Turns out, in this day and age, you can teach a dog to talk to you. Well, not in a literal sense. Though it's still extremely cool and surreal.
Meet Bunny—an internet-famous dog, a mix between an Old English sheepdog and a poodle, known for being able to talk. For quite a while now, her owner Alexis Devine has been teaching her to communicate using alternative communication devices, typically used by people with verbal speech deficits.
More info: tiktok.com | Instagram
For quite a while now, Bunny's owner has been teaching her to talk using alternative communication devices
Image credits: what_about_bunny
Image credits: what_about_bunny
The alternative communication device that Bunny is currently using is a board with a series of programmed buttons. Once someone presses a button, it plays back a prerecorded word or phrase. It allows the doggy to form sentences in order to express her thoughts and ideas.
The owner is teaching the doggy words using operant conditioning. According to Today, she began by teaching Bunny the word "outside"—whenever the woman was about to let the dog outside, she would press the "outside" button and then say the word before letting her outside. Apparently, after about three weeks, Bunny was pressing the “outside” button on her own.
Recently, one of Bunny's videos on TikTok gained even more attention than usual
Image credits: what_about_bunny
Alexis Devine often films Bunny communicating using the buttons and shares the clips on TikTok and Instagram. Recently, one of the videos on Bunny's TikTok account went viral for being particularly impressive... and even a bit spooky.
In the video, Bunny is captured asking her owner "who this" and then looking in the mirror
Image credits: what_about_bunny
In the video, Bunny is captured going up to her board of buttons and pressing two of them, forming the phrase "who this." After that, she goes up to a mirror and looks at herself. Soon after, she turns her head around and looks straight at her owner. "Did you just say 'who this' and then look in the mirror?" the surprised owner asks Bunny.
The owner tries to explain to Bunny that it's actually her in the mirror
Image credits: what_about_bunny
Image credits: what_about_bunny
The owner then comes up to Bunny and attempts to explain to her that it's actually her in the mirror. The woman does that by pressing a button responsible for the word "Bunny" as well as saying it to her.
After hearing that, the dog goes up to a window, aimlessly stares through it for a few seconds
Soon after, Bunny walks away, goes up to a window, and for a few seconds, mysteriously stares outside it. Then she turns around, comes back to the board... and presses the button responsible for the word "help."
"Well, this is certainly the existential content that Tiktok has been hoping for. I think it’s reeeeeallly interesting that moments like this are becoming more frequent. It seems clear that she is trying to sort something out, I don’t think she’s there yet, but something is definitely happening," reads the description of the video uploaded to Instagram.
Then she comes back to the button board and presses the "help" button
Image credits: what_about_bunny
Image credits: what_about_bunny
Millions of people on the interwebs were fascinated, impressed and a bit spooked by this video. "The look in her eyes, she’s definitely trying to tell you something," someone commented. "That look in the mirror after your question blewwww me!!!!" another one added. "Is she perhaps realizing she’s a dog and different from you and that’s what’s making her sad?" someone speculated.
For a while now, many people on TikTok have been sharing their thoughts on what they think Bunny's existential crisis would look like
What did you think about this video? How do you feel about using a technique like this to communicate with your dog? Tell us down in the comments.