Dogs can TALK to you by pressing buttons, scientists confirm - here's how to try it with your pet

If you've ever felt like your dog was trying to tell you something, scientists now say you don't need to be Dr Doolittle to know what's on their mind.

Researchers from the University of California San Diego have found that dogs really can 'speak' to their owners using soundboard buttons.

During the Covid lockdowns, stir-crazy dog owners managed to teach their pets to communicate using a series of buttons which play sounds when pressed.

The staggering communication skills of some dogs sparked public scepticism, but researchers now say these impressive pooches really do know what they are saying.

So, if you'd like to have a natter with your furry friend, here's how you can try it for yourself.

What is soundboard training?

It can often be difficult to know what your dog is after based on their barks and whines.

But soundboard or button training is a way of giving your dog more tools for communicating their needs and wants.

Trainers provide their dogs with a 'soundboard' composed of individual buttons, each of which is programmed to produce a different word.

These can range from simple objects and places like 'park', 'cat', or 'food' to more abstract ideas like 'want', 'happy', or 'sad.

When the dog wants to communicate with its owner, it can press these buttons with its paw to string together sets of words.

One dog, a sheepadoodle named Bunny, gained internet fame when their owner filmed their soundboard training progress.

Initially, Bunny was able to do little more than press down on a specific button when she wanted to go outdoors or go for a wee.

But soon Bunny's vocabulary grew to the point where she could ask to play, go out and even tell owner Alexis Devine, from Tacoma, Washington, that she loves her.

What did the study find?

When these viral videos surfaced, many insisted that dogs like Bunny couldn't possibly be 'speaking' in any conventional sense.

Instead, these sceptics suggests that the dogs must be simply pressing the buttons in response to their owner's actions without any real understanding of their meanings.

Dr Federico Rossano, a cognitive scientist from UC San Diego and lead author of the study, says this research was specifically aimed at countering those claims.

Researchers first visited the homes of 30 dog owners across the US to test their reaction to soundboard cues.

Then, during the 2022 COVID-19 surge, 29 dog owners continued the trials themselves at home under remote guidance.

Contrary to public scepticism, these trials revealed evidence that dogs trained to use soundboards really do understand the meaning of words.

The researchers found that dogs responded appropriately to words like 'play' and 'outside', regardless of whether they were spoken by their owners or triggered by pressing a button.

Additionally, the dogs responded in the same way when the buttons were pressed by an unrelated person.

Dr Rossano says: 'Our findings are important because they show that words matter to dogs, and that they respond to the words themselves, not just to associated cues.'

Previous studies have suggested that dogs do have a surprisingly good grasp of human languages.

In one 2022 study, researchers played dogs clips either containing a real language or nonsense derived from Spanish or Hungarian.

Using an fMRI machine, the researchers found that the two clips activated different parts of the dogs' brains - suggesting they could tell the difference between languages.

Other research suggests that dogs might learn up to 215 different words of their owner's language.

Dr Rossano says: 'We’re just scratching the surface in this study. Future studies explore how dogs actively use these buttons, including the meaning and systematicity behind sequences of button presses.'

How you can teach your dog to communicate using buttons?

While your dog might not be fluent in English any time soon, taking the first steps of button training can be quite straightforward.

The first thing you will need to do is gather the materials to make their soundboard.

Purpose-built options are commercially available, but some dog owners have also found success with foam floor tiles and simple recordable buzzers.

Next, the American Kennel Club recommends you start with simple words that your dog already has an association with and enjoys.

For example, you might pick 'outside' or whatever word you say when you let the dog out and record that onto the first button.

Christina Hunger, a dog trainer and author of How Stella Learned to Talk, explains in a post on her website that you should 'observe your words'.

Ms Hunger writes: 'We just need to be aware of our own vocabulary patterns because our dogs are learning what we say.

'For example, when talking about meal times, I instinctively say “eat” most frequently. But, you might say “food,” or “hungry” more than you say “eat.”'

But before you think about training your dog to push the button you need to build up the connection between the button and the word.

So, once you have a button or two prepared, make sure to press the button every time you do the associated activity.

In this case, you would press the 'outside' button every time you took the dog outside.

After a time, your dog will make the connection between the button and the desired activity and will press the button themselves.

To cement the connection you should reward your dog with affection or a treat and then immediately give them what they want.

This will allow your dog to learn that they can use the button to tell you what they want and lay the basis for future training.

Once that is established you can more words and more buttons gradually over time.

If you keep that process up, your dog should soon be chatting away using their new soundboard.