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How Stella Learned to Talk: The Groundbreaking Story of the World's First Talking Dog
An incredible, revolutionary true story and surprisingly simple guide to teaching your dog to talk from speech-language pathologist Christina Hunger, who has taught her dog, Stella, to communicate using simple paw-sized buttons associated with different words.
When speech-language pathologist Christina Hunger first came home with her puppy, Stella, it didn’t take long for her to start drawing connections between her job and her new pet. During the day, she worked with toddlers with significant delays in language development and used Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices to help them communicate. At night, she wondered: If dogs can understand words we say to them, shouldn't they be able to say words to us? Can dogs use AAC to communicate with humans?
Christina decided to put her theory to the test with Stella and started using a paw-sized button programmed with her voice to say the word "outside" when clicked, whenever she took Stella out of the house. A few years later, Stella now has a bank of more than thirty word buttons, and uses them daily either individually or together to create near-complete sentences.
How Stella Learned to Talk is part memoir and part how-to guide. It chronicles the journey Christina and Stella have taken together, from the day they met, to the day Stella "spoke" her first word, and the other breakthroughs they've had since. It also reveals the techniques Christina used to teach Stella, broken down into simple stages and actionable steps any dog owner can use to start communicating with their pets.
Filled with conversations that Stella and Christina have had, as well as the attention to developmental detail that only a speech-language pathologist could know, How Stella Learned to Talk will be the indispensable dog book for the new decade.
When speech-language pathologist Christina Hunger first came home with her puppy, Stella, it didn’t take long for her to start drawing connections between her job and her new pet. During the day, she worked with toddlers with significant delays in language development and used Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices to help them communicate. At night, she wondered: If dogs can understand words we say to them, shouldn't they be able to say words to us? Can dogs use AAC to communicate with humans?
Christina decided to put her theory to the test with Stella and started using a paw-sized button programmed with her voice to say the word "outside" when clicked, whenever she took Stella out of the house. A few years later, Stella now has a bank of more than thirty word buttons, and uses them daily either individually or together to create near-complete sentences.
How Stella Learned to Talk is part memoir and part how-to guide. It chronicles the journey Christina and Stella have taken together, from the day they met, to the day Stella "spoke" her first word, and the other breakthroughs they've had since. It also reveals the techniques Christina used to teach Stella, broken down into simple stages and actionable steps any dog owner can use to start communicating with their pets.
Filled with conversations that Stella and Christina have had, as well as the attention to developmental detail that only a speech-language pathologist could know, How Stella Learned to Talk will be the indispensable dog book for the new decade.
7 pages, Audiobook
First published May 4, 2021
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6801 people want to read
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October 1, 2021
I am totally on board with the author’s mission of starting a “communication revolution”. She discovered something amazing, and her results challenge everything that conventional wisdom held about dog cognitive ability. The book also gives a pretty useful overview of her methodology and makes it easy to design a program of your own.
There are also a few downsides to the book, the biggest of which is probably that the author simultaneously claims her dog is like a child to her but also makes some really incongruous ethical choices, which she describes breathlessly to the reader as if they are predestined. There are three or four of these moments, but I’ll just highlight the weirdest one here: Early in the book, she tells what she thinks is a heartwarming story about how she obtained her dog, Stella. Unfortunately, the story doesn’t come across the way she seems to imagine it does, and given her target audience for this book I’m kind of shocked she included it.
It begins with her discussion of how she grew up with a dog in the house as a kid, and how one day as an adult she decides she wants a dog to live in her house again. The turnaround time between deciding to get a dog, “falling in love” with “the perfect dog” on Petfinder, and applying to adopt that dog is all within the space of a single day. By the next morning she gets an email saying she is being considered, which is far faster than standard in pet adoption, and she concludes that the adoption is a done deal and the dog is hers. She starts to plan out where his stuff will go and starts telling her family that she adopted a dog.
Unfortunately, hours pass without further contact from the shelter. She describes how upset she is when she doesn’t hear back from the shelter the following day, but by the end of the weekend she finally receives a response. The shelter is a bit concerned because she marked on her application that she’d consider getting rid of her dog if she had a baby and the baby and dog were incompatible. Since lots of dogs are dumped back in the shelter system once a family has a new baby, the shelter was understandably wary.
The author describes how upset she is by the shelter’s caution and says that she immediately writes back to explain that she only meant that she would give up the dog if the dog was a child-biter or something, it’s all just a misunderstanding! She begs the shelter to let her adopt the dog, and insists that she would never abandon him. She tells us that she would be a super responsible dog owner who would never bail on a dog, and it’s apparently unfair and hurtful that the shelter questioned her on this.
The author then describes how she and her family are crushed by this early morning email and spend the rest of the day being incredibly glum and sad about it, so she goes back to check the Petfinder status of her other Wishlist Dogs (who are maybe not as perfect as the one she says she fell in love with, but would suffice in a pinch) and is sad to see they have somehow all been adopted in the two or three days since she first applied to adopt this one.
Suddenly, though, fate smiles upon them, because there is a backyard breeder selling 8-week-old puppies on Craigslist, and you can buy one same-day! No background check needed, no pesky applications, and no inconvenient questions about your ability to actually care for this dog. The author is totally sold, and she calls the backyard breeder immediately to set aside time to buy one. By the end of the day, she and that very-young-puppy that she bought no-questions-asked are back in her house, and she is declaring victory.
To round out the end of what she seems to think is a very heartwarming story, the author finishes by sharing that shortly after getting home with the puppy, she gets another email from the shelter! They are willing to let her adopt the dog she fell in love with, because she seemed so sincere and wanted this adoption so badly. The author triumphantly explains that it is too late, because she doesn’t want to adopt a dog from a shelter anymore, she already bought one off Craigslist in the intervening hours! The shelter had their chance, apparently, and they blew it by double-checking that the dog would be safe and cared for. She tells this story as if it portrays her as prevailing over adversity (the adversity of not instantly being given custody of a shelter dog without anyone questioning her ability to care for it?) and she seems to think she comes off very well and the shelter comes off as capricious and unfair. …She is mistaken.
The author reiterates to us that this is fate, and seems to think this is a really heartwarming story. She tells it excitedly and in the tone that suggests Great Things Are Happening. She emphasizes to us, many many times, that puppies are cute. She “fell in love with” a puppy sold on Craigslist, what choice did she really have? She doesn’t seem to realize that her willingness to ditch the other dog, who she also “fell in love with” and was All About for like 48 hours, makes her seem impulsive, irresponsible, and selfish. She literally wrote an email to a shelter begging them to reconsider her as an adopter, because she would love that dog so damn much and would never ever ditch him, and then tells that same shelter that she doesn’t want that dog anymore— she’s ditching him! 12 hours after insisting that she’s all-in, and begging the shelter to let her adopt him. Because she bought a puppy. Off Craigslist.
That’s really bad! The optics of that are just… how can she not see it? She describes to us how immensely unfair it is that the shelter thinks she doesn’t take dog ownership seriously, and then she tells us that she begged for a second chance to adopt a shelter dog, and then flippantly rejected that chance she had begged for because she wanted same-day-dog-delivery that the shelter had failed to provide. Of course she didn’t take this seriously, buying a puppy using the criteria “puppies are cute”, “the puppy crawled on me”, and “backyard breeders don’t ask whether you’ll ditch the dog later” are not the hallmarks of responsible decision-making.
This isn’t the only story that comes off very-much-the-opposite of what she seems to think it does, but it’s the weirdest for sure. Another weird one was describing how her dog develops a severe anxiety and stress as a result of a major change to her environment, so the author decides to kennel her and take a vacation without her, to relieve her own stress of dealing with a stressed dog. What? It’s not that I don’t believe someone would do these things, I’m just kind of shocked someone would write about them, on purpose, in a book she is marketing to people who love dogs, while claiming her dog is like her child. Is that how she’d treat a child? Would she get mad at an adoption agency checking her references? Would she buy a baby off Craigslist to avoid someone asking about her contingency plan for if she becomes unable to care for a child later on? It’s all just so bizarre and internally inconsistent.
