PBS NOVA recently aired an episode “Can Dogs Talk?” about whether dogs had the ability to learn our language.

Using paw-sized push buttons placed on the floor (usually attached to a mat and labeled), dogs can communicate with their humans by pressing the button with their paw. Their humans label the buttons by speaking a word for each. Then their dogs can press a button to communicate their need. For example, the human creates a “potty” button, and dog presses that button when it needs to go out.

A dog’s ability to communicate nonverbally with humans is well documented and every dog owner will attest to the fact that there are communications that are mutually understood. For example, when dogs have to go out to “potty,” they may scratch the door to indicate that they need to go outside. When it is time for food, usually dogs exhibit some behavior to let their human know that it is dinnertime. Dogs understand commands that they have been trained on, for example, “sit.”

But the dogs in this series have gone far beyond “sit.” They use buttons to communicate their needs. For example, they press a button that says “treat” to get a treat from their human. This is called associative learning. They associate a word or symbol with a particular object. For example, the dog will get a toy from their owner when they press the word “toy.” 

Some dogs can also distinguish between items. A famous dog named Chaser could distinguish between 1,000 different toys (of course, who would have so many toys in the first place, but that is a different conversation). The NOVA program featured a dog named Gaia who knows 215 different toys by name. Her owner can call out the name of the toy and Gaia will select it from all of her toys. Since she is such a bright dog, researchers tried to see if she understood how the toy is used. She was given two toys, one for fetch and another for tug. When the owner asked the dog for the tug toy, she selected the toy that she associated with tug (she repeated this behavior for her fetch toy). She is one of 50 dogs that has been recognized as having that superior memory.

Some dogs communicate using more than a single button. One dog, Stella, indicated by pressing the words “yes,” “park,” “want” that she wanted to go to the park instead of bedtime. When the human indicated that it was too late to go to the park, she asked the dog if she wanted to go for a walk instead and the dog then pressed “yes,” “want,” “outside.” This particular dog has a command of 29 words.

Another dog pressed “ouch,” and the human asked where her problem was, she pressed “paw” and in fact, the dog had a thorn in her paw. To the researcher, this sounded like a dialog between the dog and her human.

Researchers are now collecting data on 10,000 dogs in 50 countries which are using buttons to communicate. Not all are as successful as the dogs that I mentioned, but their owners believe that these dogs are communicating with them. Most of the owners in this group are using 5 words or less. But there are a number of owners who are using more than 20 words and 30 dogs who use more than 50 words. Researchers have identified almost 800 dogs who use more than one word when communicating with their dog parents (e.g., “want” “outside”).

Researchers are trying to determine if these dogs actually have some rudimentary understanding of our language, especially those that use multiple words (one dog, when her “beach” button was broken used “outside,” “water” to indicate she wanted to go the beach).

No matter if dogs are capable of understanding our language, what is interesting to me is how connected these humans are with their dogs. So much so that they would take the time to teach and work with them to use these buttons. It is surely a source of joy for both. Now, on the other hand, there are my dogs, who will not be in any study, I guarantee that. Our level of communication remains rudimentary, and I love them just as much.

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Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.

It was a whispered comment, a quiet exchange of pleasantries…but they heard my voice anyway. Immediately, squealing and excited barks echoed throughout the large room. The rock star had arrived. 

When the groomer let them out to the pen, one leaped over her and the other crawled underneath, too quickly for her to put on their collars and leashes. My cute, fluffy dogs galloped across the room, howling in excitement. When they reached the gate, they tried to climb over it, or jump over it…anything to get to their rock star. 

That improbable rock star was me.

I had left them to be groomed for a full 2 ½ hours and they were desperate to touch me, snuggle with me, lick me, and go back home to the best place in the world.

I didn’t need to bother with leashes or collars; they weren’t leaving my side. 

Despite their opinion, I am not a rock star, pretty ordinary actually. A senior citizen just picking up my dogs from the groomers.

But to them, I am the best person in the world. I am amazing. If they are sick, I can heal them. If they are scared, I can reassure them. If they are hurting, I can comfort them. If they are uncertain, I can lead them. If they are hungry, I can feed them. I am their rock star.

In that moment I wondered, do they love me? Or do they just love that I feed them, pet them, walk them, and adore them? 

I certainly love them. But do they love me?

Dogs are a unique species that can connect and communicate with a human on the human’s level. But do they love us? Most scientists believe that they do. The dog-human bond is so strong that modern training approaches recommend using praise instead of treats to reinforce behavior. 

Researchers are evaluating the ability of dogs to communicate in our language. Using large push buttons placed on the floor (usually on a mat with many labeled buttons), dogs can communicate with their humans by pressing a button with their paw. Their humans label the buttons by speaking the word for each button label (e.g., “outside”). Then their dogs can press a button to communicate their need. For example, dogs can press the “potty” or an “outside” button when they need to go out. Many of these owners have also included the button that expresses “love” and dogs click that as well.

