A Little More Existentialism From Bunny The Talking Dog | What About Bunny 

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Love it!!!!

You’re gonna make me cry!!

Bunny right.

We can only wish that everyone we love think the same as bunny. That we are one and the same, no other way about it!

Exactly what i was thinking. I and Mom confusing is going on. If they use names ' mom' and ' bunny' i think it's good. Bunny and Mom make everyone's days Bright....

K Duf: Exactly. These pronouns are confusing; their meaning changes depending on the perspective (speaker). How is Bunny made to understand that she (and her mom) can be both "I" and "you" depending on who's "talking"? Why not use proper names each time to identify the subject more clearly?

Yep. That’s what I saw too. She needs to incorporate touching and pointing to teach her better. I and you is a complicated idea to teach without using either of those things.

Also she may want to become human. Like "how do I human?"

Like Daffy duck said, PRONOUN TROUBLE.

awww

It's fascinating, but it makes me really sad. Would you really want Bunny to figure out what she is relative to the world she inhabits? She'd need to teach the dog a lot more words, but I think a level of understanding could be achieved.

I believe dog brains at their most mature level are similar to 2-3 year olds.

@@richardallen6066 Why is your world view so grim and painful then? We are both tiny creatures, but only you believe the reality of all of creation is something to... That it is a source of pain and desire.

@@stefangamble2637 except there have been studies that show their social understanding is equivalent to that of teenagers (because of evolutionary wolf hierarchies, etc.). So it depends on the type of knowledge

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-nZ5vspsNS1g.htmlm44s

love abbott and costello lmaooo

Same as you! Same as you!!!

😂😂😂

this isn't good th Dog getting clever

Actually, I think it was more of a problem of understanding what "I" and "you" mean. When mom says "I" it means "mom" and when she says "you" it means "bunny" So mom says "I human" But bunny doesn't get that "I" is a relavite pronoun. She thinks "I" is mom. So she repeats "I is human" Mom then says "no. I is human" further confusing her. "you are dog" Ok, so "you" is what? "mom" or "bunny"? It depends on who says "you", but that's hard to grasp

I interpreted it exactly as you did...to her, if Mom is "human" then Bunny is "human", if Bunny is "dog" then Mom is "dog". Heartbreaking if only humans categorize someone in their family as an "other" and animals who live with us do not make that distinction. Goes back to a comment I made when Bunny first started on her existential quest. Does she view her Mom and Dad as parent figures/family or roommates who feed her? I think this video may answer that question...Bunny sees herself, Mom and Dad as family.

@@androkguz It's hard to say how strong her grasp on "you" and "I" are at this point. If it's not that strong, then you might very well be right. If she does have a strong grasp, then it might be what I said. Honestly, I can see it going either way.

She's been processing that for awhile now, that I've seen in these videos.

An to add to the confusion, there's also "animal" :P That's like an abstraction of an abstraction ;q

100%

Adding an Animal button is a good idea. Both Bunny and Mom are Animals so Bunny can feel the connection.

And also if they add the buttons for "featherless," "bipedal," and "chicken!"

You’re the only one who got that same thought as me. Yeh. Bunny was trying to ask why she and her aren’t the same since they are both “animals”. Not understanding the concept of species. In some cultures, humans aren’t considered animals. Anyway.. Then, if she’s a human = animal And bunny is dog = animal, why not human = dog 😅😂 He called her human friend just like his dog friend. That was cute

Say not to #specist #humansupremacist We are one , we are animals

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lol

This is exactly what Bunny wants, to be the same as mom.