Another issue, albeit a lower-stakes one, is that though the book is short, the author really stretches everything out so it feels about twice as long as it really needed to be. She tells long stories with lots of filler and verbatim dialogue that don’t really contribute much, and it does sometimes feel more like a blog post than a book. The writing wasn’t very polished and probably would have benefited from stricter editing.
I love her passion for language and she has doubtless contributed greatly to our understanding of speech development. I had been familiar with her through her videos of Stella on social media was excited to read this book! I honestly hadn’t even considered the possibility that this book would make me look at the author in a new, worse way. It’s a book about a dog learning to talk, what could be problematic about that? I guess even in this, the author found a way to break new ground.
There are also a few downsides to the book, the biggest of which is probably that the author simultaneously claims her dog is like a child to her but also makes some really incongruous ethical choices, which she describes breathlessly to the reader as if they are predestined. There are three or four of these moments, but I’ll just highlight the weirdest one here: Early in the book, she tells what she thinks is a heartwarming story about how she obtained her dog, Stella. Unfortunately, the story doesn’t come across the way she seems to imagine it does, and given her target audience for this book I’m kind of shocked she included it.
It begins with her discussion of how she grew up with a dog in the house as a kid, and how one day as an adult she decides she wants a dog to live in her house again. The turnaround time between deciding to get a dog, “falling in love” with “the perfect dog” on Petfinder, and applying to adopt that dog is all within the space of a single day. By the next morning she gets an email saying she is being considered, which is far faster than standard in pet adoption, and she concludes that the adoption is a done deal and the dog is hers. She starts to plan out where his stuff will go and starts telling her family that she adopted a dog.
Unfortunately, hours pass without further contact from the shelter. She describes how upset she is when she doesn’t hear back from the shelter the following day, but by the end of the weekend she finally receives a response. The shelter is a bit concerned because she marked on her application that she’d consider getting rid of her dog if she had a baby and the baby and dog were incompatible. Since lots of dogs are dumped back in the shelter system once a family has a new baby, the shelter was understandably wary.
The author describes how upset she is by the shelter’s caution and says that she immediately writes back to explain that she only meant that she would give up the dog if the dog was a child-biter or something, it’s all just a misunderstanding! She begs the shelter to let her adopt the dog, and insists that she would never abandon him. She tells us that she would be a super responsible dog owner who would never bail on a dog, and it’s apparently unfair and hurtful that the shelter questioned her on this.
The author then describes how she and her family are crushed by this early morning email and spend the rest of the day being incredibly glum and sad about it, so she goes back to check the Petfinder status of her other Wishlist Dogs (who are maybe not as perfect as the one she says she fell in love with, but would suffice in a pinch) and is sad to see they have somehow all been adopted in the two or three days since she first applied to adopt this one.
Suddenly, though, fate smiles upon them, because there is a backyard breeder selling 8-week-old puppies on Craigslist, and you can buy one same-day! No background check needed, no pesky applications, and no inconvenient questions about your ability to actually care for this dog. The author is totally sold, and she calls the backyard breeder immediately to set aside time to buy one. By the end of the day, she and that very-young-puppy that she bought no-questions-asked are back in her house, and she is declaring victory.
To round out the end of what she seems to think is a very heartwarming story, the author finishes by sharing that shortly after getting home with the puppy, she gets another email from the shelter! They are willing to let her adopt the dog she fell in love with, because she seemed so sincere and wanted this adoption so badly. The author triumphantly explains that it is too late, because she doesn’t want to adopt a dog from a shelter anymore, she already bought one off Craigslist in the intervening hours! The shelter had their chance, apparently, and they blew it by double-checking that the dog would be safe and cared for. She tells this story as if it portrays her as prevailing over adversity (the adversity of not instantly being given custody of a shelter dog without anyone questioning her ability to care for it?) and she seems to think she comes off very well and the shelter comes off as capricious and unfair. …She is mistaken.
The author reiterates to us that this is fate, and seems to think this is a really heartwarming story. She tells it excitedly and in the tone that suggests Great Things Are Happening. She emphasizes to us, many many times, that puppies are cute. She “fell in love with” a puppy sold on Craigslist, what choice did she really have? She doesn’t seem to realize that her willingness to ditch the other dog, who she also “fell in love with” and was All About for like 48 hours, makes her seem impulsive, irresponsible, and selfish. She literally wrote an email to a shelter begging them to reconsider her as an adopter, because she would love that dog so damn much and would never ever ditch him, and then tells that same shelter that she doesn’t want that dog anymore— she’s ditching him! 12 hours after insisting that she’s all-in, and begging the shelter to let her adopt him. Because she bought a puppy. Off Craigslist.
That’s really bad! The optics of that are just… how can she not see it? She describes to us how immensely unfair it is that the shelter thinks she doesn’t take dog ownership seriously, and then she tells us that she begged for a second chance to adopt a shelter dog, and then flippantly rejected that chance she had begged for because she wanted same-day-dog-delivery that the shelter had failed to provide. Of course she didn’t take this seriously, buying a puppy using the criteria “puppies are cute”, “the puppy crawled on me”, and “backyard breeders don’t ask whether you’ll ditch the dog later” are not the hallmarks of responsible decision-making.
This isn’t the only story that comes off very-much-the-opposite of what she seems to think it does, but it’s the weirdest for sure. Another weird one was describing how her dog develops a severe anxiety and stress as a result of a major change to her environment, so the author decides to kennel her and take a vacation without her, to relieve her own stress of dealing with a stressed dog. What? It’s not that I don’t believe someone would do these things, I’m just kind of shocked someone would write about them, on purpose, in a book she is marketing to people who love dogs, while claiming her dog is like her child. Is that how she’d treat a child? Would she get mad at an adoption agency checking her references? Would she buy a baby off Craigslist to avoid someone asking about her contingency plan for if she becomes unable to care for a child later on? It’s all just so bizarre and internally inconsistent.
Another issue, albeit a lower-stakes one, is that though the book is short, the author really stretches everything out so it feels about twice as long as it really needed to be. She tells long stories with lots of filler and verbatim dialogue that don’t really contribute much, and it does sometimes feel more like a blog post than a book. The writing wasn’t very polished and probably would have benefited from stricter editing.
I love her passion for language and she has doubtless contributed greatly to our understanding of speech development. I had been familiar with her through her videos of Stella on social media was excited to read this book! I honestly hadn’t even considered the possibility that this book would make me look at the author in a new, worse way. It’s a book about a dog learning to talk, what could be problematic about that? I guess even in this, the author found a way to break new ground.
March 25, 2025
I have always had a very deep connection with non-human animals. I frequently referred to my childhood dogs as my best friends/sisters and have always felt that I connect to animals more easily than I do to humans. I have also always felt that non-human animals are far more intelligent than most people give them credit for! They have such an obvious depth of emotion and understanding that is so often underestimated, and this belief has grown into my values and worldview, which include recognizing the sentience of non-human animals.
When I first learned that people use modified AAC devices to communicate with their animal companions, I knew I had to try it. My husband and I adopted our two cats a decade ago, and they are very vocal, constantly talking to us and very clearly telling us what they want and what they do not want in their own way! I showed my husband all of the videos I found, and he surprised me for Christmas 2023 with a starter pack of buttons. I immediately programmed them with our cats' most requested activities: scritches and play.
After some very early success within a few days, I added two more buttons for snuggles and train, as I started training the cats in some basic commands from about a year old (sit, up (stand up on hind legs), and high five along with come and wait/stay). I started training them on a whim; as someone who had never lived with cats and was involved in training our family dogs growing up, it never occurred to me that cats couldn’t learn commands just like dogs. It wasn’t until after I trained them in some basic commands that I learned that most people consider cats untrainable!
I have been working on the buttons with my cats for a little over a year now. Only one of my two cats (Yoda) actively uses the buttons to talk to us, but our other cat (Chewy) understands and reacts to them (ex. he comes running when his sister presses the train button so he can practice tricks for treats!)
