The Secret Life of Pets

In households across the world,

pets are at the heart of family life.

They share our homes.

But how well do we really know them?

In this series, we'll dig deep into our pets' inner lives,

to discover the secrets they've kept hidden...

until now.

From their super senses...

...to extreme athleticism...

and extraordinary intelligence.

We'll meet remarkable pets from around the globe... Come.

...whose owners have harnessed their hidden skills

and shared them with the world.

And use groundbreaking technology

to reveal how amazing both their brains and bodies really are.

This time, communicating with our pets.

I love you.

The Holy Grail for animal owners everywhere.

New technology is helping give pets a voice.

But can we really understand what they think and feel?

Einstein, what are you doing? What are you doing?

One of the best things about sharing our lives with animals...

...is the joy they express when they greet us.

Especially when we arrive home.

And each pet has their own way of communicating that delight.

Even after five minutes away,

dog owners can expect a reception like they've been gone five years.

Strike!

After 30,000 years as man's best friend,

dogs have learned that the more fuss they make of us,

the more they get in return.

Good boy!

Big hellos are fun and strengthen our bonds.

Evolutionary biologists call this behaviour supernormal stimuli.

Good boy!

We all love a big display of affection.

But we humans tend to know when enough is enough.

Good boy.

Extrovert greetings aren't so obvious in smaller pets.

But simply moving closer is a sign they want to be with you.

Everything's just on a smaller scale.

Cats like to make us work harder for their affections.

Their ancestors were solitary.

So winning friends isn't as important to them.

Don't take it personally.

It doesn't mean they're not pleased to see you.

It's just they prefer you to do all the hard work.

Even our most inscrutable pets offer their version of a warm welcome.

Tortoises are cautious.

Hi, Titus.

So, sticking his neck out

from the sanctuary of his protective shell

shows how unthreatened Titus feels.

Although in this case,

he may have his sights set on something else entirely.

Our pets are able to convey far more than just greetings

with their body language.

Do you wanna play?

Yeah, look at that little tail.

But can they express how they feel?

Come on, sweetie, come and play with me.

In Washington State,

Alexis Devine and her sheepadoodle, Bunny,

are on a mission to find out.

I have had Bunny since she was eight weeks old.

So about almost two years.

I've wanted a dog for as long as I can remember,

you can probably guess, it's completely changed my life.

Like all first—time puppy owners, Alexis wanted to build a deep bond.

Are you a little bit happier now?

But she went further than most,

with a set of communication buttons.

Each programmed with a pre-recorded word

to help humans and animals speak the same language.

OK, I love you, too.

I'm not a scientist, I'm not a dog trainer,

I'm not a speech and language pathologist.

I just felt like there was so much potential for me to grow

and learn things about myself through building this relationship.

Sharing their progress on social media,

Alexis kicked off her experiment with a single button,

giving ten-week-old Bunny a way of asking to leave the house.

I just started by pressing it every time we would go outside.

I would press the button "Outside",

I would say the word "Outside", we would go outside.

And after about three weeks of doing that consistently,

she was using the button.

Do you need to go outside?

Yes?

I squealed. I was like "Oh, my God, did you just say outside?"

Outside now?

It was a lightbulb moment for both of us.

Outside later, Bunny.

Two years on, Bunny has 90 buttons with which to express herself,

and even seems to combine them into simple sentences.

Later outside, yes.

Their online clips have captured the imagination

of over seven million Internet followers...

Yeah, Bunny friend, that's right.

...intrigued by what appears to be genuine cross-species communication.

Yes, that's me. What can I do for you?

Some of the most popular videos were Bunny saying, "Mom, love you."

Love you, too! Come here.

She uses it several times a week,

and it's heart-melting every single time.

Aww! I love you, too, Bunny!

She'll press, "Love you, Mom,"

and then come right over to me and place her chin in my hand.

Love you, too!

Until now, we've believed dogs are only capable

of expressing basic needs.

But many clips appear to show

Bunny exhibiting far more sophisticated cognition.

'All done.'

'Please.'

She did say, the other day, she said, "You, human, hi."

I was sitting on the couch working, and she was just over at the board,

she was looking at me, looking down at the board,

looking at me, "You, human, hi."

It's like, "What?!"

Yeah, it's mind-blowing.

But the big question remains,

has Bunny grasped the true meaning of each button?

You hear cat sound?

Or is she simply repeating the combinations

that elicit the best reactions from Alexis?

Yes, cat!

I've considered myself a hopeful sceptic since day one,

and the longer I do this, the less sceptical I am capable of being.

One click that suggests Bunny may understand words

showed what appeared to be a startling self-diagnosis.

She went over to the board, she pressed, "Help, ouch."

Where ouch?

'Paw'. In your paw?

Let me see your paw.

I felt between her toes, and lo and behold,

there was a foxtail on there that I was able to remove

before it required medical intervention.

This is the stranger in her paw.

She's got a mat between her — ow — toes.

The extraordinary potential

of a dog identifying pain in a specific area of its body

alerted the University of San Diego,

who now monitor Bunny around the clock

as part of an ongoing study.

Among others, they hope she can answer a question

that has long puzzled scientists —

do dogs have a sense of self?

Something usually attributed only to humans.

Who?

Who?

It started about six months ago,

when she would look in the mirror and press, "Who this?"

'Who this?'

She went nose to nose with herself in the mirror,

pressed, "Dog, Bunny."

Look. 'No'.

Which is just incredible.

It doesn't prove anything, obviously,

but it's fascinating, amazing.

Dog why?

Erm...

'Walk'.

OK, let's go for a walk.

So far, Bunny's raised more questions than answers.

But in just two years,

she and Alexis have become poster girls

for a new trend of pet communication.

Come, this way.

Having a connection like this with an animal is just remarkable.

And we give them the time and the space to connect with us —

that's all they really want. It's beautiful.

For many of our favourite pets,

technology is powering extraordinary new opportunities for communication.

One pet has already mastered human language skills.

Bye — bye!

And if speaking our vernacular wasn't clever enough,

parrots have even learnt to fool

devices designed to recognise human voices.

I love you.

# A—well—a everybody's heard About the bird

And although parrot owners usually don't know what takes place

while they're out...

new technology means now the evidence is there for all to hear.

Alexa, read my shopping list.

'You have 19 items on your shopping list.

'Here are the five most recent...

'Strawberries. Strawberries.

'Strawberries. Strawberries... '

'Strawberries.

'Would you like to hear the next five items?'

Who ordered the strawberries, Beeps?

Thankfully, parrots' tastes don't extend to champagne

with their strawberries.

Next, we find out which of our pets grow up to be the chattiest...

...and discover the quiet ones may not be quite so silent after all.

Peekaboo.

We're seeing how our pet parrots are master communicators.

Peekaboo.

Especially when it comes to mimicking the sound of human speech.