How Stella Learned to Talk: The Groundbreaking Story of the World's First Talking Dog
- Downloads：3252
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-05-04 12:31:03
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Christina Hunger
- ISBN：1665076550
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
Reviews
Irene McHugh
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How Stella Learned to Talk mixes inspirational memoir with actionable steps to help you teach your dog how to talk with an Augmentative and Alternative Communication （AAC） device。As a former middle school teacher， I appreciate how dedicated Hunger is to ensuring the children she serves have the means to say what they want。 Her passion for helping others is evident。 I also relate to how Hunger uses her professional skill set with her dog。 After leaving public education， I now apply my knowledge o How Stella Learned to Talk mixes inspirational memoir with actionable steps to help you teach your dog how to talk with an Augmentative and Alternative Communication （AAC） device。As a former middle school teacher， I appreciate how dedicated Hunger is to ensuring the children she serves have the means to say what they want。 Her passion for helping others is evident。 I also relate to how Hunger uses her professional skill set with her dog。 After leaving public education， I now apply my knowledge of teaching middle schoolers to training my two dogs for therapy dog work。Hunger and Stella's story had me cheering for them more than once。Please visit my dog blog for my full review of How Stella Learned To Talk。Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow and Custom House for providing me with an advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for an honest review。 。。。more
Kathleen Gray
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Fascinating！ Anyone who has tried to train a dog will find Hunger's memoir illuminating。 A speech pathologist， she decided to use Stella to test her theories on augmented and alternative communication （aac） devices 。 Readers can quibble over her decision to buy rather than rescue a dog but her love for Stella shines throughout this thoughtful memoir。 And yes， arguably this is experimentation on animals but how is it different from training your pet to sit， stay， heel？ I found her techniques= how Fascinating！ Anyone who has tried to train a dog will find Hunger's memoir illuminating。 A speech pathologist， she decided to use Stella to test her theories on augmented and alternative communication （aac） devices 。 Readers can quibble over her decision to buy rather than rescue a dog but her love for Stella shines throughout this thoughtful memoir。 And yes， arguably this is experimentation on animals but how is it different from training your pet to sit， stay， heel？ I found her techniques= how she taught Stella to push the buttons， much less distinguish among them-innovative。 Thanks to edelweiss for the ARC。 It's a very good read that many will find useful。 。。。more
Sarah R
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How Stella Learned to Talk documents Christina Hunger's work as a speech-language pathologist and how she applies her knowledge of Augmentative and Alternative Communication （AAC） with her own dog， Stella， using buttons。 This book is incredible。 Truly。 The memoir and "how-to" aspects blend perfectly， giving the story a natural flow。 These "takeaway" side notes were so helpful and easy to understand， providing excellent guidance to anyone interested in teaching their own pup how to speak using bu How Stella Learned to Talk documents Christina Hunger's work as a speech-language pathologist and how she applies her knowledge of Augmentative and Alternative Communication （AAC） with her own dog， Stella， using buttons。 This book is incredible。 Truly。 The memoir and "how-to" aspects blend perfectly， giving the story a natural flow。 These "takeaway" side notes were so helpful and easy to understand， providing excellent guidance to anyone interested in teaching their own pup how to speak using buttons like Stella's。 Throughout the book， Christina's love for Stella is clear， shining through in every aspect of the story。 As a dog-lover， it was so sweet to see their special connection。 Stella was adorable。 Her "spunky" personality was represented so nicely in this book， and there were so many instances where I just wanted to give her a big hug。 If my dog told me "love you，" I'd probably be sobbing （also if she said "love you no，" but for a very different reason！） This book had me both laughing and smiling， which I didn't expect from a nonfiction book。Side Note: I've seen some concerns about how the author mentioned early on that she would consider giving up their dog if they ever harmed a future child。 When I was a very very young child （not quite 2）， our family dog bit me on the face when I walked past him。 My younger sister was a newborn。 Honestly， I'd say it is not unreasonable to consider a new home for your dog if this happens。 Ours went to a loving home with no carpet and no children and was very happy。 I would most certainly recommend this book to dog lovers and those interested in AAC！！ What a great read！*I won a physical ARC of this book in a #GoodreadsGiveaway and I am leaving this honest review voluntarily。 Thank you！！* 。。。more
Carol
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I studied animal behavior in college， but we did not have courses on animal to communication。 This book by Christina Hunger is on learning how to communicate with a dog and vice versa。 I have read about monkeys learning communication but not dogs。 The author works as a speech therapist with children are non-verbal。 My brother is severely autistic and said his first word at the age of six。 He had speech therapy for years， but I believe that was before communication devices were invented。The autho I studied animal behavior in college， but we did not have courses on animal to communication。 This book by Christina Hunger is on learning how to communicate with a dog and vice versa。 I have read about monkeys learning communication but not dogs。 The author works as a speech therapist with children are non-verbal。 My brother is severely autistic and said his first word at the age of six。 He had speech therapy for years， but I believe that was before communication devices were invented。The author observed the children very closely to pick up cues from the children that they were exploring how to communicate。 Later when the author and her boyfriend bought a puppy， she began to notice signs that the puppy was trying to tell her something。 Then， she thought why not use the communication system that she uses at work。 She set up buttons at home and Stella， the puppy figured things after they were demonstrated to her。 Stella's vocabulary has grown over time and later she started to put them together to making her communication more complex。 There are photos in the book so that you can understand the setup。This book can be a how-to book if you want to train your puppy。 I want to apply this idea to birds。 my birds have picked up parts of my speech and used them appropriately。 Now I wish that I could live long to set a vocabulary that that birds could use。 Many of the things that the author states in her book are also true for my birds。 。。。more
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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