On to this book specifically, starting with my only real criticism:
The story of how Christina bought Stella was concerning to me. She said she would give up a dog if it was a danger to their hypothetical future baby instead of, I don’t know, investing in adequately training a dog so that it won’t attack a baby in the first place. And when her adoption application was denied, she bought a puppy from a backyard breeder, which was ethically dubious to me, to say the least.
Adoption/purchase aside, this was very helpful practically in understanding the logic and science behind teaching non-human animals to use AAC devices. I would have loved even more data and scientific details, but I know this was meant to be easy for laypeople to digest, first and foremost. This gave lots of valuable tips, and I now have a long list of potential words to add on top of the seven they already have (the original four plus butt taps, a Yoda favourite, more and all done)
This book is very dog-focused, but in my experience as someone who has had both dogs and cats, while the average cat isn’t as motivated to learn/please as the average dog, they can definitely learn a variety of skills/tricks and words and can learn to communicate with buttons.
I’m glad I finally picked this up from the library and learned some of the theory behind AAC from a speech pathologist’s perspective! I feel more equipped to continue this journey of giving my cats their own agency to request what they want and indicate what they don’t want in the most clear terms possible.
Since starting to use the buttons, my relationship with my cats has grown so much. They can see the effort I’m putting in to give them a chance to communicate with me in a way that I can understand, and I do my best to respect their requests whenever possible to show them that I value their wants and needs! I’d highly recommend trying a few buttons with your animal companions and checking out this book if you want to start off on the right foot with training.
Trigger/Content Warnings: pet death (mentioned)
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When I first learned that people use modified AAC devices to communicate with their animal companions, I knew I had to try it. My husband and I adopted our two cats a decade ago, and they are very vocal, constantly talking to us and very clearly telling us what they want and what they do not want in their own way! I showed my husband all of the videos I found, and he surprised me for Christmas 2023 with a starter pack of buttons. I immediately programmed them with our cats' most requested activities: scritches and play.
After some very early success within a few days, I added two more buttons for snuggles and train, as I started training the cats in some basic commands from about a year old (sit, up (stand up on hind legs), and high five along with come and wait/stay). I started training them on a whim; as someone who had never lived with cats and was involved in training our family dogs growing up, it never occurred to me that cats couldn’t learn commands just like dogs. It wasn’t until after I trained them in some basic commands that I learned that most people consider cats untrainable!
I have been working on the buttons with my cats for a little over a year now. Only one of my two cats (Yoda) actively uses the buttons to talk to us, but our other cat (Chewy) understands and reacts to them (ex. he comes running when his sister presses the train button so he can practice tricks for treats!)
On to this book specifically, starting with my only real criticism:
The story of how Christina bought Stella was concerning to me. She said she would give up a dog if it was a danger to their hypothetical future baby instead of, I don’t know, investing in adequately training a dog so that it won’t attack a baby in the first place. And when her adoption application was denied, she bought a puppy from a backyard breeder, which was ethically dubious to me, to say the least.
Adoption/purchase aside, this was very helpful practically in understanding the logic and science behind teaching non-human animals to use AAC devices. I would have loved even more data and scientific details, but I know this was meant to be easy for laypeople to digest, first and foremost. This gave lots of valuable tips, and I now have a long list of potential words to add on top of the seven they already have (the original four plus butt taps, a Yoda favourite, more and all done)
This book is very dog-focused, but in my experience as someone who has had both dogs and cats, while the average cat isn’t as motivated to learn/please as the average dog, they can definitely learn a variety of skills/tricks and words and can learn to communicate with buttons.
I’m glad I finally picked this up from the library and learned some of the theory behind AAC from a speech pathologist’s perspective! I feel more equipped to continue this journey of giving my cats their own agency to request what they want and indicate what they don’t want in the most clear terms possible.
Since starting to use the buttons, my relationship with my cats has grown so much. They can see the effort I’m putting in to give them a chance to communicate with me in a way that I can understand, and I do my best to respect their requests whenever possible to show them that I value their wants and needs! I’d highly recommend trying a few buttons with your animal companions and checking out this book if you want to start off on the right foot with training.
Trigger/Content Warnings: pet death (mentioned)
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You can join our book club over on Patreon...
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June 13, 2021
5★
“Back at work, I was reviewing a toddler language assessment I completed when something struck me.‘If Stella is already gesturing at eight weeks old, what other communication skills does she display that overlap with those of toddlers?’”
The author is a speech therapist who specialises in AAC, augmentative and alternative communication. She works with toddlers and small children who aren’t speaking, some of whom have already had countless therapists who have had little success. The point of AAC is to find ways for people to communicate, perhaps by using a device with pictures to point to or even a speech program like English theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking used with a computer.
When Christina and Jake got a puppy, she noticed very quickly how the puppy did what children do. Stella had wandered around the place, sniffing all the toys, interested in everything.
“Stella approached her dishes and pawed her water bowl. ‘Oh, you need water? Let’s get more water, Stella’. In only two days of living here, Stella learned what each dish was for. She even gestured by pawing her dish to let me know that she needed more water.”
This is an eight-week old puppy, remember, not an experienced older dog, so it’s natural that Christina might start making comparisons with her very young clients. She began making lists of the prelinguistic skills that she assessed in the kids and the milestones that Stella had already reached. Stella cries to get attention, stands by her food bowl when she sees Jake or Christina go to the shelf where here food is, and interacts with adults when she drops the ball at their feet.
There are milestones parents look for in their kids - first smile, first word, first step. We help kids reach these by smiling, repeating simple words over and over, helping kids when they indicate what they want. When a tiny tot says “Up”, they reach up to be carried. They’ve learned to add the word to the gesture.
Anyone who has had a dog knows how expressive they can be. Dogs will bring you their leash, push their empty food bowl around, paw at your leg if you’re on the phone (ignoring them) – the list is endless. We had working dogs, so we knew how smart they are at interpreting our verbal commands and gestures even when they were a long way across a paddock and a mob of sheep. They are magic!
But that’s as far as it goes. That’s dogs understanding our words and actions while they have only the most rudimentary gestures to indicate what they want. Christina decides to embark on Speech Therapy for Dogs.
She started simply, by getting a few buttons that when pressed would say a pre-recorded word. “Outside”, “play”, “water” - that sort of thing. As time went on, she added words. The way Stella learned to use them was remarkable and sometimes hilarious! She began to put a few together or use them in ways to make comments, rather than just tap out “Water”.
There’s a funny episode where after they’d changed the clocks back, they wanted to move Stella’s dinner to an hour later to keep her in synch with their work schedules next week. Stella kept saying (tapping the button) ‘Eat’.
“I gave Stella a couple of treats to tide her over but kept saying, ‘No eat now, eat later’.
Fifteen minutes passed.
‘Help eat’ Stella said then barked.
‘I know Stella, good waiting. Eat later’
Stella sighed. She stood still for about ten seconds.
‘Love you, no’ she said. Stella walked away into the bedroom.”
Christina and Jake were astounded! They had added a “no” button earlier. The “love you” button came later, and they used the phrase a lot when they were cuddling and tummy tickling. They had added the “help” button for when Stella had a ball stuck under the couch or something like that. They wanted to make it possible for Stella to express herself, and by golly she did!
Another time, when they had late visitors who were taking a long time to leave at the end of the evening and were standing around the door, as you do, having another conversation, Stella got up, walked over to her button board, and said “Bye”, then walked back to her bed and curled up. Everyone cracked up . . . and left!
This all took place over Stella’s first months with Christina. Her story has now been featured in magazines and on TV and Christina’s website Hunger for Words, if you would like to know more. She has included tips at the end of each chapter as well as footnotes and references. It’s an enjoyable read, especially for anyone who lives with dogs.
From personal experience with dogs, conversation is all very well, but when someone is on a motorbike in a paddock shouting “Oh, for crying out loud what do you think you’re doing? Get back here!” what the dog hears is BACK, which is generally the command to run further around the other side of a mob of sheep.
Stick to the simple words, the commands they know. For us, either COME BEHIND or ALL ABOARD. Poor old Bluey is going to do what he thinks he’s been told. [The same is true of computers - they do what you tell them, not what you want. Dogs are more intuitive, at least!]
