“Happy Ball Want Outside:” Dog Learns To Talk Using A Word Machine, Already Knows 29 Words
Probably every pet owner has dreamed about having a conversation with their little friends. Well, proud dog mom, Christina Hunger has found a way. And no, she’s not a mind reader. The 26-year-old speech-language pathologist is communicating with her pup through a custom-made soundboard.
Hunger has an 18-month-old Catahoula/Blue Heeler mix, Stella. Whenever she wants to express her thoughts and feelings, she just steps on buttons corresponding with words Christina recorded and programmed into the device.
More info: Instagram
Image credits: hunger4words
Image credits: hunger4words
The soundboard has been working wonders. With it, Stella has been able to tell her owner when she’s tired and needs a nap, when she’s hungry and wants to grab a bite or when she wants to go for a walk – specifically to the park.
Stella is also a wonderful student. She not only knows 29 words but can put together phrases as well. One day, Stella was whining at the front door, unable to stay in place. Hunger thought that she needed to go outside. However, Stella walked to her device and said, “Want,” “Jake” “Come.” The pup then stood in front of the door and waited until Jake, Hunger’s fiancé, returned home. Stella then pressed “Happy” and rolled over, asking for a belly rub.
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“Last night, right before this video was taken, I accidentally said “ball” on Stella’s device while I was actually reaching for a different word. But, Stella took this very seriously! She picked up her ball, dropped it on her device, and said “Good” (Translation: Good idea, Mom!)
I started recording right after she said “Good” and caught the rest of her thought: “Happy ball want outside!”
Like all AAC users, Stella thrives when we talk to her using her device and say words that she loves. She never needs to know it was on accident!”
Image credits: hunger4words
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“Stella adapts her message when she isn’t feeling understood, just like we all do! If someone doesn’t understand us or we don’t get the response we were expecting, we change the words we’re using to explain ourselves better.
Watch this sequence of Stella telling us, three different ways in a row, that she wanted to go play!
First, Stella said “Come play.” When we didn’t come play, she added more details and said, “Outside play love you.” Finally, she got as specific as she could and told us, “Park.” Stella is truly a great communicator!”
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“Stella uses language differently when she’s in a heightened state versus when she’s calm!
Today when she heard some noises outside and wanted to go investigate, I told her we were staying inside.
Stella responded by saying, “Look” 9 TIMES IN A ROW, then “Come outside.” She was clearly in a more frantic state, and her language use matched that. We all sound differently than normal when we’re in distress, Stella included!
I’m impressed that Stella is communicating with language during her more heightened states, not just when she’s calm and in a quiet space. This shows me that words are becoming more automatic for her to use. It’s similar to when a toddler starts using language to express himself during times of frustration instead of only crying. That happens when it’s easy for the toddler to say words, not when he’s still learning and it takes a lot of focus to talk.”
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“Wait, wait, wait, then wait some more! Best practice in speech therapy with beginning communicators includes giving the learner increased wait time to process what’s happening and generate a response. Pausing before prompting or talking more gives the communicator a chance to respond!
Stella benefits from the same wait time. In this video she hit her “outside” button twice, but no sound came out. Instead of jumping up to fix it, I bit my tongue, stood still, and waited a full 13 seconds before Stella said “No. Help help!” Way to go Stella for telling me her button wasn’t working and asking for help!”
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“Don’t you just hate it when your dog talks back to you?? After Stella finished her breakfast this morning, I said and modeled on her device “Stella all done eat.” She immediately responded “no,” and walked back to her dishes while licking her lips.
While this made me laugh, I also think it’s pretty amazing because Stella is really starting to appropriately respond to what we’re saying and participate in short conversations.”
Image credits: hunger4words
Image credits: hunger4words
People were blown away by Stella’s skills
It's always been thought that dogs have the intelligence of a 2 year old human, but I think Stella is way beyond that. Maybe all dogs actually are.
Well, we might also need to challenge our understanding of how intelligent 2 year olds are. Many people believe small children are dumb. They are not. They know more than most admit, and they understand much more than they themselves can express.
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If I were to make one of these ingenious boards for my cat it would feature words like: worship; queen; overlord; puny human; slave; servant; fancy feast; knock stuff off table; 2 am hairball; random 2 am freakout; destroy; and a bunch of obscenities.
You'd probably be surprised how much your cat does not think like that.
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She had better buy a few more buttons to replace "Eat"and "Outside" should wear out pretty quickly
Wow! What a great advance for animal care. This could change the way humans look at animals completely.... Imagine teaching all animals to use this technique and having cows telling a livestock farmer that they are scared or having any other animal where they hurt? I just love this!
I immediately thought same thing, like THIS IS AMAZING.isnt this a big breakthrough to communicate with our fur family. I am absolutely fascinated by this ... Feel it's not getting the attention it deserves... My dog is pretty smart but this is .... I NEED THIS SO BAD haha
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If it's true and there is no trick, that should be studied on a proper scientific research!
