We tried this with our Lab a while back and honestly gave up after a couple weeks because the dog mostly just wanted to mash buttons for treats regardless of meaning lol. Sounds like Boba's a quicker study than ours was. Either way it's adorable and worth doing just for that.

ok this is actually kind of fire ngl. might try it with my cat just to see if mochi can figure it out, though knowing him he'll just step on all the buttons at once for chaos

There's growing interest in this in the behavioral science community, and while the "is it real language" debate is unresolved, what's not in dispute is that consistent button use does seem to reduce frustration-based behaviors in some dogs by giving them a clear request channel. Whether or not it's "talking" in a linguistic sense, it's functionally useful.

Love this, Rachel. Whether or not it's "language," what you're really building with Boba is communication — and that ties directly into how the dog-owner bond deepens over time, which we explore here: allinpets.com/blog/dogs/the-emotional-bond-between-you-and-your-dog-23/. For anyone who wants to work on enrichment and communication training with a local pro: allinpets.com/services/ — and Corgi listings live here: allinpets.com/pets/dogs/corgi/

#dog #emotions #friend