Have you ever wondered if your pets can understand you? Have you ever wished to be able to communicate with them as you would do with your friends? Would it be that even possible?
Well, our story today will give you an insight into how it would be if your pet-dog could talk to you and express directly his needs.
Meet Bunny the Sheepadoodle, although Bunny appears to be like any other dog, she is capable of doing something that the majority of dogs is unable to do, she can talk in a way!
Bunny’s owner Alexis Devine, over the span of the last year, has been teaching Bunny how to communicate with her via a very detailed system of buttons, labeled with words and phrases. And what is the most incredible thing is that it’s actually working!
Devine has created a Tik Tok Channel called what_about_bunny, which is actually Bunny’s own channel, with around five million followers who are in awe of Bunny’s skills.
Bunny’s communication button board started with a single button, labeled “outside” which she would press before going outside, and now there are over 70 buttons! The buttons represent words like “inside”, “beach,” “water,” and “potty” organized into different groups like sentence parts or the why, who, where buttons.
Devine explains that she was inspired by Christina Hunger, a speech-language pathologist in San Diego who has tried first to communicate with animals using button boards.
Devine told News Tribune that “my theory is that she memorizes their place like a keyboard. Like, you know, pianists can play amazing music without having to look at keys — similar to that. It’s like muscle memory”. Bunny must have undoubtedly an amazing memory and great “speaking” skills.
@what_about_bunny Our home is like an episode of Nat Geo #learnontiktok #tiktokpartner #naturelover #beachlife #oceanlife
As of recently, Bunny has been taking part in a research study at the Now Bunny is part of a research study at the Comparative Cognition Lab at the University of California, San Diego that tries to analyze and understand how dogs understand language. Devine explained that as it’s an open study, she really just wants to teach Bunny to communicate further while contributing to the research.
@what_about_bunny The first step is learning how to communicate on their level. #AnimalFriends #learnontiktok #tiktokpartner #whataboutbunny #doglover
Bunny has been able so far to express herself quite well with her board of buttons. On many occasions, she was able to tell her “mom” when she was in pain or when she wanted to drink water. She has also surprised many with her ability to understand the concept of time and being able to refer to past events.
Devine has been documenting many of her interactions with Bunny on Tik Tok where her most popular video accumulated more than 43 million views. It’s evident that Bunny is now a Tik Tok star!
@what_about_bunny This interaction seems incredible in so many ways: questioning/ referencing the past/ empathy. #fyp #doggyanthem #empathy #talkingdog
So, if you long to communicate with your own dog, why don’t you follow Bunny’s example? You will start slowly with a single button, and in due course, you will introduce more. Don’t forget to positively reinforce your pet, so he/ she will continue learning!
If you would like to hear more about Bunny, check out the video below.
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