Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my digital copy in exchange for an honest review. I chose this book because of the dog on the cover and the title of the book. It seemed like it could be a good pairing...I didn't read anything about the book, however, so imagine my surprise when Stella really DID learn how to talk. Christina Hunger was a language pathologist who worked with kids who could not talk but learned how to communicate anyway...one day she got the idea to give her puppy buttons she could push and just a few words to see if Stella could learn them. It didn't take long before she was telling her pawrents that she wanted to go outside or when she didn't have any water...so they kept adding words and Stella kept learning them until she was using 3 or 4 at a time. I thought the story was amazing and it is actually true which makes it more so...now I wonder if my dog could do it and what she would say. Would we be getting up in the middle of the night to HUNGRY or TREAT?

First line: “Bye, Stella,” I said while I ate breakfast at the dining table.

Summary: Speech-language pathologist, Christina Hunger, had recently received her degree. She was nearly done with her first year working with children with speech therapy when she decided to try something new. Her and her boyfriend, Jake, brought home an 8 week old puppy named Stella. As they were working on training, Christina wanted to see if some of the same techniques she used with children would work to teach Stella to communicate. By introducing programed buttons with words that would be important in Stella’s life she was able to communicate her needs, wants and feelings to Christina and Jake.

My Thoughts: I was first introduced to Stella and Christina about a year ago. My sister had seen one of the interviews Christina did where she discussed using buttons (AAC device) to train her dog, Stella, to talk about her wants and needs. I instantly followed her on Instagram. I love to see new videos of Stella talking. It is amazing how much she can express with these buttons.

I loved the first story Christina shares about one of her clients. She showed how using devices can help a child who is struggling with language can still get their thoughts known by people around them. I found the idea fascinating. Christina laid out the book chronologically showing Stella’s progress, any setbacks, and gives advice at the end of each chapter on how to try this at home.

I cannot wait to try this with my puppy, Dudley. He already knows how to use a bell to tell us when he needs to go outside. And he already seems to understand lots of words. I have the buttons already in my Amazon wishlist for when I can bring him home and start working on his language skills.

FYI: Check out @hunger4words on Instagram for videos of Christina and Stella.

Wow! This book really made me rethink what dogs are capable of in terms of communication. It was fascinating to see how Stella learned to express her thoughts using the buttons and sort of breach a word barrier between people and dogs. I would love to try and teach my chihuahua this—I wonder a lot what she thinks about and wish there was a way for her to communicate her exact needs. Would recommend for pet owners who want to understand the minds of their dogs a little better.

How Stella Learned to Talk mixes inspirational memoir with actionable steps to help you teach your dog how to talk with an Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) device.

As a former middle school teacher, I appreciate how dedicated Hunger is to ensuring the children she serves have the means to say what they want. Her passion for helping others is evident. I also relate to how Hunger uses her professional skill set with her dog. After leaving public education, I now apply my knowledge of teaching middle schoolers to training my two dogs for therapy dog work.

Hunger and Stella's story had me cheering for them more than once.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this book in exchange for an honest review.
Dogs are my favorite people so why not read about a dog who learns to talk? At the beginning of the book, I was hopeful that Stella had been a rescue dog and not a backyard breeder baby. I'm a huge advocate for adopting dogs from shelters and rescue groups. So I did get quite disappointed when the author stated she would surrender a dog if they had a baby and the kid wasn't safe around the dog. Blah, blah, blah. I see more dogs being given up once someone "replaces" them with a "real" kid but not because the kid was in any danger. My parents had a huge German Shepherd when I was born and he stuck by my side as my own personal body guard. And never hurt anyone, especially me.
Ok, tangent done. Once I got over my irritation and disappointment that Stella was a breeder puppy, I got into the real story of Stella using buttons to talk, the story was good. While parts of the book seemed too repetitious, overall it was interesting to read about how she took her work life and training and adapted it for Stella.
I can't imagine how my dogs would respond to this set up if I tried it. I would definitely be hearing "walk" and "eat" a lot!

YES - read it. It will change your view of the world you live in!

WOW - just wow!! Not very often nowadays do we get to have our view of the world we live in change and a change promoted from a positive message - lots of negative or doom & gloom but nothing that will make you feel as positive as this book.

While the description from the publisher is accurate, don't let the term "guide" fool you. It's way more then a guide to how to train your dog ( or potentially lots of animals) to "talk". It is a guide that is really well laid out with info and tips but the evidence based knowledge (background), anecdotal and behavior descriptions are what's worth the read.

It's learning about the INCREDIBLE work the author does providing her human clients a way they can communicate and thus interact with their world. Honestly, I'd take a book on that alone!!

It's learning about how the little developmental markers (but added together make for big steps) children and Stella go through in order to develop speech. I remember my college child development teacher explaining that at a point in development your child & your dog both stare at your finger when you point, but at some moment in time your child with look to where you are pointing. So the similarities are very striking when delineated out over the period of time that Stella learns to communicate.

To read about Stella's development with her speech is honestly a wee bit unsettling. To me, it clearly shows an intelligence that humans have actively tried to discredit. Stella lets her people know what she wants and how she feels. As a global society, how can we continue to ignore animal's abilities and thus their rights when we now have the ability to communicate meaningfully with them?

I received an ARC from Netgalley and William Morrow to prepare for my honest review.

Christina, a speech pathologist, used Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices with her clients, children with delayed speech, to help them communicate. When she and her boyfriend got tired of waiting for a shelter dog, they bought a puppy from Craigslist. (Yes, that bothers me a lot.) Christina wanted to try using the techniques she used in her job on the new puppy, Stella. She purchased some large recordable answer buttons which could be operated by Stella, starting with outside, play, and water. To see Stella in action, the author has videos on her website, hungerforwords.com. Thanks to the publisher for allowing me to review this ARC.

Read if you: Have seen those TikTok videos of dogs using communicaton buttons and want to learn more!

Some of my favorite TikTokkers are dogs/dog owners communicating through speech buttons. (And even a few cats!) When this book became available, I immediately requested it, as I was curious about the creator of these communication devices. I found a great mix of memoir plus valuable tips/encouragement for owners who want to try this with their dogs.

Librarians/booksellers: If dog memoirs/how to books about dogs are popular, definitely purchase.

Many thanks to William Morrow/Custom House and NetGalley for a digital review copy in exchange for an honest review.