- I'm not sure I want to know what my dog would say to me...
Everyone talks to their pets, otherwise how would they know they did something good or bad? But how would you like your pet to talk back? Well, Ms. Christina Hunger has found a way for her dog, Stella, to do just that!
Stella
Ms. Hunger is a speech-language pathologist and has given Stella, an eighteen-month-old Catahoula/Blue Heeler mix, a customized keyboard that allows Stella to press what she wants to say. She has learned twenty-nine words and can make five-word phrases or sentences. One of her best communications is when she said she missed Ms. Hungery’s fiance, Jake. Stella pressed the typed ‘Want Jake, come’, and after he arrived she said ‘happy.’
Ms. Hunger has kept track of Stella’s progress on her Hunger For Words webpage and Instagram.
Ms. Hunger Interviewed
CNN interviewed Ms. Hunger, asking her questions about her remarkable dog.
CNN: We’re joined by Christina Hunger a speech pathologist in San Francisco. Owner of the very clever Stella, whom you saw there. (they previously showed a video of Stella, before talking to Ms. Hunger) So, Christina what does Stella say the most, we’ll start with that.
Ms. Hunger: She definitely says outside the most. She absolutely loves being outside.
How She Taught the Language to Stella
CNN: Talk to us through Christina, how you noticed how you developed the language with Stella. Cause I know often with children it’s a question of repetition, is not? So is it similar it comes to Stella?
Ms. Hunger: Absolutely. As a speech-language pathologist, I did the same thing I do to help children learn to communicate. Lots of time, lots of practice and lots of repetition. Um. I noticed how she was already communicating with her vocalization and her gestures and added words to it, and gave her the opportunity to practice.
CNN: Hmm. Now I noticed on your blog, on your website, you have a log of all the work and all the words she says. Now there’s a lot of actions like ‘outside, eat play, etc.’ But I noticed there is also sometimes emotions and feelings, I want us to take a close look at this. So Christina, what can you tell us about Stella’s feelings and emotions?
Ms. Hunger: It’s really cool to here Stella communicate when she’s happy or mad. She even tells us ‘love you’ when she’s… When we’re being affectionate with her. To teach her those words, Happy and mad, I just noticed when she was really excited and happy and kept modeling the words on her button and verbally. Saying happy, happy, happy. Or if she was upset, you now vocalizing, whining, not getting what she wanted. I would push the button and say verbally ‘mad’ and tell her ‘Stella mad.’ And that helped her learn how to say happy and how to say mad.
CNN Favorite
CNN: One of the videos that really blew my mind was when Stella pressed a button and it didn’t work. So her communication with you doesn’t work. Now I want to play the video just after she pressed that button and there was silence, it didn’t work. (Plays video of Stella.) Hmm. Clever dog. Asking for help. That is, that is nuts to me! So she was panicking and she didn’t like it, this new form of communication with you wasn’t working.
Ms. Hunger: Yeah, it’s incredible to me. So it wasn’t working she asked me for help fixing it.
Convinced? If not check out the videos for yourself on Ms. Hunger’s webpage: Words For Hunger https://www.hungerforwords.com/.