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  2. Better Life

This dog can talk to her owner using actual sentences

A speech therapist taught her pooch to speak. - by Laura Barry
  • 29 Jan 2020

WATCH: Need some basic tips for training your dog? Watch this video with Dr Harry below.

Training your pet dog to sit, stay and come when called are the most basic and essential aspects of dog training, but our canine companions are capable of so much more – if only we put the time in.

Stella is a two-year-old Catahoula/Blue Heeler mix who has been trained to learn around 23 human words – and she regularly uses them to speak to her owner, speech-language pathologist Christina Hunger. You can watch their conversations on the website or Instgram @Hunger4Words

 

Located in San Diego, California, the pair have amassed an impressive Instagram following of 565,000 followers who all love to watch Stella talk. Now, we don’t mean that Stella can physically speak verbal human words; she has been trained to press buttons that say human words to communicate what she is thinking.

Watch the Instagram post video below, where Stella asks Christina to take her outside for a walk.

hunger4words View Profile
13.3k likes - View Post on Instagram
Watch how Stella combines words to tell us what she wants! Learn more about Stella's communication at www.hungerforwords.com * * * * #hunger4words #talkingdog #speechtherapy #AAC #slp #corewords #ashaigers #SLPeeps #dogsofinstagram #dogmom #dogs #talkingdogs #animalpsychology #doglover #sandiegodog #sandiegodogs #catahoula #blueheeler #smartdog #dogcommunication #mydogtalks #dognition #netflixdogstory #interspeciescommunication

Christina explains it on her blog.

“We programmed one recordable answer buzzer to say “outside.” We thought this button would be a good size for Stella to activate with her paw. Every time we said “outside” to Stella, we modeled use of the button by pushing it with our foot. Every time we took Stella outside we pushed “outside” before opening the door. After a few weeks of modeling, Stella showed us she was aware of what was happening. When I would ask “Outside? Stella, want to go outside?” she began looking down at the button, looking up at me, and barking. As an SLP I knew this was a huge step in the right direction. She was demonstrating joint attention between the button and me, and understood that to go outside, something with the button had to occur first. Soon after this step, Stella said her first word, "outside" independently.”

Christina then repeated the process, adding words such as eat, water, play, walk and so on. In the Instagram post below, Stella has returned from a trip to the beach, which was cut short, but Stella wanted to go back to the beach. After using single words and two-word phrases to say this, Stella finally walks over to her device and says, “Water good. No eat. Play!”

hunger4words View Profile
13.2k likes - View Post on Instagram
5 WORDS... 3 DIFFERENT THOUGHTS!! 🤯 * Last night we cut our evening beach trip a little short to come home and make dinner. Stella was very adamant that she wanted to go back to the beach. After using several different single words and two-word phrases to express this, she finally walked over to her device and said, "Water good. No eat. Play!" * (Translation: Swimming was so fun, stop making dinner and take me back to play!) * Just when I think I couldn't be more impressed with Stella's language skills, she goes ahead and says something even more incredible than she said the day before!!!✨✨ * * * * * #hunger4words #talkingdog #everyonedeservesavoice #speechtherapy #AAC #slp #corewords #SLPeeps #slp2be #aacawarenessmonth #earlyintervention #languagedevelopment #dogsofinstagram #dogmom #dogs #animalpsychology #doglover #dogvideosofinstagram #sandiegodog #catahoula #blueheeler #smartdog #dogcommunication #animalcommunication #interspeciescommunication #loveanimals #respectanimals #thedodo #worldanimalday #buzzfeeddogs

In this video you can see Stella ask Christina to look at her.

hunger4words View Profile
51.3k likes - View Post on Instagram
Stella shows us that communication is way more than just saying words! This morning while Jake was on his computer and I was reading, Stella wanted us to look at her. * After she told us "Now now now now Stella Stella look," Stella patiently waited for us to understand what she was saying. When I finally "got it" and told her I was watching, Stella pounced on her ball. * Stella got our attention by telling us to look at her, waited for confirmation that we understood, then went ahead and started playing. * Successful communication includes sharing a message with someone, waiting for them to respond, understanding their response, and responding or acting accordingly. I love that our little talking dog is such an amazing communicator! 🐶🗣💫

It seems our four-legged friend can say, think and communicate so much more than we first thought!

Follow Hunger4words on Instagram to see Stella talk.

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The BHG guide to pets

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Laura Barry
Laura Barry
Laura Barry is a writer, bookworm and interior design enthusiast with a love for reporting on all things homes, travel and lifestyle. When not tapping away at her keyboard, Laura can be found making endless cups of tea or perusing the shelves of Sydney’s many bookstores.

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YOU’LL NEED A WEDGE TO HANG THAT DOOR
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