And when we look at our dogs as they paw at the door and tilt their heads at us, and maybe make a small woof, we don’t know if they want to go chase something outside, or find a toy they left outside, or go for a piddle, but with the right training and the right buttons, they can tell us a lot.
I look forward to the continuing adventures of Stella and the Hunger for Words program. Thanks to Allen and Unwin for the beautiful preview copy for review from which I’ve quoted, so it’s possible some quotes may have changed.
“Back at work, I was reviewing a toddler language assessment I completed when something struck me.‘If Stella is already gesturing at eight weeks old, what other communication skills does she display that overlap with those of toddlers?’”
The author is a speech therapist who specialises in AAC, augmentative and alternative communication. She works with toddlers and small children who aren’t speaking, some of whom have already had countless therapists who have had little success. The point of AAC is to find ways for people to communicate, perhaps by using a device with pictures to point to or even a speech program like English theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking used with a computer.
When Christina and Jake got a puppy, she noticed very quickly how the puppy did what children do. Stella had wandered around the place, sniffing all the toys, interested in everything.
“Stella approached her dishes and pawed her water bowl. ‘Oh, you need water? Let’s get more water, Stella’. In only two days of living here, Stella learned what each dish was for. She even gestured by pawing her dish to let me know that she needed more water.”
This is an eight-week old puppy, remember, not an experienced older dog, so it’s natural that Christina might start making comparisons with her very young clients. She began making lists of the prelinguistic skills that she assessed in the kids and the milestones that Stella had already reached. Stella cries to get attention, stands by her food bowl when she sees Jake or Christina go to the shelf where here food is, and interacts with adults when she drops the ball at their feet.
There are milestones parents look for in their kids - first smile, first word, first step. We help kids reach these by smiling, repeating simple words over and over, helping kids when they indicate what they want. When a tiny tot says “Up”, they reach up to be carried. They’ve learned to add the word to the gesture.
Anyone who has had a dog knows how expressive they can be. Dogs will bring you their leash, push their empty food bowl around, paw at your leg if you’re on the phone (ignoring them) – the list is endless. We had working dogs, so we knew how smart they are at interpreting our verbal commands and gestures even when they were a long way across a paddock and a mob of sheep. They are magic!
But that’s as far as it goes. That’s dogs understanding our words and actions while they have only the most rudimentary gestures to indicate what they want. Christina decides to embark on Speech Therapy for Dogs.
She started simply, by getting a few buttons that when pressed would say a pre-recorded word. “Outside”, “play”, “water” - that sort of thing. As time went on, she added words. The way Stella learned to use them was remarkable and sometimes hilarious! She began to put a few together or use them in ways to make comments, rather than just tap out “Water”.
There’s a funny episode where after they’d changed the clocks back, they wanted to move Stella’s dinner to an hour later to keep her in synch with their work schedules next week. Stella kept saying (tapping the button) ‘Eat’.
“I gave Stella a couple of treats to tide her over but kept saying, ‘No eat now, eat later’.
Fifteen minutes passed.
‘Help eat’ Stella said then barked.
‘I know Stella, good waiting. Eat later’
Stella sighed. She stood still for about ten seconds.
‘Love you, no’ she said. Stella walked away into the bedroom.”
Christina and Jake were astounded! They had added a “no” button earlier. The “love you” button came later, and they used the phrase a lot when they were cuddling and tummy tickling. They had added the “help” button for when Stella had a ball stuck under the couch or something like that. They wanted to make it possible for Stella to express herself, and by golly she did!
Another time, when they had late visitors who were taking a long time to leave at the end of the evening and were standing around the door, as you do, having another conversation, Stella got up, walked over to her button board, and said “Bye”, then walked back to her bed and curled up. Everyone cracked up . . . and left!
This all took place over Stella’s first months with Christina. Her story has now been featured in magazines and on TV and Christina’s website Hunger for Words, if you would like to know more. She has included tips at the end of each chapter as well as footnotes and references. It’s an enjoyable read, especially for anyone who lives with dogs.
From personal experience with dogs, conversation is all very well, but when someone is on a motorbike in a paddock shouting “Oh, for crying out loud what do you think you’re doing? Get back here!” what the dog hears is BACK, which is generally the command to run further around the other side of a mob of sheep.
Stick to the simple words, the commands they know. For us, either COME BEHIND or ALL ABOARD. Poor old Bluey is going to do what he thinks he’s been told. [The same is true of computers - they do what you tell them, not what you want. Dogs are more intuitive, at least!]
And when we look at our dogs as they paw at the door and tilt their heads at us, and maybe make a small woof, we don’t know if they want to go chase something outside, or find a toy they left outside, or go for a piddle, but with the right training and the right buttons, they can tell us a lot.
I look forward to the continuing adventures of Stella and the Hunger for Words program. Thanks to Allen and Unwin for the beautiful preview copy for review from which I’ve quoted, so it’s possible some quotes may have changed.
February 27, 2021
Christina, a speech pathologist, used Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices with her clients, children with delayed speech, to help them communicate. When she and her boyfriend got tired of waiting for a shelter dog, they bought a puppy from Craigslist. (Yes, that bothers me a lot.) Christina wanted to try using the techniques she used in her job on the new puppy, Stella. She purchased some large recordable answer buttons which could be operated by Stella, starting with outside, play, and water. To see Stella in action, the author has videos on her website, hungerforwords.com. Thanks to the publisher for allowing me to review this ARC.
June 8, 2021
Fascinating but frustrating. Hunger does absolutely zero research on dogs or dog training before starting, & honesty seemed wildly unprepared to own a dog (the road trip to San Diego showed a LOT of failure to plan for the dog) but she decides she’s going to teach other people how to teach their dog to communicate (she mentions “I thought I may teach a few other dogs to talk”).
Her failure to cite or reference any experts on dog training or behavior (& her hilarious idea abt dogs’ intrinsic motivation bc of a study done on children? Good lord) made it hard to really take her seriously.
STILL, the concept is fascinating & could very well teach us a lot about how dogs understand the world.
Her failure to cite or reference any experts on dog training or behavior (& her hilarious idea abt dogs’ intrinsic motivation bc of a study done on children? Good lord) made it hard to really take her seriously.
STILL, the concept is fascinating & could very well teach us a lot about how dogs understand the world.
December 4, 2021
Very interesting book. It was great hearing about this journey in teaching a dog how to use buttons to speak. This is an endeavor I've recently started with my own dog, so it was really cool hearing how Stella made advancements and what troubles she faced.
Potentially this is a bit nit-picky, can't really tell yet to be honest as sometimes I'm overly sensitive about these things and other times I don't give myself permission enough to be mad about something, but I did not like the continual comparison of autistic children learning to use AAC with a dog learning to use buttons to do the same thing.
I understand that the author is a speech-language pathologist and that she works with autistic children quite frequently. I appreciate her opinions that AAC is not 'less than' using speech to communicate, but I really can't get over the continual flip flopping between talking about her autistic patients learning to use new systems and set-ups on their tablets and then going into talking about her dog learning a new set up (like the buttons.) The two are not even remotely the same thing and talking about them in conjunction in this way sets up a very uncomfortable comparison between autistic children and animals.
To many people this might sound ridiculous, because 'obviously she isn't saying that,' but as someone who works with autistic kids, I'm sure she knows just how common it is for autistic people to be compared to animals or said that our intelligence is not 'up to par' with whatever society thinks is right. We're constantly bombarded with the r-slur and insults to our intelligence and understanding, and there's something about this that just made me really uncomfortable reading it.
A history on her work probably wouldn't have bothered me so much. But several times in the book she starts talking about specific patients she had and the struggles they were facing with AAC and it was almost like she was using that to justify her dog struggling. She was actively comparing the experiences she was having with her dog to the experiences of autistic children and that kinda crossed a line for me.