This reminds me of a fantasy concept I read on a Tumblr post once, where someone proposed a world in which elves "reproduce" by just adopting an animal and teaching it to be a person, eventually teaching it magic so it can transform into an elf. I like the idea that Bunny is learning to become a human. lol

if u look on th internet you'll come across a story about a monkey, thinking it was human... the people doing experiments to test its intelligence by putting it in a human environment, but the test failed, and they gave up on it in the end the monkey had PTSD from the confusion... its pretty fuck up

Hmm interesting concept. Do dogs feel upset when they can’t communicate their homesickness? Or does the ability to communicate that emotion make it more difficult? I don’t have buttons to communicate with my dog but am very in tune with his emotions and body language. So if he is upset I can usually tell and give him comforts. So begs to question, are we not communicating via nonverbal cues? And if they have been taught to communicate emotions with words then are they more frustrated because they can’t express the emotion fully because they aren’t fluent in spoken language? But they are fluent in body language. Just me thinking out loud 🤔

@@OliveJuice023 Really interesting points! It makes me think of that element that the more we think about something the stronger the emotions can be, so would the element of being able to communicate something make it stronger, or would it make it easier (as we often find it easier once we tell someone how we’re feeling). This all raises some fascinating things to ponder. (And just to be clear, I’m in no way suggesting that working with Bunny to help her communicate is doing any harm!)

@@DaveG207 yeah I completely agree! I don’t think think teaching Bunny language is harmful at all! But the concept of language is fascinating! Like my dog doesn’t have to think about, what words do I use to communicate what i want . He just does a little dance or paws at the food bowl and I know oh he wants to go out or he wants food. Those behaviors I think come more natural than having to think about words. If he has words then he has to narrow down the exact feeling he’s feeling in order to choose a word and communicate it.

@@OliveJuice023 I love that owners can learn their own pet’s personal body language, just lovely!

@@DaveG207 I agree! I think that’s what makes dogs so great! Dogs and humans are both capable of understanding each other so well even though we are so different!

That's a great idea, that Mom and Dad have a conversation that Bunny can listen to and watch, but not participate in. 💡

Pronouns are replacements for nouns, so it might help to say two sentences in a row with the same basic structure, just in one there would be a noun, and in the other one there would be a pronoun at the same position, as the only element that changes. Such contrasting can help to see which word changes and which stay the same, and understand that one of them can stand for the other. If that word repeats in many similar sentences, replacing different nouns, I think she might get it that way.

@@bonbonpony Yep, definitely. Something like this? Mom: I Mom. I human. You Dad. You human. You Bunny. You dog. Dad: I Dad. I human. You Mom. You human. You Bunny. You dog. And yeah it can happen with just Mom and Bunny, just helps to see "you" used for other people. (Edit: I confused myself haha)

Trying to teach "I" and "you" at the conceptual level - - from one rational intellect to another - - would be challenging to say the least, but my guess is that Bunny is picking these terms up the same way very young children do: from hearing the them in context. A child doesn't need to learn specific verb declensions to get it that "Me are going with Mommy" sort of 'sounds wrong' compared to "I am going with Mommy." The child makes his/her own adjustments as abilities expand.

@@monadyne Sure yeah, I think Bunny is already learning a lot just from context in natural conversation. But sometimes it does help to break things down to get rid of any confusion.

Well, she can because she knows exactly what bunny what’s.lol

Right!!! Omg I feel like such a terrible dog Mom because I don’t make play dates!

Well yeah, you've got to respect her. You can't just teach an animal to express itself, and then ignore it when it does. You have to listen, otherwise there'd be no point.

"Hey, Bunny told me she wants to play with Beacher"

I know right, lol. I keep imagining her calling up the neighbor like "hey, bunny asked for beacher, is he free right now?"

4 legs good, 2 legs baaaaaaad

That is a very useful and helpful response - from an expert with a relevant background.. just an unfortunate reference to Animal Farm by George Orwell - as already noted '4 legs good, 2 legs baaaaad' very very bad, wicked, evil - both alarming & a little bit funny (mostly alarming!) 😱😂

Hmmm, except that hoomins got 4 legs too, just walkie on 2

What cat hmmm? (This would work great except they have a cat too. Not sure how to differentiate that with numbers or legs?)

@@jimmybryan6760 hmm methinkist confusion twixt feet and handsies 🦶👐

That's what it sounds like to me too.

