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Teach Your Dog to Talk: A Beginner's Guide to Training Your Dog to Communicate with Word Buttons
Train your dog or puppy to communicate with you through more than just barks with the first-ever book on pet training with speech buttons and soundboards!
Teach Your Dog to Talk is a light-hearted and easy-to-use guide to exploring Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). Inspired by the discovery that dogs can use AAC to communicate with their humans, this book is perfect for the average pet owner who is looking to foster a deeper connection with their dog through “speech training.”
As the first resource to encourage more pet owners to explore this fun (and funny!) endeavor with their animals, Teach Your Dog to Talk will explore the basic setup of currently available AAC devices and best practices for getting started, and highlight notable achievements by some of the internet’s favorite “talking” dogs. The book will also answer frequently asked questions, discuss common mistakes, and offer do's and don’ts.
Pet owners will discover a whole new layer of their relationship with their beloved four-legged friends thanks to the tips and tricks offered in this first-of-its-kind handbook.
Teach Your Dog to Talk is a light-hearted and easy-to-use guide to exploring Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC). Inspired by the discovery that dogs can use AAC to communicate with their humans, this book is perfect for the average pet owner who is looking to foster a deeper connection with their dog through “speech training.”
As the first resource to encourage more pet owners to explore this fun (and funny!) endeavor with their animals, Teach Your Dog to Talk will explore the basic setup of currently available AAC devices and best practices for getting started, and highlight notable achievements by some of the internet’s favorite “talking” dogs. The book will also answer frequently asked questions, discuss common mistakes, and offer do's and don’ts.
Pet owners will discover a whole new layer of their relationship with their beloved four-legged friends thanks to the tips and tricks offered in this first-of-its-kind handbook.
128 pages, Paperback
Published November 16, 2021
20 people are currently reading
25 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 3, 2022
Animal AAC - the Spark Notes version
Great introduction to general concepts of canine AAC, which is also applicable to other animals. But is very much an introductory book, not a true instruction manual for how to use AAC to develop a specific communication plan for a given dog/cat/animal.
That is the book that really needs to be written.
Ms. Rocha has a very juvenile writing style that often wanders into the territory of being outright nauseating, as in the many cases of her sad self promotion. She offers nothing special to the field and her awkward attempts at promoting her social media accounts scream of desperation for attention.
While Ms. Rocha claimed in several instances to have been "told" things by AAC experts and community researchers, she never provides any direct quotes or cites any firsthand exchanges with experts. This is especially problematic in regards to the owners of Stella (the first talking dog, raised by Christina Hunger, who Rocha clearly is fangirling over, despite no evidence of any attempt to interview Hunger as an expert for the book) and Bunny (arguably the most famous talking dog of 2021, mentioned frequently in the book but once again, no evidence of an interview attempt is present). Did Rocha actually do any supplementary research for this book? Or did it just flow from her self-absorbed mind...?
Had this been a free e-book or even some epub purchases for 99 cents, it would have been a slam-dunk five-star work.
Instead, I find myself mad I spent the money and time on it. I cannot believe this mediocre material is actually out in print. I'll believe that miracle came about as a confluence of covid plus a cutting edge subject.
TL;DR
Read only if free
But really read the source material "How Stella Learned to Talk," by Christina Hunger instead
Great introduction to general concepts of canine AAC, which is also applicable to other animals. But is very much an introductory book, not a true instruction manual for how to use AAC to develop a specific communication plan for a given dog/cat/animal.
That is the book that really needs to be written.
Ms. Rocha has a very juvenile writing style that often wanders into the territory of being outright nauseating, as in the many cases of her sad self promotion. She offers nothing special to the field and her awkward attempts at promoting her social media accounts scream of desperation for attention.
While Ms. Rocha claimed in several instances to have been "told" things by AAC experts and community researchers, she never provides any direct quotes or cites any firsthand exchanges with experts. This is especially problematic in regards to the owners of Stella (the first talking dog, raised by Christina Hunger, who Rocha clearly is fangirling over, despite no evidence of any attempt to interview Hunger as an expert for the book) and Bunny (arguably the most famous talking dog of 2021, mentioned frequently in the book but once again, no evidence of an interview attempt is present). Did Rocha actually do any supplementary research for this book? Or did it just flow from her self-absorbed mind...?
Had this been a free e-book or even some epub purchases for 99 cents, it would have been a slam-dunk five-star work.
Instead, I find myself mad I spent the money and time on it. I cannot believe this mediocre material is actually out in print. I'll believe that miracle came about as a confluence of covid plus a cutting edge subject.
TL;DR
Read only if free
But really read the source material "How Stella Learned to Talk," by Christina Hunger instead
February 27, 2023
I'm really glad I bought this book. I was so excited to starting teaching my dog AAC (talking with buttons), but I had no idea where to start. This book is a quick read giving easy to follow introduction to teaching your dog how to use the word buttons and also offers many other resources in the emerging field of pet AAC. I liked it a lot, but it's a little repetitve and definitly not a stand alone.
March 6, 2023
This is a good introduction on how to teach your dog to talk, but it doesn't seem very complete. It is a very basic, precursory overview. I would have liked a list of words other trainers have used, and pros and cons of particular words, lessons learned from people who have already used the buttons, etc.
For example, I started a button that said "go outside" but eventually I may be creating a separate "go" button. So it may have made more sense for me to start with an "outside" button.
For example, I started a button that said "go outside" but eventually I may be creating a separate "go" button. So it may have made more sense for me to start with an "outside" button.
December 13, 2021
Amazing!
I can’t wait to get home and record, and label, one of our buttons! This book was exactly what I needed to get TJ started on this path! He pushes his doorbell then leads me to his water dish, the back door, or the pantry (for his denta stick) right now, finally he’ll be able to communicate with us exactly what he wants!
I can’t wait to get home and record, and label, one of our buttons! This book was exactly what I needed to get TJ started on this path! He pushes his doorbell then leads me to his water dish, the back door, or the pantry (for his denta stick) right now, finally he’ll be able to communicate with us exactly what he wants!
January 18, 2022
This was an interesting read and a nice companion book to How Stella Learned To Talk, by Christina Hunger.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews