3 Amazing Moments with the Talking Dog AAC Buttons
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My dogs have had a lot of interesting moments with their talking buttons. Starsky has taken to the buttons quickly, but Ginsburg has taken a bit more time. But with both dogs, there have been quite a few “oh my god!” moments. Read on to learn about some of the coolest interactions my dogs have had with the AAC buttons – and get a preview of how your dog may behave when introduced to the buttons.
Starsky used the word “attention” to get his my other dog to play with him.
In my dogs’ buttons, “attention” means pets, cuddles, or other attention from me. Given this, I didn’t really expect that Starsky would ever use it to mean play.
From stories of others who are experimenting with canine AAC, I knew it was uncommon, but possible, for dogs to use the buttons to speak with each other. It makes sense – although canine AAC is more natural than people give it credit for, it is definitely not the most natural form of communication between dogs.
Both of my dogs were hyped up, and I didn’t specifically see it happen because it was so quick (this was before I invested in a Wyze camera to record all their button presses). However, based on my dogs’ previous play and excited emotional states, Starsky’s button press did seem to be intentional.
As I have learned from How Stella Learned to Talk, it is impossible to know whether one person’s definition of a concept is the same as any other’s. While I intended “attention” to mean scratches and snuggles, it is entirely possible that his concept of attention and he views it as a positive and fun interaction between two individuals – which would include play.
I recently added a play button to the board to allow the dogs to be more specific in their requests. Starsky actually used it to request play from me for the first time in years.
Starsky using the “attention” button to ask Ginsburg to play was particularly interesting to me because Starsky usually doesn’t usually initiate play. He has started initiating more in the year that we have had Ginsburg, but this was one of the first times he did actually initiate play with Ginsburg.
Starsky often combines gestures with button presses to emphasize his point. In this interaction, he pressed the “play” button and then jumped at Ginsburg. That he used gestures and words to communicate with another dog fascinates me.
Ginsburg used a button when she wanted her dinner.
Ginsburg has struggled with adopting the buttons – luckily her older Foxhound brother uses the buttons to communicate for her.
Ginsburg was a demand barker as a young puppy. This has improved with age and some training, but for a while, she was experimenting with how best to communicate with me.
Once, while I was getting the dogs’ dinner, I wasn’t moving fast enough for Baby G. She had demand barked but it wasn’t making me move any faster, much to her chagrin. In frustration, she ran around the counter to where the buttons were placed, and clearly pressed “attention”.
While it wasn’t exactly the use of “attention” that I had envisioned, it was definitely an intentional button press. This moment wasn’t necessarily what she said as much as the circumstances in which she said it. This was my sweet Golden Retriever’s first intentional use of the AAC buttons to communicate and it was very exciting!
Starsky’s button use increases more when I am more dedicated to modeling.
An observation I have made recently is that language use and frequency changes with the language of those around us. While I am a language nerd, I am certainly not an expert, so I still find this somewhat of a personal revelation! (It’s probably a well established fact in the language community though, haha.)
I’ve noticed that when I am more dedicated to modeling the buttons – pressing “water” every single time I get the dogs water, for example – Starsky uses the buttons more to communicate. Since I want him to have the ability to be specific in his needs and desires, I have recommitted to modeling as often as I can to help him with his language use.
