Can We Really Communicate With Our Pets Through Buttons?

“Watch my dog explore the passage of time”, a voice echoes from my phone. Anyone who’s chronically online would probably recognise the American accent instantly. It belongs to Alexis Devine, owner of Bunny, the Sheepadoodle who shot to TikTok stardom in 2020 after Devine began documenting her interactions with a soundboard: a series of colourful buttons programmed to play recorded words when pressed.

At first, Bunny appeared to communicate relatively simple ideas, such as “park”. But as her vocabulary grew, so did the apparent complexity of her conversations. She has been filmed pressing combinations of buttons that seem to communicate concepts such as “hear rain”, while one particularly memorable video shows her approaching a mirror before pressing “who” and “this”.

It’s easy to see why the internet became fascinated. Bunny now has millions of followers, and her videos have helped turn soundboards into a phenomenon among pet owners. But there’s a question underneath the viral videos: are we actually communicating with our pets, or are we simply getting very good at interpreting their behaviour?

The answer, as it turns out, is somewhere in between.

Although soundboards feel like a very 2020s invention, the idea that animals might be capable of communicating with humans is much older.

Research from 2024 examining the cultural history of “talking dogs” traces fascination with canine communication back to at least the Middle Ages, with stories of supposedly extraordinary dogs becoming particularly popular in the early twentieth century.

One of the most famous examples was Rolf, a German Airedale terrier who was claimed to be able to count and tap out messages using symbols. Later, in the 1960s, an English Setter named Arli was taught to type words on a modified typewriter.

These stories were part of a much wider fascination with animal intelligence. Clever Hans, a horse who appeared capable of solving mathematical problems, became an international sensation at the beginning of the twentieth century. His story also taught scientists an important lesson: animals can be remarkably sensitive to subtle human cues.

In other words, sometimes the animal isn’t doing exactly what we think they’re doing. We’re simply very good at helping them arrive at the answer without realising it.

The modern soundboard movement attempts to address some of these concerns by giving animals greater control over the communication itself. Instead of waiting for a human to interpret a bark, whine or movement, the idea is that the pet can deliberately select a word.

In 2024, researchers from the University of California, San Diego published a study examining whether dogs trained to use soundboards actually understood the words associated with individual buttons.

The researchers tested 30 dogs whose owners had already trained them to use soundboards. The dogs were exposed to words relating to things such as “play”, “outside” and “food”, either spoken aloud by a person or played through a button. Crucially, the researchers also varied who produced the word, meaning the dogs couldn't simply rely on their owner's body language or behaviour.

The results suggested that the dogs responded appropriately to words such as “play” and “outside”, regardless of whether the word was spoken or produced by a button, and regardless of whether it came from their owner or an unfamiliar person.

But this doesn't mean the dogs had suddenly learned English. Instead, it suggests something much more interesting: dogs can learn that a particular sound or word is associated with a specific outcome and respond appropriately to that word even when other contextual cues are removed.

Later that year, researchers analysed more than 260,000 button presses from 152 dogs over 21 months. They found that dogs' button combinations weren't simply random, and that certain two-button combinations occurred more frequently than would be expected by chance. Examples included combinations relating to concepts such as “outside” and “potty”.

What this amounts to is hugely intriguing evidence that some dogs may be deliberately using the buttons to influence what happens around them. But there's an important distinction to make; communicating isn't necessarily the same as speaking a language.

Imagine your dog presses “outside”, then “play”. It’s tempting to translate that directly into: “I would like to go outside and play.” And perhaps that's exactly what they mean. But we can't know that with the same certainty we'd have if a person said the sentence aloud.

This is one of the biggest challenges researchers face. We naturally want to interpret our pets through a human lens. If a dog presses “sad”, “you” and “no”, it's incredibly easy to construct a story around those words.

But the buttons themselves don't prove that the dog understands grammar, syntax or abstract concepts in the same way humans do.

Researchers have also raised concerns about anthropomorphism; the tendency to attribute human thoughts, emotions and motivations to animals. A 2024 analysis of soundboard culture argued that the buttons can create the impression that we're accessing an animal's thoughts directly, when in reality their messages often still require considerable interpretation.

It’s important to remember, though, that this doesn't mean the dogs are faking it. It means we need to be careful about what we're claiming.

There is now evidence that dogs can associate words with particular concepts and outcomes, and that their button presses can be deliberate and non-random. What hasn't been demonstrated is that dogs are suddenly capable of human-like language.

Dogs may have stolen the spotlight, but they're certainly not the only animals getting involved.

The UC San Diego Comparative Cognition Lab's ongoing research isn't limited to dogs. Its soundboard project includes cats, rabbits, goats and other animals, with thousands of pets from more than 45 countries contributing to research.

When we stop to think about it, cats already have an impressive repertoire of communication. They use vocalisations, body language, facial expressions, scent and behaviour to communicate with both humans and other animals.

A soundboard doesn't necessarily give them a new language. Instead, it could give them another way of expressing behaviours and requests that they already have.

The research is still developing, though, and we should be cautious about assuming that findings in dogs automatically apply to cats. We get it; it's a touchy subject for both sets of owners.

Researchers aren't just interested in whether a dog can press “walk” or “treat”. They're interested in whether these systems could eventually tell us something about what animals understand, want or experience.

The potential welfare implications are particularly fascinating. If pets could reliably communicate that they are uncomfortable, frightened or feeling unwell, soundboards could potentially become another tool for understanding their needs. UC San Diego's researchers specifically highlight the possibility that improved communication could help owners recognise health problems earlier.

For now, the most scientifically responsible conclusion is that soundboards appear to offer some pets a meaningful way to communicate simple concepts and requests. Research suggests dogs can understand certain words and that their button use isn't simply random behaviour.

Whether they can use buttons to express complex thoughts, memories or abstract ideas remains an open question. And perhaps that's what makes the whole phenomenon so fascinating.

Our pets have been communicating with us for thousands of years. Dogs and humans have been closely intertwined since at least the Late Palaeolithic Age, with genetic evidence showing that dogs were already widely distributed across Europe and Anatolia more than 14,000 years ago. And we've spent that time learning to understand their barks, body language, facial expressions and routines.

Maybe the future isn't about putting the onus on our dogs to understand English, but about us becoming better listeners. Whether your dog has a wall of colourful buttons or knows instinctively when it's time to go on a walk, you've probably already got your own way of communicating with one another in a secret language only you two understand.