A ‘talking’ dog who can express their feelings and needs by pushing buttons has gone viral on TikTok for her sassy response to her owner’s questions.
Four-year-old red fox Labrador Retriever, Copper uses augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) to communicate with its owner, Tia Herrell, 52.
The buttons cover everything from wanting to eat, drink, play, go to the toilet, and even help Copper express feelings such as worry.
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Her latest antics have gone viral, garnering 20,000 views on social media and leaving fans in hysterics as the clever pup insists her owner “chills out”.
Tia has been teaching Copper how to communicate after reading about a speech-language pathologist using a similar method with her pet.
She ordered some recordable buttons online and built the talking board.
“Copper started with buttons when she was four months old and it really helped her with potty training,” Tia, a fellow speech-language pathologist from California, US, told What’s The Jam.
“She took to it very quickly and started using the buttons the first week.
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“Since then she has learned to use the buttons to request different toys, ask where family members are, ask for a treat, tell how she’s feeling, tell someone if she’s worried, ask to go for a ride, ask where her human sister Savannah is, and more.
“It’s been really fun and surprising to see Copper’s personality change over time.
“When she was younger, she talked about her toys and playing a lot of the time. Now she talks way more about her family and how she feels.
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“I think that Copper is very emotional and loves her family immensely.
“I would say that Copper is extremely emotionally intelligent.
“She’s able to identify her own emotions and sometimes others’ emotions.”
In the recent video, Copper approaches her buttons and presses ‘Tricks’.
Tia repeatedly tells her they have finished playing tricks and food time is over for the day.
Copper’s hilarious response? To press a button that says ‘Chill out’ multiple times.
Tia captioned the post: “Did Copper just tell me off?”
The video garnered more than 2,000 likes from fans.
One follower said: “Absolutely, 100% told you off. She was not having it.”
“Chill out, mom. And give me a treat!” joked another user.
Someone else commented: “Damn Copper got jokes.”
“Such a funny one,” another fan agreed.
One viewer said: “Just funnier when dogs ‘talk’ coz they do it with a straight face.”
“Wow Copper has some sass,” said another fan.
“You got told,” one person added.
Someone else commented: “Clever button Cop.”
Copper regularly goes viral online, though users have expressed concerns that she may be “too intelligent”.
She made headlines after Tia shared a video of Copper expressing concern for her when she starts coughing.
The clip shows Copper use a button which shouts ‘Worried’, to which Tia uses a button that says ‘Why’.
Clever Copper moves to another button and says ‘Mommy’.
Tia says: “You’re worried about Mommy?’ and taps the buttons for ‘Why? Worried. Mommy.’
Copper repeatedly clicks a button that says ‘Sound’ – and Tia immediately puts two and two together that she is concerned by her coughing.
She quickly taps the button for ‘Ouch’ but assures Copper she is fine.
Over two million people liked the video, taking to the comments section to share their thoughts – with some dubbing Copper the “Einstein of dogs” and others expressing concern over her skills.
One user commented: “It’s getting too intelligent.”
“HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE, I MADE ME SIT UP IN MY BED,” another person said.
“This is so wild,” another user agreed.
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