Why do scientists think that dogs love us?

The most obvious is their behavior.

• Dogs are happy to see us. Their expressions can range from a simple tail wag to a full throttle welcome, filled with snuggles, barks, whines, and touch. 
• Dogs prefer their humans to anything, including food (although some food-oriented dogs do prefer food; full disclosure: one of my dogs would push me in the street for a hot dog, but regret it later). 
• Dogs like to stay close to us as much as they can. Dogs follow us everywhere; they want to be with us. 
• They look to us for comfort, affection, protection, security, and assurance. In fact, dogs rely on humans more than they do other dogs.

There are also clinical indicators that dogs love us.

There is chemical evidence. Dog-human eye contact produces oxytocin. It is called the “Oxytocin-gaze positive loop.” Oxytocin is a hormone that works as a neurotransmitter in the brain to produce a feeling of “love” or “euphoria.” A 2015 study in Japan demonstrated that Oxytocin is released when humans and dogs gaze at each other.

There is MRI imagery. In 2014, Emory University researchers using an fMRI scan, found that the section of dogs’ brains associated with positive expectations reacted most strongly to the scent of their specific humans. A similar study in Budapest, Hungary, demonstrated results with the voice of their human. 

Findings suggest dogs can interpret emotion in our voices. My dogs are really skilled at appearing apologetic when they make a mistake. 

What about cats? I write mostly about dogs because I am allergic to cats, but I still love them and would love to have another orange tabby like my previous cat, Jesse. 

Scientists believe that cats also love their owners. While cats may be more subtle than dogs, cats see their owners as sources of comfort and safety. A 2019 study at Oregon State University revealed that cats experience less stress when their owner is present. Unlike dogs, cats show love in quieter ways, such as sitting next to us, following us, purring, head butting (which is marking us with their scent), and slow blinking. Cats meow to communicate with us and soft, gentle meows are interpreted signs of affection. 

So, I choose to believe that my dogs love me almost as much as I love them. And I guess that I am a rock star after all. I just have a very small fan base.

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Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.

I love numbers. I love everything about them. I love how they give me information. I love how they categorize things. I love how they provide a window into understanding. 

I love to analyze numbers. I love to use numbers to find trends, to discover relationships, to predict behavior, to explain the world.

Here are some key statistics today. There is a 26.2% decline in U.S. drug overdose deaths. The GDP has an average annualized growth rate of 4.4%. Global population has reached 8.1 billion. U.S. median household income was approximately $82,000. From these numbers we can explain and see the world.

Yet I also know how dangerous numbers can be. Numbers allow us to remove humanity and replace it with hypotheses, things. Numbers can reduce us to points on a chart. A single number can define us. A group of numbers, demographics, can categorize us. 

Numbers are really just a language that we use to classify, categorize, understand, that’s it. Yet we give so much weight to numbers. 

Look at IQ. Since I am classically trained in test development, I understand exactly what IQ is. When we construct tests, we have to compare them to something to see if they are right (called construct validity). So how did we really decide intelligence? Well, over a hundred years ago, a bunch of white men decided what intelligence was and then developed questions to measure their view of intelligence. While IQ tests have been modified and changed since then, when you strip it of everything, IQ is just a number that is based on self-declared intelligent people’s view of intelligence. See how meaningless it really is? Fortunately, now there are multiple types of intelligence.

Numbers can be very dangerous. 

This is a story about one of my heroes, arguably one of the smartest men who ever lived. His name was Sir Francis Galton. He was a genius by any standard. He developed statistical tests to measure relationship (correlation). He discovered the phenomenon of regression toward the mean. He created fingerprint forensics. He devised the first weather map. He was the first to establish a complete record of short-term climatic phenomena on a European scale. He invented questionnaires and a whistle to test hearing ability. But mostly he loved collecting and analyzing numbers. 

Inspired by his cousin Charles Darwin’s Origin of the Species, he decided to use his understanding of numbers to aid evolution. He created and coined the term Eugenics. With Eugenics, he was able to reduce humanity to a number, based on his view of intelligence, he believed that he could predict intelligence by race. 

It had disastrous consequences.

In the early 1900s, scientists took this data and ran with it. Eventually moving to body metrics, head size; basically everything that they could measure about people at the time. They used this data to predict who would be successful, who would be a criminal, who should be sterilized, who should be killed. 

Galton’s work was used by the Nazis, it was used to sterilize thousands of people, it was used categorize intelligence based on race, gender, and head size.

So, numbers are fun, they are enlightening, they allow us to prioritize, they help us understand. They give us a view of where we are headed.

But we can never allow ourselves to forget who is hiding behind our numbers.