She probably just means she can communicate just like a human. But also that too. But it’s only a year old. So itll get there soon enough. This is such a good study. It will be a new thing for dogs to learn.

I think more confusing is "I" vs "You". She is Bunny. Mom is Mom. Sometimes tho, Mom is I, and Bunny is You. But when Bunny uses "I" to mean Mom and "you" to mean Bunny, that's wrong, but that is how Mom uses them, she can't grasp relative terms yet.

It's also really confusing and upsetting for toddlers to learn that they're not mom. A lot of psychological growth/development of self happens as a result of the beginning of that realization though. I'm wonder what all of this will mean for Bunny one day!!!

@@theRealCrazyOne Are we going to break dogs? Their love of the unity of the pack and group success is their most endearing trait, if we give them a self of sense will they stop being such good workers?

Exactly!!

Could it be that she was referring to Beacher's human?

@@pomponi0 We won't know unless they introduce possessives :J

@@bonbonpony My mind is still blown that we're talking about a pupper learning possessive pronouns. I've always been Team Dogs Are Smarter Than We Know/Think but never ever did I think any off the non-human animals would be this far into language.

@@pomponi0 I absolutely was wondering this.

A human .

"I am sick of your vague excuses!"

A friend

Honestly, it's a fair question.

Dog is love.

Well, humans do learn best through repetition, and I’m certain that is especially true for young children.

Or she could have been asking if that new place was their new settlement or permanent home.

That's a really good idea!

the buttons bunny uses _ARE_ based on AAC autism assistance keyboards, after all

@@AuntBibby Oh neat, didn't know that.

I and you are silly words. Autism is pure.

i love that.. a talking dog being technically neurodivergent……

I think so too.

not just dogs. All animals are highly intelligent, especially cows and pigs

@@shadowflower22 yes! Could not agree more!

Wait untill she learns calculus!!

@@arianelcole That would be so funny to try to teach to a dog! "So... if this is number, and that is number, and they both are number, what's the difference? Aren't they both number?"

dogs don't see humans as 'parents' they see us as part of the pack tho

Some day soon I believe I will be in a place where I can communicate fully with all my animals who I believe will be waiting for me.

@@rs5570In ten years they will have devices. 😂

Good suggestion. I hope she tries the same exercise with names. I'm curious how it turns out.

I was thinking this. This is why human toddlers frequently talk about themselves (and everyone in their orbit) in the third person for quite a while. Because pronouns are really tricky to grasp at first.

@@Annie_Annie__ do they? Dear god... I'd never heard of that.

Yeah, they're confusing because they're relative to the speaker and that's a hard concept to grasp. I remember having trouble understanding left and right as a child because no one had bothered to explain that they were relative, so I was assuming them to be absolute and kept getting confused at why people kept changing the direction they pointed to for left and right, seemingly at random.

@@majorgnu Yeah, we have to keep clarifying by saying YOUR left or MY left. I remember being confused about this too growing up.

i think it was like human: beacher and you ?

Kind of BREAKS MY ❤.....JUST a little!🌸😌

Wonder since she is still a pup if she thinks she will be like mom some day.

I just saw these replies. RU-vid doesn't alert me. Sorry!

I am absolutely amazed that Bunny is capable of getting to the level of self-reflection to even understand or be interested in these conversations. This is just incredible for a canine. To differentiate between the names of different toys is one thing but to question the own identity is a huge step. I am also puzzeld that most people seem to find that to be not worth to mention or to wonder about. I mean I grew up with dogs and I am their biggest fan, but I never assumed this level of communication would be possible.

That’s brilliant also 69 thumbs up. Nice!

I'm not a professional, but that seems like good advice.

Good advice! Though Bunny is pretty good with the pronouns actually.. what she's been consistently struggling with is the concept that Bunny, Mom, Dad, and her friends are different things. The sweetest existential problem of all! So that's why she added the word "animal" for Bunny. To give a common identity in "animal" and help ease the existential discomfort in being different from each other. It's been quite a bit but... as you can see Bunny is still not accepting this concept of 'different but same' yet... 🐶💃

This is like the scene in the movie Enemy Mine!!! When the alien kid was trying to understand why he was not like uncle. Species understanding!!!!!

