Buttons help give a voice to dogs' demands

A dog trainer with decades of experience has taught her three precious pooches to talk – well, kind of.

Joe Nutkins is the director and owner of a dog training centre in Ardleigh, Essex, having entered the industry back in 2005.

Since picking up her first training guide 20 years ago, she has helped owners nurture and mould countless canines into well-behaved companions.

Ms Nutkins has now taught her own dogs, Merlin, Ripley and Pepper Potts, how to communicate with her more precisely by using special sound buttons.

Each colourful device is assigned a different request, giving dogs the ability to ask their owner for their dinner or if they can be taken on a walk, among other things.

Ms Nutkins says her dogs, who are aged 13, six, and two, frequently use their newfound voices, and can now express when they need to go outside and want to play.

"It can be really useful for our dogs to let us know when they need something when maybe they are waiting for us to see them," she said.

"For example if you have a dog that is unwell and needs to get outside in a hurry they can go to the buzzer and let you know and you can get them outside quickly.

"Obviously, the flip side is they can use the buttons just to try and get our attention and mine are terriers so... they learn bad things just as much as the good things."

The sound buttons have become somewhat of a craze in recent years, with owners sharing videos of their impressive dogs in action on social media platforms.

In 2021, for example, one particular pooch named Copper went viral thanks to his ability to utilise as many as 20 different buttons to communicate his needs.

According to Ms Nutkins, a dog which has never done any target training could learn to use a button and understand what request it was linked to within a week.

But what about the more veteran pooches who want to have their voices heard? Does she believe you can teach an old dog new tricks?

"100% yes, you definitely can. I work with a lot of older dogs and dogs can learn really well with these buttons, but you do need patience," she said.

"Merlin is 13 and is still learning new things and I had to teach my dog Cassie everything from scratch when she went deaf when she was over 16.

"It's no different to working with any dog and you can teach a dog so much – I just hope people try to with their older dogs."

Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.