I'm also not clear what the author intended on accomplishing by telling the full story about how she intended to adopt a dog, but was flagged by the adoption center she was working with because she said she would consider rehoming the dog if she had a baby and the dog and baby didn't get along well. She emailed them back asking them to reconsider and clarifying her answer, but hadn't received a response, so she purchased a dog from a backyard breeder that same day instead... what? I get that people make mistakes and the past can't be undone, but I don't see why this would be included in the book because it almost seems to advocate for the convenience of buying from a backyard breeder rather than doing your due diligence and trying to adopt or research ethical breeders. I wish the author had elaborated on this a lot more or just left it out entirely.
I really wanted to enjoy this book, and for the most part I did. I learned a lot and it was really cool getting step-by-step progress updates on Stella's use of her buttons, but there were also parts that just made me uncomfortable. I went into the book open-minded and tried to give the author the benefit of the doubt, and I think that helped me not get so upset at times, but this is a bit of a warning to anyone who is autistic and considering reading this book. It may not be the easiest to read.
Potentially this is a bit nit-picky, can't really tell yet to be honest as sometimes I'm overly sensitive about these things and other times I don't give myself permission enough to be mad about something, but I did not like the continual comparison of autistic children learning to use AAC with a dog learning to use buttons to do the same thing.
I understand that the author is a speech-language pathologist and that she works with autistic children quite frequently. I appreciate her opinions that AAC is not 'less than' using speech to communicate, but I really can't get over the continual flip flopping between talking about her autistic patients learning to use new systems and set-ups on their tablets and then going into talking about her dog learning a new set up (like the buttons.) The two are not even remotely the same thing and talking about them in conjunction in this way sets up a very uncomfortable comparison between autistic children and animals.
To many people this might sound ridiculous, because 'obviously she isn't saying that,' but as someone who works with autistic kids, I'm sure she knows just how common it is for autistic people to be compared to animals or said that our intelligence is not 'up to par' with whatever society thinks is right. We're constantly bombarded with the r-slur and insults to our intelligence and understanding, and there's something about this that just made me really uncomfortable reading it.
A history on her work probably wouldn't have bothered me so much. But several times in the book she starts talking about specific patients she had and the struggles they were facing with AAC and it was almost like she was using that to justify her dog struggling. She was actively comparing the experiences she was having with her dog to the experiences of autistic children and that kinda crossed a line for me.
I'm also not clear what the author intended on accomplishing by telling the full story about how she intended to adopt a dog, but was flagged by the adoption center she was working with because she said she would consider rehoming the dog if she had a baby and the dog and baby didn't get along well. She emailed them back asking them to reconsider and clarifying her answer, but hadn't received a response, so she purchased a dog from a backyard breeder that same day instead... what? I get that people make mistakes and the past can't be undone, but I don't see why this would be included in the book because it almost seems to advocate for the convenience of buying from a backyard breeder rather than doing your due diligence and trying to adopt or research ethical breeders. I wish the author had elaborated on this a lot more or just left it out entirely.
I really wanted to enjoy this book, and for the most part I did. I learned a lot and it was really cool getting step-by-step progress updates on Stella's use of her buttons, but there were also parts that just made me uncomfortable. I went into the book open-minded and tried to give the author the benefit of the doubt, and I think that helped me not get so upset at times, but this is a bit of a warning to anyone who is autistic and considering reading this book. It may not be the easiest to read.
May 14, 2021
I've been following speech pathologist Christina Hunger and her talking dog, Stella, for quite some time now. I am truly amazed by her work. To give animals a means to talk and communicate to us in ways no one ever thought possible is just extraordinary to me. And, yet, it's such a simple idea that it's a wonder to me no one has ever thought of it or tried it before. And now, thanks to her work, there are all these other dogs and cats (and, I hear, even a horse) learning to speak and communicate their needs in ways they couldn't before. What a gift Christina has given to these animals and their owners. Highly recommend to any animal lover, or anyone interested in language and linguistics.
November 4, 2021
How Stella Learned To Talk is a non-fiction book by American speech therapist, Christine Hunger. The author provides a few anecdotes of her work with children, and describes her experience dog-sitting for a friend whose pets had been trained to ring a bell when they needed to go out.
When she and her fiancé, Jake discussed getting a dog, they initially rejected the idea of a puppy, but fell in love with a Catahoula/Blue Heeler puppy, which they named Stella. Christina saw parallels between the language development of toddlers and the behaviour of young dogs, and wondered what dogs might want to say if they, like humans, had access to the tools to express themselves.
Eighteen months, a lot of patience and persistence, and some recordable buttons later, and Stella uses nouns, verbs, names, adjectives, and question words to tell Christina what she wants to do, where she wants to go, when she is thinking about Christina, what they are doing, what she likes, when she is mad, when she is happy, when she needs alone time, when Christina and Jake are being good, to answer questions, to ask questions, to participate in short conversations, and to make her own unique phrases every day.
On the author’s website, readers can see video of Stella using her device. The book contains teaching tips for those who want to teach their own dog to speak, as well as a list of resources, recommended reading, comprehensive notes and eight pages of colour plates. This is an utterly fascinating read.
When she and her fiancé, Jake discussed getting a dog, they initially rejected the idea of a puppy, but fell in love with a Catahoula/Blue Heeler puppy, which they named Stella. Christina saw parallels between the language development of toddlers and the behaviour of young dogs, and wondered what dogs might want to say if they, like humans, had access to the tools to express themselves.
Eighteen months, a lot of patience and persistence, and some recordable buttons later, and Stella uses nouns, verbs, names, adjectives, and question words to tell Christina what she wants to do, where she wants to go, when she is thinking about Christina, what they are doing, what she likes, when she is mad, when she is happy, when she needs alone time, when Christina and Jake are being good, to answer questions, to ask questions, to participate in short conversations, and to make her own unique phrases every day.
On the author’s website, readers can see video of Stella using her device. The book contains teaching tips for those who want to teach their own dog to speak, as well as a list of resources, recommended reading, comprehensive notes and eight pages of colour plates. This is an utterly fascinating read.
June 11, 2021
Hunger is a speech therapist who specializes in AAC, augmentative and alternative communication. For most of her career so far, she has worked with toddlers. She wondered if she should try to train her puppy to communicate by pressing buttons that generate audio clips of single words or two-word phrases. Did it work? Beyond her wildest dreams.
The most interesting (to me) communications that the dog has come up with so far:
• "Beach beach beach beach beach": I thought the whole experiment would go like this, frankly. But the author says that Stella quickly learned that beach time happened only in the afternoons and evenings. So the phase of requesting "beach" in the middle of the night was brief.
• "Jake no bed": Stella said this when Hunger's partner was out of town, just before Stella curled up to sleep on his side of the bed. I think it's fascinating that Stella found this use for the word no.
• "Christina bye": This is what Stella told the dogsitter right after the author left and before Stella went to look out the window. I did not expect a dog to be able to formulate a thought about a past event in this way.
• "Christina later": Stella said this when the author tried to pet her at the same time that visitors were also petting her. I did not expect a dog to be able to formulate a thought about a future event in this way.
• "Love you, no": Part of an extended argument Stella had with the author shortly after the clocks turned back for Daylight Savings. Stella couldn't understand why she was being fed an hour later.
• "Eat no": Stella expressing her frustration at being fed later in the evening than usual.
• "Mad": What Stella said after she accidentally erased the message on her favorite button, "beach."
• "Help": Stella once said this in the middle of the night. The author got up to see what was wrong and found her chasing a cricket around the living room.
There are also many three- and four-word messages, and some that are longer than that. I just can't recall them because of my puny human brain.
Hunger's background in speech therapy definitely affected how she ran the experiment and what her goals were. She focused on Stella being able to express her thoughts and especially her desires and emotions. In contrast, researchers like Irene Pepperberg have focused on animals' intellectual capacities. Pepperberg's work with African grey parrots indicates that these birds can categorize and classify and that they understand the concept of zero. Along the way, Pepperberg discovered that the parrots could communicate emotional responses too, but that was an interesting side development rather than the focus of the research.
Minus one star for being a bit repetitive and padded. I skimmed passages that didn't directly relate to Stella.
The most interesting (to me) communications that the dog has come up with so far:
• "Beach beach beach beach beach": I thought the whole experiment would go like this, frankly. But the author says that Stella quickly learned that beach time happened only in the afternoons and evenings. So the phase of requesting "beach" in the middle of the night was brief.