@@charyinvic Yes, Zammis, the son of the enemy!!! I loved that movie!!!

I think Bunny wants Mom to settle on the floor with her so that they could relax together and talk. Maybe a hug would be comforting to Bunny while she's struggling with these big concepts! I hear Bunny trying to understand "Family or Pack" & some of Moms responses sound like Mom is distancing Bunny from her.

❤❤❤❤По-моему здесь произошло то, что должно в корне изменить наше понимание в отношении животных. Это своего рода Революция!)

I think the whole human race would be better off if more were like bunny 🐾🐾💕

She really could since she may see her family as one of her you know? She may see the relatedness in terms of pack or social group , which could really open up exploration of species as a social identity

@@colleens1878 I see we are kindred spirits in preferring dogs/animals to people 😁

@@colleens1878 I text like bunny, does that count?

@@stardolphin783 I think so too.

Good luck with your PhD! Bringing up the cat too would be a good example, plus bringing up non-animals to help make the categories more clear (like pointing to plants or objects). I also wonder how much more you could expand a dog’s experience by watching TV or showing them other media. Dogs apparently can see and make sense of LED displays (they couldn’t make sense of CRTs because of the refresh rate of the scan lines; so for a long time people assumed it wasn’t possible for dogs to make sense of 2D images, but that’s not the case). Showing them bits of nature documentaries or recorded video of themselves and discussing the animals on a button board I think could be quite fascinating.

The real struggle comes when bunny meets a bunny called dog.

@@markuswelander8551 I think you'd have to call it a rabbit 🐰🐇

@babydollgoddess Seriously, there are going to be soooo many theses written on this! It’s two years later; if you see this, did you end up doing your PhD on Bunny?? Hope so!

I hope you don't get on her nerves drunk talking..lol.. That'd be a great experiment honestly..to see how dog animals react when human animals are abnormal 😜😘

@@VibhorWase I probably would, she would probably demand pizza and a taxi home, but she's so cute, needs many hugs and I personally think, she needs an interview with a stranger. Alas, I'm not in the USA I'm in the UK and our dogs have to rely on the old WOOF and GRR to speak lol

"I swear to dog" Lol! Good one.

Yes, I agree. My dog Jezebelle was extremely intelligent and she wasn't around dogs as a puppy (once she left her mother at 6 weeks old). I raised her as my baby and spoke to her constantly. She had a very well developed sense of self, recognized herself (and me) in a mirror, and had a vast vocabulary. It was hard to keep secrets, lol. She even recognized herself in photos, which she enjoyed posing for. She clearly considered herself a human, not a dog. She treated humans as peers, but not dogs. And why not? She wore clothes like a human sometimes, slept in my bed like a human, and ate 'human' food I cooked and served to her. She understood the family unit, too- including 2 humans, 2 dogs, and 2 cats. We adopted another dog, and she observed me treating that dog as my baby, and then followed suit. I asked her about this, are you a dog, are you a human, and she answered me very clearly (non-verbal, she would answer yes or no by wagging her tail for yes and stopping or lowering her tail for no). Just like Bunny did here. Jezzie also played hide and seek, a pretty complex game for a dog, and had individual names for many toys. Most interesting, she understood a toy could be called 'toy' and mean ANY of her toys, or be called 'doggie' and be any of her stuffed dog toys, or be called 'brown doggie' for that specific toy. Bunny wants to be like Mom and Dad, just like any child, and just like my Jezzie did. I so wish she had these buttons, I could've had such great talks with her (even more so than we did).

