put that collar on him so he will know what it feels like,

why not?
nothing a good smack to the head wouldnt enable - dont forget to tie his hands!

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Questions about modding a "Dog Training System"

"The problem is, my sister has a boyfriend who was shocking the dog to watch him jump and yelp." Too bad you cannot put that collar on him so he will know what it feels like, I really feel bad for the dog.
Upload good clear pictures of the board.

I would love to do that Budm! He's some sort of fighter. Some MMA thing or something, otherwise I'd smack him around a bit myself. I almost thought of making an anonymous report and just hoping the dog gets taken away and goes some place safe. Around here, the SPCA will test the animal to see if it's dangerous. If it seems like it's going to bite someone, they will put it to sleep. The dog recently bit her littlest child on his face. I guess her boyfriend hit the dog a lot. It's the saddest thing I've ever seen. Granted, a dog shouldn't be biting people, but at the same time, the dog wouldn't be biting if it was properly raised I feel.

I'm going to post some pictures.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Questions about modding a "Dog Training System"

Should I upload pictures of the collar or the remote that controls the collar?

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Questions about modding a "Dog Training System"

I think I figured this out. There's two parts to the collar. There's a battery and then two circuit boards. One of the circuit boards has those metal things that shock. The other circuit board is connected to that board with a red and black wire. That circuit board has the vibrator thingamajig, something that appears to be perhaps the speaker. Not too worried about the blinking LED but I believe that's part of the circuit board without the shockers.

I wish there was away to hook the shocker thing up to the remote and if he goes to shock the dog again, he gets shocked instead.

I know it's not right to tell on people but I think there's certain times when it's okay. Like if a child is being abused or an animal. Even though some people might disagree with me and call me a narc, I went and told my mum when I heard the dog yelping and her boyfriend laughing about it to his friend. I told her not to tell him that I said anything and just to pretend that she heard the dog. She freaked out and called my sister and yelled. My sister yelled at her boyfriend but it happened again until I stole the collar. He just tried doing it when he thought no one was around watching.

I think my sister is getting ready to leave the bastard. She mentioned something the other day about maybe telling him to hit the road. The longer she's been with him, the more his true colours started shining through.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Questions about modding a "Dog Training System"

The one with the transformer looking device and the two screws is the one that has the metal prongs that shock. I think if I just unsolder the red and black wires, I'd be good. What do you guys think?

[stj]

Re: Questions about modding a "Dog Training System"

yea, it looks self-contained.
remove the pcb with the transformers on it - put the screws back after so it looks untouched on the outside.

while your at it, put a volt-meter and/or scope on those wires and see how it's powered at each shock level - so you can re-use it for something else.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Questions about modding a "Dog Training System"

yea, it looks self-contained.
remove the pcb with the transformers on it - put the screws back after so it looks untouched on the outside.

while your at it, put a volt-meter and/or scope on those wires and see how it's powered at each shock level - so you can re-use it for something else.

K. Will do.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Questions about modding a "Dog Training System"

Success! And you can't even tell I took it apart, minus the fact it won't cause physical pain to the dog or anyone anymore! I do have to admit, this is the first time I took something apart to break it!

Thank you for all the help guys! I just unsoldered the red and black wires and removed them completely from the collar. Vibrate still works, sound works, and of course the blinking light. Just no more shocking.

For the voltage levels that go to the shocking board, at the lowest level, 1, it's 1.7VDC. I left the shocking board in there, just unhooked. I measured it out though. This is what I got:

level voltage
----- -------
 1  1.7VDC
 25  2.2VDC
 50  2.7VDC
 75  3.2VDC
100  3.7VDC

The voltage was bouncing a bit. I figure every 5 levels, it's going up .1VDC. Every 25 levels, it appears to be going up .5VDC.

[rhomanski]

Re: Questions about modding a "Dog Training System"

Well, if you had removed the board you might be able to install it in the remote so he shocks himself.

[stj]

Re: Questions about modding a "Dog Training System"

i was thinking it could be built into a small flashlight or something - micro-stungun for free!
it's possible those voltages arent dc though, it could be pwm drive or something.

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Questions about modding a "Dog Training System"

I was trying to figure out how they were sending different voltages to the unit. With PICs, I know you can change some of the I/O pins to input / output, stuff like that. But I don't think you can say stuff like like I/O pin 1 = Output, 1.5VDC. Then I/O pin 1 = Output, 1.6VDC, then I/O pin 1 = Output, 1.7VDC, etc.

[stj]

Re: Questions about modding a "Dog Training System"

you can if the chip has D-A convertors in it.
what pic is it?

[Uniballer]

Re: Questions about modding a "Dog Training System"

stj is partly right in that electronic collars of this type are illegal in (parts of?) Europe. But they are not illegal in the USA. And in the hands of an experienced and humane trainer a good one (e.g. Tri-Tronics) can be an effective tool for some problems. Unfortunately, it is way too easy for some moron to abuse an animal with it.

I wouldn't try to get too fancy with modding it. If it is "lost", maybe it should just stay lost. Or dike the shock unit out completely. Or run it over with a car until it is dead then put it back in their driveway...

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Questions about modding a "Dog Training System"

stj is partly right in that electronic collars of this type are illegal in (parts of?) Europe. But they are not illegal in the USA. And in the hands of an experienced and humane trainer a good one (e.g. Tri-Tronics) can be an effective tool for some problems. Unfortunately, it is way too easy for some moron to abuse an animal with it.

I wouldn't try to get too fancy with modding it. If it is "lost", maybe it should just stay lost. Or dike the shock unit out completely. Or run it over with a car until it is dead then put it back in their driveway...

I had to "find" it because they were talking of getting a new one. It's given back but with the shocking part disabled. This unit is meant for a much larger dog as well. Says so right in the manual. If you want, I can pull it out and find out what pound dog it is meant for and figure out how much their little dog ways. I think the vibration mode should be effective. What do you think?

[Spork Schivago]

Re: Questions about modding a "Dog Training System"

you can if the chip has D-A convertors in it.
what pic is it?

I don't know if it has a PIC. I gave it back today. I can look at the pictures tomorrow and see if I see anything on there that resembles one. I just know a little bit about PICs and didn't think it was possible, from what I've learned, with PICs. Good to know that PICs with D-A convertors can produce varying degrees of output voltage. Maybe we can discuss this more in a private message so the thread doesn't get off-topic? Or maybe we could create a new thread to share the info with others.