New Device Could Let Your Pet 'Talk'
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We've often wondered what our pets would say to us if they could talk - and now, it finally seems like we may have an answer.
A new device by pet brand CleverPet can see animals press coloured buttons that correspond to certain words that you have recorded.
In the video below, you can see one dog repeatedly press the button which says "play", before turning to their owner.
Leo Trottier, founder of the CleverPet brand, explained how the device works.
"These buttons, you can put any word you want into them so you'll say something like 'outside' and then when your dog presses the button it will repeat 'outside,'" he told the BBC.
"And because we know dogs can recognise words, when they press the button, we think we haven't proven this yet, but we think that they're recognising the word that they hear."
He continued: "The question really isn't so much do they understand at this point, it's are they doing something meaningful and interesting?"
This product is the latest in a range of CleverPet's zany toys. In 2016, the brand released the CleverPet Hub, which was the world's first game console designed exclusively for dogs.
The game sees dogs attempt to memorise and replicate a sequence of colours in order to make the pattern.
The game can adjust itself in difficulty based on your dog's ability.
However, before we can get too excited about having a deep and meaningful convo with our furry friends, it would appear there's far more ways other than speech in which our animals can communicate with us.
Clinical Animal behaviourist Rosie Bescoby has explained that pets have additional cues to let their owner know of their needs.
"Verbal communication is such a small part of the way [pets] communicate, unlike humans," she sad.
"Pets will use really quite subtle body language signals to communicate.
"The first thing I would advise is whatever species you choose as your pet that you've got a good understanding of their body language, so can understand to a certain extent what your pet is trying to communicate with you."
Tyla has contacted CleverPet for comment.
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