If you’ve come across videos of dogs pressing soundboard buttons to “talk” on social media, you’re not alone.
These buttons, which allow pets to communicate by pressing words like “play” or “outside,” have gained massive popularity on platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
But are these dogs really communicating, or are they just reacting to cues from their owners?
A new study published in PLOS ONE by researchers from the University of California San Diego (UC San Diego) and other institutions suggests that dogs trained with soundboard buttons do indeed understand specific words.
The study shows that dogs can respond appropriately to certain words, not just because of their owner’s body language or presence but because they genuinely comprehend the words.
The study was led by Federico Rossano, an associate professor in the Department of Cognitive Science at UC San Diego and head of the Comparative Cognition Lab. This research is part of the world’s largest ongoing project studying button-trained pets.
Key Findings The researchers discovered that dogs trained to use soundboards could respond correctly to words like “play” and “outside,” regardless of whether the words were spoken by their owners or triggered by pressing a button.
Moreover, the dogs responded accurately even when someone other than their owner pressed the buttons. This indicates that dogs are not just relying on their owner’s cues but are truly processing the meaning of the words.
“This study addresses public skepticism about whether dogs really understand what the buttons mean,” said Rossano. “Our findings are important because they show that words matter to dogs, and they respond to the words themselves, not just to associated cues.”
The study included two experiments. In the first experiment, researchers visited the homes of 30 dogs across the country to test how they responded to the soundboard buttons.
In the second experiment, 29 dog owners conducted the trials themselves at home, with remote guidance from the researchers.
The study’s methodology was rigorously pre-registered, meaning the researchers clearly outlined their hypotheses, data collection methods, and analysis plans before starting the study.
This approach ensures transparency and allows other researchers to replicate the study, reducing the chance of bias or cherry-picking results.
Rossano emphasized that this study is just the beginning of a larger investigation into how dogs communicate.
Future studies will explore how dogs use these buttons on their own, including what they mean and how they combine button presses to communicate more complex ideas. This research is part of an ongoing project involving thousands of participants worldwide.
The study’s first author, Amalia Bastos, is a former postdoctoral researcher at UC San Diego and is now at Johns Hopkins University.
The study was a collaborative effort, with contributions from researchers at UC Davis, the University of St. Andrews, Universitat de València, and the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna.
Data for the study was collected in 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic, with participants generously allowing researchers into their homes despite the challenges posed by the omicron surge.
This highlights the growing public interest in citizen science and the desire to better understand our canine companions.
