“I taught my golden retriever to talk using buttons” (12 photos + 1 video)

1 February 2024

Christina Lee, 32, a software engineer from San Francisco, adopted a golden retriever in May 2021. The puppy, named Cash, was "scared of the world" and experienced panic attacks almost daily. Lee taught her pet to communicate with her using buttons, and he became cheerful.

From the first day they met, Cash was “just terrified of everything.” Christina “cried all the time” because she felt sorry for her pet, and she did not know what awaited her in the future.

Desperate to find answers, the woman moved out of town and began studying training.

Now, nearly three years later, Cash can communicate using 130 buttons, each of which plays words like "play," "sad," "cuddle," "outside," "grandpa" and "grandmother."

After much training and pleasant rewards, the dog began to understand that certain words lead to certain actions.

Most often, he presses the “work out” and “walk” buttons.

Christina assures that she never forced her pet to use buttons. She pays attention to Cash's body language and mood.

She is often asked if other pets can be trained, and Christina says it all depends on the animal's personality.

"Buttons are an opportunity for dogs to ask for things and communicate with you, and I believe it makes the relationship better. But it should be their choice."

"I just appreciate being able to interact with him as an equal - it's a really special feeling. For example, when you find out that Cash is thinking about his grandmother and wants to visit her, your heart is ready to jump out of your chest."

Christina has always loved animals, growing up with cats and dogs, riding horses, and couldn't wait to one day have her own pet. And she prepared with all responsibility, even bought a more spacious car.

I had a dream: “I’ll buy a retriever, they’re so bouncy and fluffy, they love people, they love dogs, the whole world.” But then I brought Cash home, and all this didn’t come true. He was afraid of me, the house, the street. himself, did not react, urinated on himself, fought with other dogs and simply stopped responding to the world."

It got to the point where the dog stopped eating and sleeping normally.

The hustle and bustle of San Francisco further exacerbated his anxiety, and Christina made the difficult decision to move out of town.

However, even then Cash's condition did not improve. Christina had a hard time going out to buy groceries because she couldn’t leave him alone.

“If I tried to leave, he would have a panic attack, and it would break my heart to see him like that,” she says.

This forced her to become a trainer and expand her knowledge. She soon discovered Cash had multiple health problems and allergies. These problems were gradually resolved, and the retriever became happier and happier.

When Cash was six months old, Christina discovered the book How Stella Learned to Talk, and this gave her the idea to add buttons to her activities with Cash.