• "Jake no bed": Stella said this when Hunger's partner was out of town, just before Stella curled up to sleep on his side of the bed. I think it's fascinating that Stella found this use for the word no.
• "Christina bye": This is what Stella told the dogsitter right after the author left and before Stella went to look out the window. I did not expect a dog to be able to formulate a thought about a past event in this way.
• "Christina later": Stella said this when the author tried to pet her at the same time that visitors were also petting her. I did not expect a dog to be able to formulate a thought about a future event in this way.
• "Love you, no": Part of an extended argument Stella had with the author shortly after the clocks turned back for Daylight Savings. Stella couldn't understand why she was being fed an hour later.
• "Eat no": Stella expressing her frustration at being fed later in the evening than usual.
• "Mad": What Stella said after she accidentally erased the message on her favorite button, "beach."
• "Help": Stella once said this in the middle of the night. The author got up to see what was wrong and found her chasing a cricket around the living room.
There are also many three- and four-word messages, and some that are longer than that. I just can't recall them because of my puny human brain.
Hunger's background in speech therapy definitely affected how she ran the experiment and what her goals were. She focused on Stella being able to express her thoughts and especially her desires and emotions. In contrast, researchers like Irene Pepperberg have focused on animals' intellectual capacities. Pepperberg's work with African grey parrots indicates that these birds can categorize and classify and that they understand the concept of zero. Along the way, Pepperberg discovered that the parrots could communicate emotional responses too, but that was an interesting side development rather than the focus of the research.
Minus one star for being a bit repetitive and padded. I skimmed passages that didn't directly relate to Stella.
May 7, 2021
I really wanted this to be more interesting. Storytelling was way too drawn out (like several pages on their struggling to decide whether to adopt a dog, on the night after they met the dog... spoiler alert, they adopted the dog... let’s get on with the point of the book please...) to keep my interest.
August 21, 2021
This was an incredible story! A speech pathologist came up with the idea of teaching her dog Stella to communicate her thoughts by pushing word buttons on a “talk board”. In less than two years, the dog was expressing her feelings in three to four word sentences, to her owners and also others. The author’s tips for training your own dog to “speak”, at the end of each chapter, were very thorough. I would love to try this with my toy poodles, since I talk to them all the time, and I always wonder what goes through their minds! I don’t think any of them would be heavy enough to push the buttons hard enough!
Memorable quotes:
(Pg.91)-“When I set out to teach Stella words, I asked the question, “What happens when I implement speech therapy language interventions with my puppy?” I did not ask, “How can I get her to push the buttons that say words?”
(Pg.140)-“Parents do not explain the meaning of love to a baby first, quiz them on what it means, then accept it when the child says”I love you.” Children learn the social times and feelings associated with the words they hear. So far, Stella had learned the same way. She wanted to join in on the love and had a way to tell us.”
Memorable quotes:
(Pg.91)-“When I set out to teach Stella words, I asked the question, “What happens when I implement speech therapy language interventions with my puppy?” I did not ask, “How can I get her to push the buttons that say words?”
(Pg.140)-“Parents do not explain the meaning of love to a baby first, quiz them on what it means, then accept it when the child says”I love you.” Children learn the social times and feelings associated with the words they hear. So far, Stella had learned the same way. She wanted to join in on the love and had a way to tell us.”
June 13, 2021
This is such a great, inspiring read! I can’t wait to get my buttons to help my dog “talk”
Overall this “memoir” is captivating and will warm the best of any animal lover.
My only complaint is how often she talked about her giving up social media, tv, minimalism. Hey, I’m all for those things, but they didn’t belong in the book and she mentioned it so frequently I started to wonder if she was wanting a cookie for her efforts.
Highly recommend for all dog lovers!
Overall this “memoir” is captivating and will warm the best of any animal lover.
My only complaint is how often she talked about her giving up social media, tv, minimalism. Hey, I’m all for those things, but they didn’t belong in the book and she mentioned it so frequently I started to wonder if she was wanting a cookie for her efforts.
Highly recommend for all dog lovers!
February 19, 2021
Read if you: Have seen those TikTok videos of dogs using communicaton buttons and want to learn more!
Some of my favorite TikTokkers are dogs/dog owners communicating through speech buttons. (And even a few cats!) When this book became available, I immediately requested it, as I was curious about the creator of these communication devices. I found a great mix of memoir plus valuable tips/encouragement for owners who want to try this with their dogs.
Librarians/booksellers: If dog memoirs/how to books about dogs are popular, definitely purchase.
Many thanks to William Morrow/Custom House and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.
Some of my favorite TikTokkers are dogs/dog owners communicating through speech buttons. (And even a few cats!) When this book became available, I immediately requested it, as I was curious about the creator of these communication devices. I found a great mix of memoir plus valuable tips/encouragement for owners who want to try this with their dogs.
Librarians/booksellers: If dog memoirs/how to books about dogs are popular, definitely purchase.
Many thanks to William Morrow/Custom House and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.
November 1, 2022
A great mood-lifter, on par with a ballpark full of puppies. Hunger does a great job of explaining her work, her experiment, further research that is needed, etc. In a way that is scientific and accessible. Quality communication, this hits criteria I could not have guessed would develop around the idea "perfect work of nonfiction."
Library copy
Library copy
June 6, 2022
This was a gift for Mother's Day from my husband. Stella is pretty incredible, but her owner, Hunger, is just as impressive. Hunger is a speech-language pathologist that works with children that have to communicate using devices that use a form of augmentative and alternative communication. When Hunger adopts Stella as a puppy, she draws parallels with how babies acquire language and Stella.
Hunger comes up with the idea to create a form of a AAC device for Stella. She starts out with one word, builds to three and, eventually, makes her way to more than forty-five word and phrase combinations! You can see Stella in action on Hunger's website about their work together. https://www.hungerforwords.com/
It does make me wonder what my dogs would communicate with me given the chance. I know they understand me, but to have them express their thoughts would be pretty cool.
Hunger comes up with the idea to create a form of a AAC device for Stella. She starts out with one word, builds to three and, eventually, makes her way to more than forty-five word and phrase combinations! You can see Stella in action on Hunger's website about their work together. https://www.hungerforwords.com/
It does make me wonder what my dogs would communicate with me given the chance. I know they understand me, but to have them express their thoughts would be pretty cool.
March 7, 2023
Interesting book about how dogs can pick up languages and understand instructions
August 8, 2021
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my digital copy in exchange for an honest review. I chose this book because of the dog on the cover and the title of the book. It seemed like it could be a good pairing...I didn't read anything about the book, however, so imagine my surprise when Stella really DID learn how to talk. Christina Hunger was a language pathologist who worked with kids who could not talk but learned how to communicate anyway...one day she got the idea to give her puppy buttons she could push and just a few words to see if Stella could learn them. It didn't take long before she was telling her pawrents that she wanted to go outside or when she didn't have any water...so they kept adding words and Stella kept learning them until she was using 3 or 4 at a time. I thought the story was amazing and it is actually true which makes it more so...now I wonder if my dog could do it and what she would say. Would we be getting up in the middle of the night to HUNGRY or TREAT?
December 2, 2021
Is this technique going to radically change the way we interact with dogs?
[update]: I just finished the book and there is one thought on my mind since I started thinking about introducing my doggo to this method: isn't this kind of communication sort of contrary to what they teach you at doggo-school? Trainers have always told me (very generalized!): if you dog asks for attention, and you do not start it / don't have time, ignore him. For example: dog barks, you ignore until he is quiet and then praise / treat.
However, even though Christina never explicitly says so, she does the opposite. She pays attention to Stella every time Stella tries to let her know something, and explains to her why she can or can't do whatever she is asking for. So it is kinda like the way people are educating kids nowadays: they talk to them, explain them everything, ask them for their opinion on important choices, etc. When I was small, and I asked "why?", my mom responded "because I say so". That made me angry and frustrated!
