Dogs already know how to get our attention — a bark, a nudge, a stare that says “I want a treat.” But some dogs, like Ripley, a 2-year-old Australian Shepherd, are going well beyond the basics.

Ripley uses talking buttons — programmable devices that play words when pressed — to communicate with his humans. And according to more than a million viewers on TikTok, he’s surprisingly good at it.

In one viral clip posted in March 2024, Ripley interrupts his parents’ lunch by pressing the button for “smell.” When they ignore him, he starts barking. When they ask, “What do you smell?” he hits “outside” followed by “gardens.” It sounds random — until they discover a leaking bottle of detergent in the laundry room. The scent of the floral cleaner had filled the air, and Ripley had been trying to tell them something was off.

It wasn’t an emergency — but it could’ve been. And it’s what makes his communication attempt feel so remarkable.

“He was so mad y’all weren’t moving,” one viewer commented.

Others were more direct: “Give him all of the treats.”

Ripley’s TikTok page, @letsgoripley, has amassed over 85,000 followers and countless moments like this one — him asking for water, for food, for his grandma (who, as you’d guess, brings treats). His owners say he doesn’t just press buttons for fun or reward. They’re convinced he knows what he’s saying.

And science might be catching up.

Studies show dogs can recognize hundreds of words and distinguish between real words and gibberish. In 2023, researchers even found that dogs can tell the difference between familiar and unfamiliar languages — suggesting their grasp of language is deeper than we thought.

Of course, whether dogs understand grammar or sentence structure is still up for debate. But dogs like Ripley — along with others in the growing “talking dog” community — are making a compelling case that canines may be closer to human-like communication than we ever imagined.

Speech-language pathologist Christina Hunger pioneered the button method with her dog Stella in 2019. Since then, kits like FluentPet have become popular with curious pet parents eager to try it themselves.

As for Ripley, he’s not just a smart dog — he’s a smart Australian Shepherd, a breed long recognized for its intelligence and drive. “They thrive when they have a job,” says the American Kennel Club. For Ripley, it seems, that job is telling his humans exactly what’s on his mind.

And maybe, just maybe, reminding the rest of us to listen a little more closely.