Anyone with a crafty pet knows the drill—big, soulful eyes, a slight head tilt, and the desperate plea for food as if they haven’t eaten in days. But what if your dog wasn’t just begging? What if it was outright lying? One dachshund owner had enough of the deception and built a smart system using a Raspberry Pi to keep track of mealtimes, ensuring their pet’s con act came to an end.
The High-Tech Truth Detector for a Hungry Pup
Dogs are smart—sometimes a little too smart. If they realize different family members handle feeding, they may pretend to be starving with each one. That’s exactly what happened in one household, prompting Reddit user duckredbeard to take matters into their own hands.
Their solution? A Raspberry Pi-powered setup that tracks when food is actually dispensed, preventing their dachshund from scoring extra meals with its Oscar-worthy performances. The system ensures that anyone reaching for the kibble knows whether the dog has already eaten in the last five hours.
How the Raspberry Pi Food Tracker Works
The heart of the system is simple yet effective: a weight-sensing food bucket hooked up to a Raspberry Pi. Here’s how it operates:
- Tracking the Food Bin’s Weight: A load cell under the dog food bucket constantly monitors its weight. The Raspberry Pi takes a reading every four hours or whenever someone closes the cupboard door.
- Sending Alerts via Tasker & AutoRemote: When the door opens, the system sends a notification to the owner’s phone with the current weight.
- Comparing Pre- and Post-Feeding Weights: Once the door closes, another measurement is taken. If the weight has decreased by more than 0.12 lbs, the system recognizes that food was scooped out.
- Visual and Digital Warnings: If feeding occurred, a red LED inside the cupboard starts blinking for the next five hours. At the same time, an SMS notification is sent to family members, confirming that the dog has been fed.
- Preventing Overfeeding: If someone opens the cupboard during this period, the blinking LED serves as a final warning before they unknowingly give out a second (or third) meal.
Outsmarting the Four-Legged Mastermind
For any pet parent struggling with an overeager eater, this system is a game-changer. It’s not just about preventing overeating—it’s about outwitting a dog who has learned to manipulate human emotions.
One small blink of an LED light, and suddenly, the deception crumbles. No more guilty stares. No more “but I’m starving” performances. Just cold, hard facts: the dog has eaten, and it can wait.
Could This Be the Future of Pet Feeding?
While this is a DIY project, it sparks an interesting conversation about smart pet care. People have long used automatic feeders, but they typically operate on a timer, not actual meal tracking. What if more households had systems that logged feeding times, alerted family members, and even adapted to unique feeding schedules?
For now, duckredbeard’s invention stands as both a brilliant pet hack and a cautionary tale—your furry friend may be smarter than you think. But with the right tech, you just might stay one step ahead.