Since I decided to begin to teach my dog to "talk", I have started explaining to him that sometimes he can't have what he asks for (more food, play, walk, etc). I have noticed that his frustration is less, and he is much calmer when I say "play later", than when I just ignored his attempts to engage with me, the way I was taught to do in dog-school...
I am starting to change the way I educate my dog: instead of motivating him with food, I talk to him. And I have the feeling that it is much more easy to interact with my pet that way than to try to bribe him into doing so.
I think this method is revolutionary and hopefully many many people will adapt it, as they did with positive reinforcement a couple of years ago. I hate to see depressed, absent, maniac dogs at peoples homes, just laying around, bored out of their minds. It saddens me that there are people that see animals just as an accessory, and do not want to give them the best life possible. When I got Gamma, my first dog, it was primordial to have a the best relationship with him. I didn't want him to become that sad dog in the middle of the living room, lying around waiting for someone to have mercy on him and interact with him. Someone told me once "don't worry, dogs sleep most of the day". I then found strange that my puppy didn't, he was always trying to engage, explore and play with me. "ignore him, he'll calm down"... I am happy to have been attentive to my dog and to have found this method!
In any case, in my head I tried to push the concept to the limit and think what a world would look like where animals have the right by law to speak?? I think they would eventually get the same rights than humans, and thus we might not be allowed to "own" animals, just take care of them on their terms (no cruelty, no hitting, etc).
What do you think?! Am I crazy?? Have you had the same experience or observations?
[update]: I just finished the book and there is one thought on my mind since I started thinking about introducing my doggo to this method: isn't this kind of communication sort of contrary to what they teach you at doggo-school? Trainers have always told me (very generalized!): if you dog asks for attention, and you do not start it / don't have time, ignore him. For example: dog barks, you ignore until he is quiet and then praise / treat.
However, even though Christina never explicitly says so, she does the opposite. She pays attention to Stella every time Stella tries to let her know something, and explains to her why she can or can't do whatever she is asking for. So it is kinda like the way people are educating kids nowadays: they talk to them, explain them everything, ask them for their opinion on important choices, etc. When I was small, and I asked "why?", my mom responded "because I say so". That made me angry and frustrated!
Since I decided to begin to teach my dog to "talk", I have started explaining to him that sometimes he can't have what he asks for (more food, play, walk, etc). I have noticed that his frustration is less, and he is much calmer when I say "play later", than when I just ignored his attempts to engage with me, the way I was taught to do in dog-school...
I am starting to change the way I educate my dog: instead of motivating him with food, I talk to him. And I have the feeling that it is much more easy to interact with my pet that way than to try to bribe him into doing so.
I think this method is revolutionary and hopefully many many people will adapt it, as they did with positive reinforcement a couple of years ago. I hate to see depressed, absent, maniac dogs at peoples homes, just laying around, bored out of their minds. It saddens me that there are people that see animals just as an accessory, and do not want to give them the best life possible. When I got Gamma, my first dog, it was primordial to have a the best relationship with him. I didn't want him to become that sad dog in the middle of the living room, lying around waiting for someone to have mercy on him and interact with him. Someone told me once "don't worry, dogs sleep most of the day". I then found strange that my puppy didn't, he was always trying to engage, explore and play with me. "ignore him, he'll calm down"... I am happy to have been attentive to my dog and to have found this method!
In any case, in my head I tried to push the concept to the limit and think what a world would look like where animals have the right by law to speak?? I think they would eventually get the same rights than humans, and thus we might not be allowed to "own" animals, just take care of them on their terms (no cruelty, no hitting, etc).
What do you think?! Am I crazy?? Have you had the same experience or observations?
March 11, 2021
YES - read it. It will change your view of the world you live in!
WOW - just wow!! Not very often nowadays do we get to have our view of the world we live in change and a change promoted from a positive message - lots of negative or doom & gloom but nothing that will make you feel as positive as this book.
While the description from the publisher is accurate, don't let the term "guide" fool you. It's way more then a guide to how to train your dog ( or potentially lots of animals) to "talk". It is a guide that is really well laid out with info and tips but the evidence based knowledge (background), anecdotal and behavior descriptions are what's worth the read.
It's learning about the INCREDIBLE work the author does providing her human clients a way they can communicate and thus interact with their world. Honestly, I'd take a book on that alone!!
It's learning about how the little developmental markers (but added together make for big steps) children and Stella go through in order to develop speech. I remember my college child development teacher explaining that at a point in development your child & your dog both stare at your finger when you point, but at some moment in time your child with look to where you are pointing. So the similarities are very striking when delineated out over the period of time that Stella learns to communicate.
To read about Stella's development with her speech is honestly a wee bit unsettling. To me, it clearly shows an intelligence that humans have actively tried to discredit. Stella lets her people know what she wants and how she feels. As a global society, how can we continue to ignore animal's abilities and thus their rights when we now have the ability to communicate meaningfully with them?
I received an ARC from Netgalley and William Morrow to prepare for my honest review.
WOW - just wow!! Not very often nowadays do we get to have our view of the world we live in change and a change promoted from a positive message - lots of negative or doom & gloom but nothing that will make you feel as positive as this book.
While the description from the publisher is accurate, don't let the term "guide" fool you. It's way more then a guide to how to train your dog ( or potentially lots of animals) to "talk". It is a guide that is really well laid out with info and tips but the evidence based knowledge (background), anecdotal and behavior descriptions are what's worth the read.
It's learning about the INCREDIBLE work the author does providing her human clients a way they can communicate and thus interact with their world. Honestly, I'd take a book on that alone!!
It's learning about how the little developmental markers (but added together make for big steps) children and Stella go through in order to develop speech. I remember my college child development teacher explaining that at a point in development your child & your dog both stare at your finger when you point, but at some moment in time your child with look to where you are pointing. So the similarities are very striking when delineated out over the period of time that Stella learns to communicate.
To read about Stella's development with her speech is honestly a wee bit unsettling. To me, it clearly shows an intelligence that humans have actively tried to discredit. Stella lets her people know what she wants and how she feels. As a global society, how can we continue to ignore animal's abilities and thus their rights when we now have the ability to communicate meaningfully with them?
I received an ARC from Netgalley and William Morrow to prepare for my honest review.
May 12, 2022
It was alright. She came off as a bit snobby, I'm not sure how to explain it. And her writing is very bland and lacks personality. I did enjoy reading about Stella and her communication journey, but also don't like that this sort of promotes getting pissy at shelters and buying from backyard breeders in a grocery store parking lot....
She also has a vibe of "we're the FIRST; WE'RE special" that is slightly off putting. She didn't even acknowledge the science at the end or anything, which was really gearing up and even if it was a result of her starting something, it's grown into a huge valid research project now, with hundreds of dogs and even some cats. And it was going on when the book was published.
Still. I'd recommend this to my speech language pathology students I work with as a librarian.
She also has a vibe of "we're the FIRST; WE'RE special" that is slightly off putting. She didn't even acknowledge the science at the end or anything, which was really gearing up and even if it was a result of her starting something, it's grown into a huge valid research project now, with hundreds of dogs and even some cats. And it was going on when the book was published.
Still. I'd recommend this to my speech language pathology students I work with as a librarian.
August 31, 2021
When I first saw videos appearing online of people teaching their dogs to talk by using buttons, I was immediately fascinated and wanted to try it myself. Since then, I've often gone back and forth between wanting to try and feeling like it'd be too hard. After reading this book, I got some of that motivation back again and want to at least try a few words.
I have so much respect for how the author did this and got through the hard moments of uncertainty. I listened to the audiobook (highly recommended, by the way) while walking my dog and it inspired me to communicate with her more, even if I'm not using buttons (yet). It's so important to talk to your dog!
Definitely recommended for all dog lovers!
I have so much respect for how the author did this and got through the hard moments of uncertainty. I listened to the audiobook (highly recommended, by the way) while walking my dog and it inspired me to communicate with her more, even if I'm not using buttons (yet). It's so important to talk to your dog!
Definitely recommended for all dog lovers!
