#hungerforwords

[glamourcat28]

Hubby got me my first set of talking buttons. I think Domino will be the first one to pick the concept up. We’re starting with the word “outside.” What other words do you think we should try? #hungerforwords #talkingdogbuttons #dogtraining https://www.instagram.com/p/CYaI3CLpEYm/?utm_medium=tumblr

[hopeplacetx]

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When your Mom is a #therapist and wants you to #talk about it. . . . #fluentpet #hungerforwords #hunger4words #pomeranian #aat (at Rendon, Texas) https://www.instagram.com/p/CWKLoXHFGFl/?utm_medium=tumblr

[finsterhund]

The incredible work of Christina Hunger (Hunger For Words)

So the works of a pediatric speech-language pathologist named Christina Hunger has lately been going viral, because of the way she is raising her Catahoula blue heeler mix; Stella.

This is revolutionary -in case you haven’t figured it out from the first paragraph- because Hunger is actually allowing Stella the means to reciprocate verbal communication.

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A post shared by Christina Hunger, MA, CCC-SLP (@hunger4words) on Nov 1, 2019 at 1:14pm PDT

It should not come as a surprise that dogs are very much capable of learning and understanding verbal communication from their humans. Dogs will easily learn nouns of important things in their lives such as their human, themselves, and things to go and do. They can also learn words for emotions like happiness and anger. This is easily observed. 

The understanding of language is receptive language; being able to have something conveyed to you, and we also have expressive language which is our ability to convey something to others. Both are easily observed in humans.

Now society’s understanding of communication is very dismissive and ableist towards those who may communicate atypically. This is especially true when it comes to verbal communication which is seen as the be all end all. But not all people are going to communicate verbally well, sometimes at all. People who are nonverbal are often dismissed. And this also bleeds into how people view communication with dogs.

They dismiss dogs as being unable to efficiently communicate because they can’t literally speak. Which is unfair. Dogs don’t have the same anatomy for verbal communication as we do. They physically can’t produce the required sounds. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have expressive language and that they aren’t capable of using expressive language.

We are already seeing dogs attempting to emulate human voice by manipulating bays, whines, howls, etc to try and sound like specific words and phrases like “no” “love you” etc. So it’s not like they’re not trying.

And dogs have their own forms of expressive language. But once again, there’s a language barrier between it and how humans communicate. Humans can learn it to some extent, but are limited by aspects of our own biology in expressing it the same ways dogs are with ours.

What Hunger has shown is that an augmentative and alternative communication device (AAC device) can be used to allow a dog to produce human words and phrases, and that Stella is able to learn to use the device in order to speak by means of a soundboard with programmed buttons for specific words and emotions.

She has not trained Stella to press buttons for praise or validation and is opposed to physically making her press them because it actually inhibits her learning them, but has built the association with certain words to their respective button. The button also says the word aloud. By using words aloud and using the buttons herself, Hunger taught Stella to do the same, who now does so unprompted in order to convey things. It is simply incredible.

The only thing stopping a dog from speaking is their physical body. They are well and capable of human expressive language.

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A post shared by Christina Hunger, MA, CCC-SLP (@hunger4words) on Jul 27, 2019 at 11:51am PDT

The average dog can understand approximately 160 words, and the record is over a thousand. And on average the amount of core words that humans require to efficiently communicate in a language are from between 50 - 500. This means that a dog who has access to a means to actually say words could potentially hold a conversation. Definitely not as in-depth as one between two adult humans who are fluent in the same language, but enough to convey desires, opinions, and emotions.

I’ve known this was the case for a very long time, but have never had anything available in order to prove it. Now we have these programmable buttons and things. Technology is literally bridging the communication barrier right before our eyes and as a result it is becoming impossible to dismiss the power of the sacred bond.

So now that we’re seeing that dogs when aided by assistance tools are able to verbally communicate words that they know and understand, it’s becoming apparent just to what extent they can communicate in the first place. Stella can specifically ask for help, where to go for a walk, whether she wants to play with a toy that has food in it or not, whether she is feeling good or bad, and express appreciation for things. She tells people bye when they leave and welcomes them when they return. She understands and differentiates between the names of Hunger and her fiance. The only limit is the buttons.

But even then she’s combining buttons to convey more complex things. This is the most important aspect. She’s manipulating the board and the extent of what it can do in order to create new phrases. The aforementioned “differentiating between a toy with food in it or not” is her combining “eat” and “play”

I feel sad if only because Hunger acknowledges that “real estate is precious” and it would be impossible to give her like, a hundred buttons. We need to innovate and find an even more efficient means than the board.

But this is such an important milestone in proving to the world just how important our bond with dogs is. This matters so much to me I can’t even begin to describe it.