Scientists Debunk Idea That Dogs Can Communicate With Talking Buttons

What if you could know exactly what your dog was trying to tell you?

Dog talking buttons are supposed to allow you to do just that. A huge range of them is on the market now, with affordable and more expensive, higher-brand models.

These buttons work by the owners recording themselves talking into each one with words such as "outside." Owners can then supposedly train their dogs to recognize each word, and the dogs subsequently press a button corresponding to how they feel.

But do they really work?

There is no question that dogs are intelligent creatures. But they cannot understand the human language, Susan Hazel, an associate professor at the School of Animal and Veterinary Science at the University of Adelaide, and Eduardo J Fernandez, a visiting assistant professor at the Florida Institute of Technology, said in an article on The Conversation.

Rather, dogs can respond to commands such as "sit" by operant conditioning, whereby behaviors are initiated through the association of stimuli, usually with reinforcement. For example, dogs are given a treat when they respond to a command.

And these buttons work through the same process.

"When we train dogs to use talking buttons, they're probably learning using operant conditioning to some extent. For example, they learn that pressing a button can lead to a reward," the scientists said.

"But in cases where dogs seem to be able to string multiple buttons together to say something advanced, or where they can press the 'right' button when asked, they're likely just responding to their owner's body language. And they probably wouldn't be able to replicate the behaviour if a new pet-sitter was making the command."

The extent of how well these buttons work still needs more research.

Federico Rossan, the director of the Comparative Cognition Lab at the University of California San Diego, is currently undertaking research. He is analyzing the results of these talking buttons and trying to figure out how effective they are.

"Data collection started in late 2020, but so far no evidence has been published. Until then, the best 'evidence' we have for these products is anecdotal reporting coming from dog owners who are probably biased (since they'd like to think their dog is very clever)," Fernandez and Hazel wrote.

Dog owners may also make incorrect assumptions about what their dog is feeling.

The authors note that if an owner returns home to find the rug chewed up, they may interpret their dog's reaction as guilty. However, they are more likely responding to your reaction rather than actually feeling guilty themselves.

Previous studies have shown that dogs can't actually experience the feeling of guilt, the authors note.

Buying talking buttons won't do the owner or dog any harm, though.

"That said, there are myriad ways to communicate with your dog without needing such a device," the authors said. "However you do it, spending time with your dog using positive reinforcement training will benefit both of you. Dogs are amazing, unique animals with whom we can communicate in all kinds of ways, and they don't need to understand our language for this."

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