Happy Ball Want Outside: Dog Learns To Communicate Using Custom Soundboard

https://geekologie.com/2019/11/happy-ball-want-outside-dog-learns-to-co.php

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These are several videos of speech-language pathologist Christine Hunger’s dog Stella using the custom soundboard she’s been training with since puppyhood to communicate. The board currently contains 29 different words that Stella has learned individually, which she can string together to form thoughts much more complex than anything you’d read on Geekologie. Some more info about the first Instagram series of videos after the jump:

Video 1: After I said "Stella bed," she responded "Water." Sure enough, her water bowl was empty.
Video 2: Stella drank her water. After I said "Stella bed" again, she responded, "Toy ball want." We always leave Stella in her bed with her Kong toy. She had to make sure I found it first!
Video 3: After we found the Kong, Stella commented, "All done happy!" She got everything she needed and was ready for the day ?

Fascinating. You can follow Stella’s progress on Instagram or at HungerForWords. I actually started teaching my dogs to communicate using human language but abandoned the project when they started conspiring about how delicious I’d taste. I also stopped letting them sleep in the bed with me.
Keep going for some videos.

View this post on Instagram

Stella makes sure she has everything she needs before I leave for work! Take a look at this amazing series to see how Stella participates in our getting ready to leave routine: • Video 1: After I said "Stella bed," she responded "Water." Sure enough, her water bowl was empty. • Video 2: Stella drank her water. After I said "Stella bed" again, she responded, "Toy ball want." We always leave Stella in her bed with her Kong toy. She had to make sure I found it first! • Video 3: After we found the Kong, Stella commented, "All done happy!" She got everything she needed and was ready for the day ? • • • • • #hunger4words #stellathetalkingdog #slpsofinstagram #speechtherapy #AAC #slp #corewords #slp2be #aacawarenessmonth #earlyintervention #routines #languagedevelopment #dogsofinstagram #dogmom #doglife #dogs #animalpsychology #doglover #dogvideos #sandiegodog #catahoula #blueheeler #smartdog #dogcommunication #mydogtalks #animalcommunication #interspeciescommunication #loveanimals #kongdogtoys #ashaigers

A post shared by Christina Hunger, MA, CCC-SLP (@hunger4words) on

Thanks to DT, hairless, and Jocelyn, who agree pets being able to talk is a slippery slope.

via Geekologie – Gadgets, Gizmos, and Awesome https://geekologie.com/

November 8, 2019 at 12:12PM

The Water Is Already Low At A Florida Freshwater Spring, But Nestlé Wants More

https://www.npr.org/2019/11/08/776776312/the-water-is-already-low-at-a-florida-freshwater-spring-but-nestl-wants-more?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news

Activists demonstrated recently in High Springs, Fla., to oppose Nestlé

Nestlé wants to increase the amount of water it withdraws from Ginnie Springs to nearly 1.2 million gallons a day, to the dismay of environmental groups and local activists.

(Image credit: Reagan Fink/WUFT)

via NPR Topics: News https://ift.tt/2m0CM10

November 8, 2019 at 05:04AM