Dogs consider humans as family. They don't really understand the concept of being a species. It could be that dogs think all creatures are dogs, yet they wouldn't state it like that. Instead they would look as it as individuals. Just because humans look alike, it doesn't mean we are a pack, a.k.a. even though we are all bipedal, a dog would still consider a human as a dog or visa versa, because we care for them and they care for us and therefore we are family and thus a pack. However as far as your animal rights are concerned. To a dog, that is a concept with escapes them as it does with most carnivorous or omnivorous animals. A dog will kill and eat another dog. To humans, we will kill each other, but only in extreme conditions will a human eat another human. A fog and other animals have atleast a spark of what we would consider a soul, but it is not the same.

The inability for dogs to see the difference between themselves and humans is so pure. We'd probably be better off as humans if we thought more like that. Also interesting, because when people get high on shrooms they feel a sense of oneness. I think animals are closer to that than we are. I say close, because a dog still knows that a squirrel is for chasing and (maybe) food, but it doesn't see a friend that way.

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That would be the most astounding outcome of such experiment, for sure.

Wow!!! Plot twist. 😍

Love it 😂

@@bonbonpony Buddhism here I come!

Naturally children come to the point in their lives when the ask the question who created me? What is my purpose? Then the adults come and explain the God concept away and introduce something that makes no sense whatsoever. Bunny may be getting to that crossroad.

Yes, she can. She called a seal a water hippo. She has a hippo toy.

I agree. Bunny is trying to say that she and Mom are People.

It won’t be long now....😂

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Billi's (Billi Speaks) Mom uses "hmmm" to indicate a question.

I think Bunny has a hmm? button too but it doesn’t get used nearly as much as Billi’s. I also think that Bunny needs some time to think (less than Billi) so that can account for some of the pause time. Both Bunny and Billi will walk away and loop back before answering sometimes (more so Billi).

@@KatharineOsborne Thanks! I thought maybe she did, but couldn't quite remember. Billi's does get used quite a bit.

My money is on minimal effort :D no need to waste time and effort walking around and pressing more buttons if one does the trick. Who needs to copy humans anyways? LOL

@Road Rash's Redline Resto Rods: I don't think cats are less intelligent, but they're definitely less interested in pleasing humans than dogs are. Some people confuse docility with intelligence, but cats might be actually more clever in the sense that they do only what they like!

I wonder whether there’s also an effort / reward element for cats. It struck me recently that Bunny can often just stand still and reach many different buttons by just moving her paw. For the cats I’ve seen they have to walk to the next button, as they are smaller animals. If I had to do that I’d probably stick to as few words as possible to communicate. Just guessing though!

That's because she's part poodle

Yes! She's really asking about belonging

Dogs are pack animals, so this would come naturally to them.

She loves you that much.

I felt really sorry for Bunny, think he feels bit left out being the odd one in the pack. He looked really disappointed.

Yesss. Like the language part of the brain.

Perhaps they smell our scent and hear our different heartbeats so discern us on a whole different level than we understand?

@@wayneessar7489 ... I believe they judge us on WHO we are, not WHAT we are as a species. But, sure, there is much we do not understand.

@@hollybronwyn8176 My comment was that they hear and smell things we don't.

@@wayneessar7489 ... yep.

I agree that’s an important set of concepts. Not just for disease/injury, but also for building/testing her sense of self. Toddlers up until a certain age don’t have a sense of how their body takes up space and interacts with the world (there’s a ‘shopping cart’ test given to infants where they are encourage to push a toy cart to their parent but it has a blanket attached to it which the child is standing in. Children younger than a certain age don’t understand that their body weight is preventing the cart from moving but after a certain age they see the problem and step off it to move the cart forward). It would be interesting to see how much awareness Bunny has of her body and which parts she has a better sense of. It would also be interesting to see if she could relate her body parts to her mom’s body parts (hands/paws would be particularly interesting to discuss with her).

Yes she at least has one for paw.

I’d like to get a dog soon and I am seriously considering reading to them and just being a lot more verbal with them than I have with other dogs in the past. After watching these videos I’m convinced that dogs have a lot of ability to stretch their thoughts and vocabulary than we ever though before. If we can give a dog a richer life, than why not?

If Bunny learns to read, there will be no stopping her.