How I'm teaching my dogs to talk

I know it's a bit unusual, but if you don't mind, I ask permission to use this space on my blog to bring some information about this topic.

The Comparative Condition Lab (CCL) from University of California-San Diego, is in collaboration with FluentPet to determine whether, and if so, how and how much non-humans are able to express themselves in language-like ways.

My Pomeranian Misha is one of the participants of the research, using data gathering tools such as the button-press logging app (still in beta) and sending progress reports (every two weeks). Misha is also monitored by a 24h camera.

The Research

Misha is part of a large scale study with hundreds of participants on how dogs are using soundboards with ACC Buttons to communicate with humans and how does this change their communicative abilities.

It is a development of a tool used with children with communicative difficulties and similar tools have been used with non-human primates in the past.

The team is working both on the memory aspects and especially on the linguistic aspects (e.g. how they combine words to produce utterances, how quickly they learn new words, what kind of things they communicate about, etc.).

The household

Misha is the primary learner in our household because she has shown interest in the buttons since day one. She is very excited about them.

Cookie is our secondary learner because she is more shy towards routine changes so we don’t push her.

We try our best to create a safe space where everyone feels comfortable.

I am the primary teacher in the household because I have some experience with Dog Training, First-aid Animal Care and I’ve been studying Dog Emotion and Cognition (by Duke University) for some time. Never the less it is important to clarify that I do this as a hobby. Professionally I’m a UX/UI Graphic Designer, with no professional correlation with the research team. So I speak exclusively for myself as a dog guardian, never as a scientist.

ACC Buttons

Recordable buttons are a type of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) device. They can help people communicate when talking is difficult (autism, selective mutism, any kind of speech pathology, vocal cords injury, accidents and whatever other reason it might be). They can also be used to support learning cause and effect.

I use the buttons from Hunger4Words because they are easier to find already inside my country. I can find them anywhere and have them delivered to my doorstep in a few hours. Other alternatives would have to be shipped overseas, with more transportation involved… And I try my best to keep a low environmental impact around my purchases.

Note that any recordable button works as an ACC Button when used the right way.

The button tracking app

After I sent Misha’s first progress report, I received instructions to install and use the app for data gathering. It is a beta version app, this means it haven’t been launched yet - at the present moment - so the app can not be found on your regular App Store.

You have to download and install an app testing interface provided by the CC Lab itself. It’s not my product and I don’t have authorization to distribute it.

You can find more information about the research here: https://www.theycantalk.org