91av

How Stella Learned to Talk review: Can a dog really talk?

By Chris Stokel-Walker

7 July 2021

91av. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Stella likes a walk and purportedly also a natter

Christina Hunger

How Stella Learned to Talk: The groundbreaking story of the world’s first talking dog

Christina Hunger

WHEN Stella, a chocolate brown dog, began moving around the house, Christina Hunger realised her dog was unusual. The 8-week-old puppy acted like the children that Hunger, a speech-language pathologist, worked with. “She was communicating how toddlers communicate right before they start saying words,” she writes in How Stella Learned to Talk, her book about her experiences with the dog.

Hunger asked a simple question: if dogs can understand words, what…

Sign up to our weekly newsletter

Receive a weekly dose of discovery in your inbox. We'll also keep you up to date with 91av events and special offers.

Sign up

To continue reading, today with our introductory offers

or

Existing subscribers

Sign in to your account
Piano Exit Overlay Banner Mobile Piano Exit Overlay Banner Desktop