July 15, 2021
I loved reading about Stella and her training journey! She is truly special and amazing! I would love to have a dog that I could communicate with. All dogs are not equal and the ones I've owned wouldn't be smart enough to learn this gift. I thoroughly enjoyed this book but as usual with these types of books, it always leaves you wanting more.
March 18, 2021
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
Dogs are my favorite people so why not read about a dog who learns to talk? At the beginning of the book, I was hopeful that Stella had been a rescue dog and not a backyard breeder baby. I'm a huge advocate for adopting dogs from shelters and rescue groups. So I did get quite disappointed when the author stated she would surrender a dog if they had a baby and the kid wasn't safe around the dog. Blah, blah, blah. I see more dogs being given up once someone "replaces" them with a "real" kid but not because the kid was in any danger. My parents had a huge German Shepherd when I was born and he stuck by my side as my own personal body guard. And never hurt anyone, especially me.
Ok, tangent done. Once I got over my irritation and disappointment that Stella was a breeder puppy, I got into the real story of Stella using buttons to talk, the story was good. While parts of the book seemed too repetitious, overall it was interesting to read about how she took her work life and training and adapted it for Stella.
I can't imagine how my dogs would respond to this set up if I tried it. I would definitely be hearing "walk" and "eat" a lot!
Dogs are my favorite people so why not read about a dog who learns to talk? At the beginning of the book, I was hopeful that Stella had been a rescue dog and not a backyard breeder baby. I'm a huge advocate for adopting dogs from shelters and rescue groups. So I did get quite disappointed when the author stated she would surrender a dog if they had a baby and the kid wasn't safe around the dog. Blah, blah, blah. I see more dogs being given up once someone "replaces" them with a "real" kid but not because the kid was in any danger. My parents had a huge German Shepherd when I was born and he stuck by my side as my own personal body guard. And never hurt anyone, especially me.
Ok, tangent done. Once I got over my irritation and disappointment that Stella was a breeder puppy, I got into the real story of Stella using buttons to talk, the story was good. While parts of the book seemed too repetitious, overall it was interesting to read about how she took her work life and training and adapted it for Stella.
I can't imagine how my dogs would respond to this set up if I tried it. I would definitely be hearing "walk" and "eat" a lot!
August 28, 2021
I LOVED this book!
Part memoir, part how to, part fantastic story of possibilities, part heart warming human & dog story, part philosophical question raiser, part explication of how science is done, part explanation of the science and art of speech-language pathology, and part AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) cheerleading! But, it is 100% a fantastic story and a great read!
Read this if you want an, oh so small, glimpse into the inner life of dogs (yes, they are more than just children's playthings or unconditional love machines!) Read this if you want to think about how communication develops and changes and, in humans, mostly ends with words.
A HUGE thank you to the author for sharing the journey!
Part memoir, part how to, part fantastic story of possibilities, part heart warming human & dog story, part philosophical question raiser, part explication of how science is done, part explanation of the science and art of speech-language pathology, and part AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) cheerleading! But, it is 100% a fantastic story and a great read!
Read this if you want an, oh so small, glimpse into the inner life of dogs (yes, they are more than just children's playthings or unconditional love machines!) Read this if you want to think about how communication develops and changes and, in humans, mostly ends with words.
A HUGE thank you to the author for sharing the journey!
July 23, 2022
If I could give it 6 stars I would! It was an easy read, got me thinking about my profession and my personal life with my puppy :) She equally described progress and struggles and tips for reaching your own dog! Even if you don’t have a dog or don’t plan on teaching your dog, I HIGHLY recommend this interesting read!
May 5, 2021
A dog and her speech buttons
I've been following the author on Instagram and her blog for a while and am excited everytime there in a new post. For people who have been following her, there aren't too many surprises. What is nice is that it is all together in a systematic way and has a lot of new helpful tips at the end of each chapter for trying at home. Her dog is a joy to watch and read about.
I've been following the author on Instagram and her blog for a while and am excited everytime there in a new post. For people who have been following her, there aren't too many surprises. What is nice is that it is all together in a systematic way and has a lot of new helpful tips at the end of each chapter for trying at home. Her dog is a joy to watch and read about.
October 27, 2021
Listened on audio (recommend this as you can listen to how Stella “communicates”). LOVED everything about this. Very unique book, nothing like anything I’ve read before. Was interesting to hear the different ways Christina taught Stella to “talk” and appreciated even more based on my love of dogs.
August 8, 2021
If someone had just told me about this book, I probably would have been skeptical. Sure, dogs can understand words, but learning to speak? Not only did I LOVE this book, I am totally taken with the idea of teaching our dogs to communicate with words! The author is an incredible voice for the field of speech pathology. Her understanding of language acquisition and her observational skills give her an innovative perspective into the world of dog training. I will definitely be giving this book as a gift to my dog training friends!
May 3, 2022
Amazing story of a woman following her passion for communication into uncharted territory. I knew my dogs understood much of what we say to each other, despite people disbelieving me.... until they were confronted with one of my dogs understanding something they said! Loved having this validation if what I felt and thought. Great book and wonderful story. I want to try the word board with my next dog.
July 12, 2021
I'm a huge fan of animal cognition studies so I got this book immediately after I saw it in the bookstore.
The book is written by a speech pathologist who works with children with language problems. She seems like she is excellent at her job as she is very caring and patient with the frustrations of her charges. Her caring nature and genuine academic interest in using boards and symbols to learn communication inspired her to try it on her new dog, Stella.
Just an aside, yes, I don't agree with her getting the puppy from Craigslist, though for the study raising a dog from puppyhood ultimately made sense. On the other hand, I really think that rescue groups absolutely need to be a LITTLE more reasonable when it comes to adopting out dogs. Clearly, Hunger is a very caring dog mom and the rescue made a mistake in their reluctance to adopt to her.
Now onto the book contents: Well, I think it was pretty amazing reading about how Hunger trained Stella to communicate. The advice she gives for how she taught her to speak made sense and relied on the dog's autonomy and desires. I really liked how she encouraged Stella to articulate her needs and desires and not simply as a vehicle for forcing her obedience. She started with simple needs and stretched the possibilities by teaching her to talk in short "sentences" and to emote. You really find yourself loving Stella, loving Hunger and her husband for their devotion to her, and walking through their journey.
I really do think it's brilliant, underappreciated work and I just adored this book. I found it fascinating. I even think the book could have been longer. The author offered very little in the way of prior studies other than mentioning Chaser the Border Collie. It's rather surprising that she didn't include studies on Chantek the orangutan or other great apes with whom they've using similar devices. While her studies are novel for dogs, they have already been attempted in other non-domesticated animals.
If you're a dog lover and if you love reading about animal intelligence, definitely grab this one.
The book is written by a speech pathologist who works with children with language problems. She seems like she is excellent at her job as she is very caring and patient with the frustrations of her charges. Her caring nature and genuine academic interest in using boards and symbols to learn communication inspired her to try it on her new dog, Stella.
Just an aside, yes, I don't agree with her getting the puppy from Craigslist, though for the study raising a dog from puppyhood ultimately made sense. On the other hand, I really think that rescue groups absolutely need to be a LITTLE more reasonable when it comes to adopting out dogs. Clearly, Hunger is a very caring dog mom and the rescue made a mistake in their reluctance to adopt to her.
Now onto the book contents: Well, I think it was pretty amazing reading about how Hunger trained Stella to communicate. The advice she gives for how she taught her to speak made sense and relied on the dog's autonomy and desires. I really liked how she encouraged Stella to articulate her needs and desires and not simply as a vehicle for forcing her obedience. She started with simple needs and stretched the possibilities by teaching her to talk in short "sentences" and to emote. You really find yourself loving Stella, loving Hunger and her husband for their devotion to her, and walking through their journey.
I really do think it's brilliant, underappreciated work and I just adored this book. I found it fascinating. I even think the book could have been longer. The author offered very little in the way of prior studies other than mentioning Chaser the Border Collie. It's rather surprising that she didn't include studies on Chantek the orangutan or other great apes with whom they've using similar devices. While her studies are novel for dogs, they have already been attempted in other non-domesticated animals.
If you're a dog lover and if you love reading about animal intelligence, definitely grab this one.
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