Do the Viral Talking Buttons for Dogs Really Work? A Vet Answers

Ever since I first spotted the “talking buttons” trend on Instagram last year, I’ve been enthralled by the idea that my dog could communicate with me by using them. You know the ones: Each button says a different word out loud when pressed, so dogs can use them to talk to you—or something like that.

Amanda Rigterink, D.V.M, D.A.C.V.B, explains that talking buttons are tools that help dogs associate pressing buttons with specific actions and rewards.

“Dogs do not understand human language the way we do,” she says. “Instead, they learn to associate a specific button press with a predictable outcome or context: pressing ‘outside’ leads to the back door opening.”

If Bunny the Sheepadoodle on Instagram can “say” over 100 words, so could my super-smart corgi, Dolly, right? Well, that’s not exactly how things went when we tried the buttons.

Even though Dolly can pick up on things so fast, she
was totally uninterested in the talking buttons that I ordered from Amazon. With a set of three buttons with my recorded voice saying “outside,” “treat,” and “play,” I spent days upon days trying to teach her how to use the buttons, with the
help of articles and YouTube videos. No luck.

She kind of got the gist of it, but I found she was just randomly pushing buttons to get a treat—that is, when she wasn’t afraid of them. My anxious girl is leery of new and different objects, and she wasn’t a fan of the buttons.

Rigterink noted the buttons won’t work for all pups. “Dogs often pick up on subtle human body language cues and voice intonations, which really means they may be reacting to you rather than actually ‘talking’ back and forth,” she explained.

In other words, the buttons may just have been too subtle for Dolly, or simply weren’t her preferred method of communication.

“Talking buttons have increased in popularity due to Instagram dog stars like Bunny the Sheepadoodle. I admit I have watched quite a few of her posts!” Rigterink says. “It strikes a chord in the social media world because it offers pet parents a fun and tangible way of interacting with their dog and bridging the ‘communication gap,’ therefore offering insight into what their dog is thinking.”

But although the videos are fun to watch, they can be misleading about what owners can actually expect from talking buttons. Rigterink says pet parents often unintentionally
“cue” their dogs on which button to press, or they interpret random paw hitting as coherent communication.

“Also, a lot of these viral videos are suspected to be heavily edited,” she adds.

However, some studies suggest that dogs genuinely understand the words they are pressing, according to Rigterink.

For instance, she says that one 2024 study showed that dogs responded appropriately to “play” and “outside” buttons
significantly more often than expected by chance, which is evidence that at least basic word comprehension seems to be genuinely occurring.

She also says that another 2024 study analyzed over 56,000 multi-button presses from more than 150 dogs. The goal was to investigate whether these multi-button combinations were intentional, and the results showed that dogs were not pressing buttons at random or merely imitating their humans.

One of the big benefits of using talking buttons with your dog is that it creates an opportunity for deeper connection and engagement.

“It is a fun bonding enrichment activity for the dog,” Rigterink says. “Treat the exercise as mental enrichment and bonding time rather than expecting your dog to construct multi-word sentences. Through using the buttons, a lot of people say they feel like they have a partnership with their dog. A lot of people want to know what their dog desires.”

But there are some negatives to think about, too. As Rigterink says, “It may become frustrating for the dog (learner) or the human (teacher) if there is little to no progress. I think that is why most people quit.”

Even though I didn’t succeed in using the talking buttons with
Dolly, perhaps you want to give it a go with your pup. After purchasing a set of buttons, Rigterink recommends
keeping things “very simple.”

“Use just one to three buttons for words your dog already knows, like ‘outside’ or ‘treat’. Make sure you pair the action or reward right after the dog has pawed the button. Also, be patient and do not set your expectations too high.”

Rigterink adds, “This topic is still controversial in terms of what the dog can or cannot understand. But in the meantime, try it with your dog and see what you think!”

In our case, I think the talking buttons became frustrating for both Dolly and me. I never want to make her do something that she’s not interested in or causes her to have anxiety. In the meantime, we’ll be trying other fun, new activities and ways to communicate.

But for a fresh way to bond with your dog, I think you should definitely try talking buttons to see for yourself.