Teaching Dogs to 'Talk' Using Button Boards

PBS NewsHour reporter William Brangham looked at the viral fascination with teaching dogs to communicate using button boards, noting how the work of speech pathologist Christina Hunger inspired others to do the same.

A viral, online phenomenon claims to have further opened the door to human-canine communication. Buttons allow dogs to seemingly talk with their humans, but are all these button enthusiasts barking up the wrong tree?

For example, Alexis Devine of What About Bunny was particularly successful at getting her dog to use communication buttons coherently, although behavioral scientist Clive Winn was a bit more skeptical.

I do not see the evidence of the dog’s ability understanding language and anything close to the way we talk together. I do not think inside the mind of a dog there is a human mind desperate to get out. I think inside a dog’s head there is a dog’s mind and a dog’s mind has its own way of communicating. Your dog has a way of communicating with you about a desire for food. You would not gain anything by training your dog to press buttons that would said the same thing.

In other words, this subject has two very disparate viewpoints, while more investigation needs to be done.