TikTok: @what_about_bunny

'Bunny The Dog' Talks, Leaving Everyone (Including Scientists) Speechless


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Dogs have their own, special language. However, Bunny The Dog is proving canines understand everyday human language by saying it, literally, in her own words.


When my puppy needs to go outside, she barks like the world is ending, nibbles my toes, runs for the door, grabs my shoe; Basically, causes as big a scene as possible. Dog owners, I'm sure you're with me on this -- It takes time to learn how our dogs communicate with us, and everyone of them is different. Some bark, some use those big eyes, others find creative ways to hide before sneakily pooping behind a house plant.

If evolution taught us anything, it's that great things take time. The next phase is already here, and Bunny The Dog is taking the internet by storm as she, day after day, showcases her ability to talk to her owners.

Owner Alexis Devine began training Bunny, a gorgeous sheepadoodle, how to speak using a series of buttons from the time Bunny was a puppy; She was inspired by Christina Hunger, a speech-language pathologist, who taught her dog Stella the same tactics. Bunny's buttons are arranged on a soundboard called an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device. Each has a picture corresponding to the command, and Bunny, who was about 16 months old as of December 2020, understands and uses more than 70 different words to articulate what she wants and is thinking.

Meet Bunny The Talking Dog

@whataboutbunny

She love her doggy friends?#bunnythedog #fyp? #communication #talkingdog

? original sound - I am Bunny

@whataboutbunny

Check your doggy?s paws if you live in an area with foxtail #ouchie #talkingdog #cutedog #communication #doggyanthem

? original sound - I am Bunny

Is Bunny The Dog Actually Talking?

@whataboutbunny

Please enjoy some cute, on us. #cute #loveyou #whataboutbunny #FeelingGood #icouldcry #bestdog

? original sound - I am Bunny

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How is this possible? Is Bunny really learning and articulating what she wants? Or, has she learned a set of commands based strictly on her owner's response to them?

For a group of researchers at the Comparative Cognition Lab at the University of California, San Diego, the answer is that they really don't know.

Led by director Federico Rossano, the group took inspiration from Bunny to launch a research study of more than 700 animal participants. They're attempting to figure out exactly what is happening in this incredible phenomenon.

"Rossano says the videos of Bunny are interesting, "but we need to be very careful about what we think is going on. There's a lot of risk about making bold claims." He wants to gather as much data as possible, and until experiments determine how much humans influence their companions' actions, he won't be drawing any hard conclusions about Bunny's capacity for language"

-- H/T, The Verge


No offense Rosie, but Bunny talks. I won't let skeptics convince me otherwise.

Oh yeah, and Bunny is facing her own existential crisis and becoming self-aware, pressing each button to ask "Who This, Go See" and looking directly into a nearby mirror.

@whataboutbunny

Here we go...#bunnythedog #tiktokdogs #fyp? #talkingdog

? original sound - I am Bunny

READ MORE: Bulldog Warns Scary Movie Victims When Bad Guys Are Coming


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