When Alexis Devine found herself in tears during a FaceTime call with her partner, her dog Bunny did something extraordinary. The Sheepadoodle, trained to communicate through a soundboard, pressed the button for “no.” Moments later, Bunny followed up with “love you.” For Devine, it was a powerful message of empathy and connection.
Bunny, a star on TikTok with over 8.5 million followers, communicates using a mat of buttons programmed to play pre-recorded words. Her abilities have caught the attention of millions and raised fascinating questions about whether dogs can truly understand human words.
Bunny is not alone. Other soundboard-trained dogs, like Oski the pug and Flambo the Aussie, are gaining popularity for their apparent ability to “speak.” But are these dogs merely pressing buttons at random, or do they comprehend the words?
Federico Rossano, a professor of cognitive sciences at the University of California, San Diego, sought to answer this question. After observing the phenomenon online, he believed it was time for science to investigate. “Once you have thousands of people doing this, we should study it,” he said.
Rossano’s research, published in PLOS ONE, suggests that dogs may understand certain words, enhancing the communication between dogs and their owners.
“I think it’s not surprising to anyone who lives with dogs,” Devine commented, reflecting on the study. “Dogs can associate objects with words.”
New Findings on Canine Comprehension
Rossano’s team conducted two experiments with 59 dogs to explore how well they understood words spoken or played through a button press. The dogs were asked to respond to four words: “outside,” “play,” “food,” and a nonsense word, “daxing.” The goal was to eliminate other cues, like body language or routines, that dogs might rely on.
The challenge, as Rossano explains, is that dogs often respond to context rather than language. For example, a dog may “understand” the word “treat” because they see their owner moving toward the treat jar. “We wanted to show that the dogs are actually paying attention to the words themselves,” he said.
Daphna Buchsbaum, a cognitive sciences expert from Brown University who wasn’t involved in the research, praised the study as an essential first step. “The research is beginning to systematically explore whether these dogs are truly associating buttons with specific outcomes,” she said.
Buchsbaum noted that future research could expand the study to more abstract concepts, testing whether dogs could grasp ideas beyond their immediate experiences, such as emotions or time.
The Implications for Dog Communication
Rossano acknowledges that the dogs’ interactions with soundboards may not be as profound as we imagine, initially describing the dogs’ behavior as “using a human as a vending machine.” However, some behaviors surprised him, particularly the dogs’ apparent negotiation in response to human commands. Instead of accepting a human’s refusal, many dogs initiated a back-and-forth exchange, signaling a deeper level of communication.
Such findings hint at a more nuanced understanding of canine communication than previously thought. Rossano is hopeful that this research will eventually allow dogs to have more control over their lives by expressing their needs more clearly.
This has broader implications for working dogs, such as scent detection and assistance dogs, who already perform vital roles in human society. Improved communication could enhance their effectiveness in these roles, according to Buchsbaum.
Evolving Our Relationships with Dogs
Devine, who has written a book titled I Am Bunny, said that the soundboard has revolutionized her relationship with her dog. “The buttons allowed me to be more intentional in interpreting her body language. It definitely made me a better listener.”
She explained that her bond with Bunny deepened as she learned to pay closer attention to what Bunny was interested in, such as smells or sights, and how those experiences influenced her behavior.
The growing field of research on canine communication could fundamentally reshape how we understand our pets. By giving dogs a “voice” through soundboards, scientists like Rossano hope to deepen the connection between dogs and humans, offering our four-legged companions a new level of autonomy and understanding.
As research continues, the question remains: Just how much can dogs understand? And how far will this breakthrough take us in unlocking the mysteries of animal cognition?
