A “talking” dog has gone viral on TikTok after learning how to ask her owner for medication.
Five-year-old red fox Labrador retriever Copper uses an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) to communicate with owner Tia Herrell, 54.
The buttons cover everything from wanting to eat, drink, play, go to toilet, and even helps Copper express feelings such as worry.
READ MORE: Jurassic Park legend recreates iconic scene – and leaves fans in stitches
- Advertisement -
The pup often goes viral on TikTok, where she boasts over one million followers.
Sharing a recent trick, Tia showed how Copper has learnt to ask for medication while battling an ear infection.
The clever pooch can be seen hitting a button to say “Ear”, before moving around and pressing another that says “Hungry” – with Tia later surmising that she is asking for more pain relief.
Fans branded her latest communication attempts “amazingly smart”.
Tia has been teaching Copper how to communicate after reading about a speech-language pathologist using a similar method with her pet.
- Advertisement -
She ordered some recordable buttons online and built the talking board.
“Copper started with a buttons when she was four months old and it really helped her with potty training,” Tia, a fellow speech-language pathologist from California, US, previously told What’s The Jam.
“She took to it very quickly and started using the buttons the first week.
- Advertisement -
“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.”
Copper has previously made headlines after fans worried she had become “too intelligent”.
In one post, which garnered 19 million views, Copper uses her buttons to show she is concerned moments after Tia was coughing.
She presses a button which shouts “Worried” and, after Tia asked her why she was worried, she clicked another button to say “Mommy” and then “Sound” and “Ouch” following the cough.
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 other 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.
Tia said of the dog’s skill: “It’s been really fun and surprising 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.
“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.”
READ MORE: Influencer shocked to find SCORPION on her FOOT while live-streaming