I agree 💯 . This is an amazing connection, it should be studied at every level
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That may be true, but vocal communication is the type humans understand best. We lack the physical abilities necessary for more subtle means of communication. Dogs already key strongly off of people, so it makes sense that they could learn our method of communication, especially when it takes minimal input-effort on their part. The same has been demonstrated with gorillas, dolphins and even crows.
Load More Replies...
Absolutely amazing! She obviously does understand as her choices were not random.
As amazing as this is, 'talking' would be the LAST thing I'd teach my dog. She's demanding enough as it is! :-D
Mine has become a huge spoiled, loud and demanding smarty-pants, the barking to demand me get him something from fridge has become too much on my migraines hahah
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My dog just throws the ball at me when he wants to play ball, he lays in front of the door when he wants to go out, and I have tape on the fridge because he helps himself to food if I don't. If he wants to go to the park he runs to the car, if he wants to play in the garden he stays in the garden, and if he wants to walk, he gets his leash. No need for a soundboard. He's completely clear in all his wants and wishes. Right now he's napping, that means he's tired.
I tend to agree with you. It's more important that humans learn "dog" than that dogs learn "human."
Load More Replies... Could she make a special version for tangerine toddler. Perhaps he'll learn to build complete sentences by he time he's 78.
Am I being stupid but how? How can she train Stella to do this? I feel like Ive missed a part of the article!
You are not being stupid at all- it’s an honest question. I have a background in sociolinguistics and am personally really interested in how animals communicate and learn commands. I also wanted to discover more about how Stella learned to use her AAC board. I visited Christina’s (Stella’s owner) website (hungerforwords.com) and she has blogs and videos explaining her techniques for teaching. It looks really fascinating.
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Animals communicate with nonverbal actions. Bonding with an animal, not impossible to "read" their mind. Simple and basic. Sweet.
I'm sorry to be the skeptic here, but how would a dog learn the button for 'want' and understand what it meant? Like, nouns and simple verbs I get; Frodo even learned how to understand it when we spelled WALK, but 'want?' This seems like a hoax to me. "I love you?" No.
“You want food? Want ball? Want a walk? Want a treat?” With enough repetition it would be easy enough for her to associate “want” with its meaning.
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I once knew a guy that trained a horse to do math. And there was also that documentary about that talking horse. Horses are the soldiers of pets
I can see my dog with this, ball, outside , hungry, ball, outside, hungry, ball, outside, hungry.
I would prescribe my profile is vital to me, I welcome you to examine this subject... walmart one asda
This should be showed in schools all over the world so no one ever again would say how animals are "just" stupid instincts and no creative thinking.
Anyone that works as a dog behaviorist better start looking for other work. Not need for a human to tell us what the dog is thinking when the dog can do it herself!
Very interesting. I've heard of chimps and gorillas doing this, but I never heard of a dog doing it. I've learned something new today. .
It’s a hell of an idea that roves dogs have great memories Cos she has had to memorise what each button stands for Cos she ain’t reading. And building them machine is ingenious. But I like a quiet dog - human world. Dogs are supposed to prefer silent communication and she is doing this to work in with you but she doesn’t look happy doing it. Sorry.
To prove that dog understands what she's doing, make all buttons the same color and change the position of the labels.
What a brilliant experiment. My suggestions would be to change the layout of the buttons into some kind of an arc so she doesn't have to worry about where all her legs are when she is looking for a button. Also, I feel like an icon on top of each button, rather than just the word, would also be helpful and increase learning speed and recollection. I just love, love, love this idea!
Hey I have this! Cool! Mine is a bit more limited. My dog knows several words and phrases: “Potties” (which also means “outside”, to which he will agree or not) “Wait for mommy!” “Come” (it’s immediately obvious whether he agrees or not) “breakfast” “dinner/dinner time” “what time is it?” “Lambie-time!” “Too soon/early” “Beddie-byes” “No” (from me) and “No” from him to me (non verbal, looks away,), “Yes” (looks at/goes to back door, food bowls) “Uppies” (he asks to get on our bed by saying, ‘who -who’ owl sounds) or agrees if I ask by laying down or facing away from me because it’s easier for me to pick him up that way. I’d be fascinated to see the pup’s reaction to the soundboard if all the words were replaced with different ones. I think it’s humorous that the buttons are labeled with the text of each word . My dog (and I assume most dogs), talk and communicate very well, letting us know their needs, moods - using ears, tail, posture, eyes, licking, etc.
This is totally newsworthy, but I'm finding it very interesting that I'm consistently seeing things on Bored-panda about 5 to 7 days before they break on the evening news or articles like in Huffpost. So am I totally switched-on, is Bored-panda that bleeding edge, or is the news media just ripping of BP's work?
