How Stella Learned to Talk: The Groundbreaking Story of the World's First Talking Dog
- Downloads：3228
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-04-21 05:31:11
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Christina Hunger
- ISBN：B08K931DJB
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary
An incredible， revolutionary true story and surprisingly simple guide to teaching your dog to talk from speech-language pathologist Christina Hunger， who has taught her dog， Stella， to communicate using simple paw-sized buttons associated with different words。
When speech-language pathologist Christina Hunger first came home with her puppy， Stella， it didn’t take long for her to start drawing connections between her job and her new pet。 During the day， she worked with toddlers with significant delays in language development and used Augmentative and Alternative Communication （AAC） devices to help them communicate。 At night， she wondered: If dogs can understand words we say to them， shouldn't they be able to say words to us？ Can dogs use AAC to communicate with humans？
Christina decided to put her theory to the test with Stella and started using a paw-sized button programmed with her voice to say the word "outside" when clicked， whenever she took Stella out of the house。 A few years later， Stella now has a bank of more than thirty word buttons， and uses them daily either individually or together to create near-complete sentences。
How Stella Learned to Talk is part memoir and part how-to guide。 It chronicles the journey Christina and Stella have taken together， from the day they met， to the day Stella "spoke" her first word， and the other breakthroughs they've had since。 It also reveals the techniques Christina used to teach Stella， broken down into simple stages and actionable steps any dog owner can use to start communicating with their pets。
Filled with conversations that Stella and Christina have had， as well as the attention to developmental detail that only a speech-language pathologist could know， How Stella Learned to Talk will be the indispensable dog book for the new decade。
When speech-language pathologist Christina Hunger first came home with her puppy， Stella， it didn’t take long for her to start drawing connections between her job and her new pet。 During the day， she worked with toddlers with significant delays in language development and used Augmentative and Alternative Communication （AAC） devices to help them communicate。 At night， she wondered: If dogs can understand words we say to them， shouldn't they be able to say words to us？ Can dogs use AAC to communicate with humans？
Christina decided to put her theory to the test with Stella and started using a paw-sized button programmed with her voice to say the word "outside" when clicked， whenever she took Stella out of the house。 A few years later， Stella now has a bank of more than thirty word buttons， and uses them daily either individually or together to create near-complete sentences。
How Stella Learned to Talk is part memoir and part how-to guide。 It chronicles the journey Christina and Stella have taken together， from the day they met， to the day Stella "spoke" her first word， and the other breakthroughs they've had since。 It also reveals the techniques Christina used to teach Stella， broken down into simple stages and actionable steps any dog owner can use to start communicating with their pets。
Filled with conversations that Stella and Christina have had， as well as the attention to developmental detail that only a speech-language pathologist could know， How Stella Learned to Talk will be the indispensable dog book for the new decade。
Reviews
CJ Connor
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Wow！ This book really made me rethink what dogs are capable of in terms of communication。 It was fascinating to see how Stella learned to express her thoughts using the buttons and sort of breach a word barrier between people and dogs。 I would love to try and teach my chihuahua this—I wonder a lot what she thinks about and wish there was a way for her to communicate her exact needs。 Would recommend for pet owners who want to understand the minds of their dogs a little better。
Sharon
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Cute， funny and interesting real life story on teaching a dog to "talk"。 Who knew？this was a goodreads giveaway Cute， funny and interesting real life story on teaching a dog to "talk"。 Who knew？this was a goodreads giveaway 。。。more
Kelly Long
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Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review。Dogs are my favorite people so why not read about a dog who learns to talk？ At the beginning of the book， I was hopeful that Stella had been a rescue dog and not a backyard breeder baby。 I'm a huge advocate for adopting dogs from shelters and rescue groups。 So I did get quite disappointed when the author stated she would surrender a dog if they had a baby and the kid wasn't safe around the dog。 Blah Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review。Dogs are my favorite people so why not read about a dog who learns to talk？ At the beginning of the book， I was hopeful that Stella had been a rescue dog and not a backyard breeder baby。 I'm a huge advocate for adopting dogs from shelters and rescue groups。 So I did get quite disappointed when the author stated she would surrender a dog if they had a baby and the kid wasn't safe around the dog。 Blah， blah， blah。 I see more dogs being given up once someone "replaces" them with a "real" kid but not because the kid was in any danger。 My parents had a huge German Shepherd when I was born and he stuck by my side as my own personal body guard。 And never hurt anyone， especially me。 Ok， tangent done。 Once I got over my irritation and disappointment that Stella was a breeder puppy， I got into the real story of Stella using buttons to talk， the story was good。 While parts of the book seemed too repetitious， overall it was interesting to read about how she took her work life and training and adapted it for Stella。 I can't imagine how my dogs would respond to this set up if I tried it。 I would definitely be hearing "walk" and "eat" a lot！ 。。。more
KES
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YES - read it。 It will change your view of the world you live in！WOW - just wow！！ Not very often nowadays do we get to have our view of the world we live in change and a change promoted from a positive message - lots of negative or doom & gloom but nothing that will make you feel as positive as this book。While the description from the publisher is accurate， don't let the term "guide" fool you。 It's way more then a guide to how to train your dog （ or potentially lots of animals） to "talk"。 It is YES - read it。 It will change your view of the world you live in！WOW - just wow！！ Not very often nowadays do we get to have our view of the world we live in change and a change promoted from a positive message - lots of negative or doom & gloom but nothing that will make you feel as positive as this book。While the description from the publisher is accurate， don't let the term "guide" fool you。 It's way more then a guide to how to train your dog （ or potentially lots of animals） to "talk"。 It is a guide that is really well laid out with info and tips but the evidence based knowledge （background）， anecdotal and behavior descriptions are what's worth the read。It's learning about the INCREDIBLE work the author does providing her human clients a way they can communicate and thus interact with their world。 Honestly， I'd take a book on that alone！！It's learning about how the little developmental markers （but added together make for big steps） children and Stella go through in order to develop speech。 I remember my college child development teacher explaining that at a point in development your child & your dog both stare at your finger when you point， but at some moment in time your child with look to where you are pointing。 So the similarities are very striking when delineated out over the period of time that Stella learns to communicate。To read about Stella's development with her speech is honestly a wee bit unsettling。 To me， it clearly shows an intelligence that humans have actively tried to discredit。 Stella lets her people know what she wants and how she feels。 As a global society， how can we continue to ignore animal's abilities and thus their rights when we now have the ability to communicate meaningfully with them？I received an ARC from Netgalley and William Morrow to prepare for my honest review。 。。。more
Linden
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Christina， a speech pathologist， used Augmentative and Alternative Communication （AAC） devices with her clients， children with delayed speech， to help them communicate。 When she and her boyfriend got tired of waiting for a shelter dog， they bought a puppy from Craigslist。 （Yes， that bothers me a lot。） Christina wanted to try using the techniques she used in her job on the new puppy， Stella。 She purchased some large recordable answer buttons which could be operated by Stella， starting with outsid Christina， a speech pathologist， used Augmentative and Alternative Communication （AAC） devices with her clients， children with delayed speech， to help them communicate。 When she and her boyfriend got tired of waiting for a shelter dog， they bought a puppy from Craigslist。 （Yes， that bothers me a lot。） Christina wanted to try using the techniques she used in her job on the new puppy， Stella。 She purchased some large recordable answer buttons which could be operated by Stella， starting with outside， play， and water。 To see Stella in action， the author has videos on her website， hungerforwords。com。 Thanks to the publisher for allowing me to review this ARC。 。。。more
Jennifer Schultz
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