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A review by leili_vee
How Stella Learned to Talk: A Speech Therapist's Memoir of Her Groundbreaking Work in Communicating with Dogs by Christina Hunger
4.0
4 stars because it’s such an interesting topic.
I struggled with some of the linguistic implications in here, however. Specifically, the author insists on saying that animals don’t use language, or that we can’t understand their methods of communication currently. I suppose in her case, because she got her dog as a puppy and it was all brand new, that this could have been true for her. I feel like most pet owners are able to understand their pets. Granted not all cats are as chatty as mine, but even their basic body language is understandable. Maybe I just have a stronger sense of perception?? If I set aside the potential implications for autistic expression and the fact that this method is imposing on the pet to learn our language rather than putting the onus on us to communicate in a way that is more suited to them, then the premise of language building here is fun. It was hard to do that, at times. I already know my cat sees me as her world, and I know when she’s pissed at me; I don’t need to make her learn a pigeon form of my own language to be able to understand her.
Love: I love anything to do with “love you.” If you don’t know what I mean, go watch a YouTube video of any pet using their FluentPet buttons consistently. It is heartwarming and awe-inspiring to hear a pet tell you that you are their world in your own language. Likewise it is amusing as all heck when a pet uses that phrase to tell you they are mad with you. I love that the audio version uses the recorded buttons in it.
Dislike: They did not get the shelter dog. What the hell. I wished the book talked more about the actual training process and less about the author’s private life. It wasn’t off putting, I just found most of it to be unnecessary for this story. Near the end she kind of hypes up all her fame. Yes, she deserves to be praised for her accomplishments, but, I didn’t read the book to hear about her social media glory. It is also hard for me to see Stella as being truly the first dog to “talk.” I would have also liked to learn more about how she became affiliated with FluentPet and how she is working with them now.
I struggled with some of the linguistic implications in here, however. Specifically, the author insists on saying that animals don’t use language, or that we can’t understand their methods of communication currently. I suppose in her case, because she got her dog as a puppy and it was all brand new, that this could have been true for her. I feel like most pet owners are able to understand their pets. Granted not all cats are as chatty as mine, but even their basic body language is understandable. Maybe I just have a stronger sense of perception?? If I set aside the potential implications for autistic expression and the fact that this method is imposing on the pet to learn our language rather than putting the onus on us to communicate in a way that is more suited to them, then the premise of language building here is fun. It was hard to do that, at times. I already know my cat sees me as her world, and I know when she’s pissed at me; I don’t need to make her learn a pigeon form of my own language to be able to understand her.
Love: I love anything to do with “love you.” If you don’t know what I mean, go watch a YouTube video of any pet using their FluentPet buttons consistently. It is heartwarming and awe-inspiring to hear a pet tell you that you are their world in your own language. Likewise it is amusing as all heck when a pet uses that phrase to tell you they are mad with you. I love that the audio version uses the recorded buttons in it.
Dislike: They did not get the shelter dog. What the hell. I wished the book talked more about the actual training process and less about the author’s private life. It wasn’t off putting, I just found most of it to be unnecessary for this story. Near the end she kind of hypes up all her fame. Yes, she deserves to be praised for her accomplishments, but, I didn’t read the book to hear about her social media glory. It is also hard for me to see Stella as being truly the first dog to “talk.” I would have also liked to learn more about how she became affiliated with FluentPet and how she is working with them now.