okay but this method of teaching dogs and cats a way of communication is frankly astounding. Watch more of billie’s videos and Hunger4Words (the creator of this sytem) and it’s pretty stunning. yes, there’s a lot of wishful thinking because cats and dogs don’t have quite as complex brains when it comes to language, but the fact remains these animals are a rudimentary form of bilingual. they have their own language (body/scents/vocal) and now they’ve learned to use a very basic form of our language. i’ve seen so many people, linguists even, dismiss that this is just more complex reward association but i mean. dogs have been with us for about 32 thousand years. they’ve evolved alongside us for that long. they are honed in on us. hell, even cats have been our close companions for at least 8 thousand years. that is more than enough time for either one of them to grasp the very basic concepts of our words (especially considering cats literally talk/meow because we talk. that is not a normal thing they do when wild/feral).

so yeah. this is fucking cool.