I'm gobsmacked! This is incredible! She needs to put together a kit and training video!!! She'd make a killing!!!
I’m almost more impressed that she remembers what button is where. It’s like she’s learned to type.
Don't want to know what my "teen-age" hound is saying. He'd probably be in time-out for a year or so.
Repeat after me. 'Dogs are not humans. Dogs are NOT humans' say it again and again till it sticks. This is nothing more than (very good) conditioning, and anthropomorphism at its finest.
just because they're not humans doesn't mean they don't have some of personality
Load More Replies... Also, the language doesn't match the dog's body language. I just don't buy it.
Can someone help me understand how she learns the buttons / sound association? Is it by trial and error? Since all the buttons look the same and the labels are obviously for the humans. I'd love to try this with my cat !
Meanwhile my 18 month old pup can't even grasp commands other then sit and fetch, or walk without a leash.
Maybe he grasps it but just doesn't want to obey :-D
Load More Replies... This is entertaining, but I’m not sure why it’s better than simply communication with your dog and learning what he/she says to you - using ears, voice, tail, posture, looking/walking away (no), looking/walking to the door, food bowls, etc. (yes). My dog (like most dogs), recognizes “words” - just unique sounds to him - if I changed “dinner” to “bubblegum” he’d look at me like I’m nuts at first but he’d catch on. We don’t need added redundancies like buttons or digital voices. I just use my voice, he uses all his communication tools and we understand each other clearly. This might be useful for special situations (?). It’s very cool, her pup is very smart and adorable. I’d be interested to know what the pup would do if Mom rearranged the recordings. I’d think the dog might rely on the old pattern/location and depending on how well that works (or not) would learn the new pattern after a while. Dogs are great communicators - humans need to learn. Makes training easier!
It's always been thought that dogs have the intelligence of a 2 year old human, but I think Stella is way beyond that. Maybe all dogs actually are.
Well, we might also need to challenge our understanding of how intelligent 2 year olds are. Many people believe small children are dumb. They are not. They know more than most admit, and they understand much more than they themselves can express.
Load More Replies... If I were to make one of these ingenious boards for my cat it would feature words like: worship; queen; overlord; puny human; slave; servant; fancy feast; knock stuff off table; 2 am hairball; random 2 am freakout; destroy; and a bunch of obscenities.
You'd probably be surprised how much your cat does not think like that.
Load More Replies... She had better buy a few more buttons to replace "Eat"and "Outside" should wear out pretty quickly
Wow! What a great advance for animal care. This could change the way humans look at animals completely.... Imagine teaching all animals to use this technique and having cows telling a livestock farmer that they are scared or having any other animal where they hurt? I just love this!
I immediately thought same thing, like THIS IS AMAZING.isnt this a big breakthrough to communicate with our fur family. I am absolutely fascinated by this ... Feel it's not getting the attention it deserves... My dog is pretty smart but this is .... I NEED THIS SO BAD haha
Load More Replies... If it's true and there is no trick, that should be studied on a proper scientific research!
I agree 💯 . This is an amazing connection, it should be studied at every level
Load More Replies... That may be true, but vocal communication is the type humans understand best. We lack the physical abilities necessary for more subtle means of communication. Dogs already key strongly off of people, so it makes sense that they could learn our method of communication, especially when it takes minimal input-effort on their part. The same has been demonstrated with gorillas, dolphins and even crows.
Load More Replies... Absolutely amazing! She obviously does understand as her choices were not random.
As amazing as this is, 'talking' would be the LAST thing I'd teach my dog. She's demanding enough as it is! :-D
Mine has become a huge spoiled, loud and demanding smarty-pants, the barking to demand me get him something from fridge has become too much on my migraines hahah
Load More Replies... My dog just throws the ball at me when he wants to play ball, he lays in front of the door when he wants to go out, and I have tape on the fridge because he helps himself to food if I don't. If he wants to go to the park he runs to the car, if he wants to play in the garden he stays in the garden, and if he wants to walk, he gets his leash. No need for a soundboard. He's completely clear in all his wants and wishes. Right now he's napping, that means he's tired.
I tend to agree with you. It's more important that humans learn "dog" than that dogs learn "human."
Load More Replies... Could she make a special version for tangerine toddler. Perhaps he'll learn to build complete sentences by he time he's 78.
Am I being stupid but how? How can she train Stella to do this? I feel like Ive missed a part of the article!
You are not being stupid at all- it’s an honest question. I have a background in sociolinguistics and am personally really interested in how animals communicate and learn commands. I also wanted to discover more about how Stella learned to use her AAC board. I visited Christina’s (Stella’s owner) website (hungerforwords.com) and she has blogs and videos explaining her techniques for teaching. It looks really fascinating.
