In a recent study published in the journal PLOS One, researchers confirmed that dogs can recognize certain commands associated with soundboard buttons. This study opens a window into understanding how much our canine companions grasp from the words we speak.
One famous example is Bunny, a dog who has gained internet fame for seemingly using buttons to communicate with her owner. These buttons, when pressed, speak words like “outside,” “play,” and “ouch.” In one viral video, Bunny pressed the “ouch” button. Her owner asked, “Where’s your ouch?” After pressing a few more buttons, Bunny eventually hit “paw,” revealing a piece of wood lodged in her paw, causing discomfort.
This interaction appears to suggest that Bunny is truly communicating. However, before jumping to conclusions, scientists need to determine a more fundamental question: Do dogs actually understand the words they hear when the buttons are pressed?
A newly published study helps address this query.
“Understanding should come before speaking,” explains Federico Rossano, a cognitive scientist at the University of California, San Diego, and the study’s lead author. “It’s the same with children: they first grasp the meaning of words like ‘ball’ or ‘milk’ before they start asking for them.”
The research involved around 60 dogs and demonstrated that dogs seem to understand words like “play” and “outside,” whether those words were spoken by their owners or activated by a soundboard button. What’s particularly fascinating is that the dogs understood these words even without human body language or visual context cues, and even when their owners weren’t present.
Alexandra Horowitz, an animal cognition professor at Barnard College who was not involved in the study, expressed her amazement. “The fact that dogs can understand any language is remarkable. It shows their capacity and flexibility as cognitive beings, especially since they don’t have this in their natural system.”
But the research doesn’t stop there. While it’s been shown that dogs can understand words, the question remains whether dogs, like Bunny, can actively communicate back using buttons. Are they capable of “speaking” to their owners through this system?
Rossano and his team are diving into this next phase of research. Having established that dogs can comprehend words, they are now conducting a large-scale community science project. This study includes data from roughly 10,000 dogs and 700 cats, as well as other animals like horses, goats, and pigs.
This ongoing research aims to address a broader question: Are pets using these buttons to genuinely communicate, or are they simply responding to stimuli like they would with a treat dispenser?
For some researchers, like Horowitz, there’s also curiosity about how dogs use other forms of communication, particularly through scent. While word-based communication is fascinating, the possibility of exploring how dogs “talk” through smell may yield even more insights into their understanding of the world.