Load More Replies... Animals communicate with nonverbal actions. Bonding with an animal, not impossible to "read" their mind. Simple and basic. Sweet.
I'm sorry to be the skeptic here, but how would a dog learn the button for 'want' and understand what it meant? Like, nouns and simple verbs I get; Frodo even learned how to understand it when we spelled WALK, but 'want?' This seems like a hoax to me. "I love you?" No.
“You want food? Want ball? Want a walk? Want a treat?” With enough repetition it would be easy enough for her to associate “want” with its meaning.
Load More Replies... I once knew a guy that trained a horse to do math. And there was also that documentary about that talking horse. Horses are the soldiers of pets
I can see my dog with this, ball, outside , hungry, ball, outside, hungry, ball, outside, hungry.
I would prescribe my profile is vital to me, I welcome you to examine this subject... walmart one asda
This should be showed in schools all over the world so no one ever again would say how animals are "just" stupid instincts and no creative thinking.
Anyone that works as a dog behaviorist better start looking for other work. Not need for a human to tell us what the dog is thinking when the dog can do it herself!
Very interesting. I've heard of chimps and gorillas doing this, but I never heard of a dog doing it. I've learned something new today. .
It’s a hell of an idea that roves dogs have great memories Cos she has had to memorise what each button stands for Cos she ain’t reading. And building them machine is ingenious. But I like a quiet dog - human world. Dogs are supposed to prefer silent communication and she is doing this to work in with you but she doesn’t look happy doing it. Sorry.
To prove that dog understands what she's doing, make all buttons the same color and change the position of the labels.
What a brilliant experiment. My suggestions would be to change the layout of the buttons into some kind of an arc so she doesn't have to worry about where all her legs are when she is looking for a button. Also, I feel like an icon on top of each button, rather than just the word, would also be helpful and increase learning speed and recollection. I just love, love, love this idea!
Hey I have this! Cool! Mine is a bit more limited. My dog knows several words and phrases: “Potties” (which also means “outside”, to which he will agree or not) “Wait for mommy!” “Come” (it’s immediately obvious whether he agrees or not) “breakfast” “dinner/dinner time” “what time is it?” “Lambie-time!” “Too soon/early” “Beddie-byes” “No” (from me) and “No” from him to me (non verbal, looks away,), “Yes” (looks at/goes to back door, food bowls) “Uppies” (he asks to get on our bed by saying, ‘who -who’ owl sounds) or agrees if I ask by laying down or facing away from me because it’s easier for me to pick him up that way. I’d be fascinated to see the pup’s reaction to the soundboard if all the words were replaced with different ones. I think it’s humorous that the buttons are labeled with the text of each word . My dog (and I assume most dogs), talk and communicate very well, letting us know their needs, moods - using ears, tail, posture, eyes, licking, etc.
This is totally newsworthy, but I'm finding it very interesting that I'm consistently seeing things on Bored-panda about 5 to 7 days before they break on the evening news or articles like in Huffpost. So am I totally switched-on, is Bored-panda that bleeding edge, or is the news media just ripping of BP's work?
I'm gobsmacked! This is incredible! She needs to put together a kit and training video!!! She'd make a killing!!!
I’m almost more impressed that she remembers what button is where. It’s like she’s learned to type.
Don't want to know what my "teen-age" hound is saying. He'd probably be in time-out for a year or so.
Repeat after me. 'Dogs are not humans. Dogs are NOT humans' say it again and again till it sticks. This is nothing more than (very good) conditioning, and anthropomorphism at its finest.
just because they're not humans doesn't mean they don't have some of personality
Load More Replies... Also, the language doesn't match the dog's body language. I just don't buy it.
Can someone help me understand how she learns the buttons / sound association? Is it by trial and error? Since all the buttons look the same and the labels are obviously for the humans. I'd love to try this with my cat !
Meanwhile my 18 month old pup can't even grasp commands other then sit and fetch, or walk without a leash.
Maybe he grasps it but just doesn't want to obey :-D
Load More Replies... This is entertaining, but I’m not sure why it’s better than simply communication with your dog and learning what he/she says to you - using ears, voice, tail, posture, looking/walking away (no), looking/walking to the door, food bowls, etc. (yes). My dog (like most dogs), recognizes “words” - just unique sounds to him - if I changed “dinner” to “bubblegum” he’d look at me like I’m nuts at first but he’d catch on. We don’t need added redundancies like buttons or digital voices. I just use my voice, he uses all his communication tools and we understand each other clearly. This might be useful for special situations (?). It’s very cool, her pup is very smart and adorable. I’d be interested to know what the pup would do if Mom rearranged the recordings. I’d think the dog might rely on the old pattern/location and depending on how well that works (or not) would learn the new pattern after a while. Dogs are great communicators - humans need to learn. Makes training easier!
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