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Okay, cart before the horse = cart doesn't go well (or goes backwards).

You might change your actionPerformed() method like this:
// create a new dog instance with the contents of the text...

If dog is an instance of Dog and textArea the JTextArea in which you want to invoke the Dog.toString() method, then a way to do that is:

textArea.setText( "" + dog );

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@destitute.developer: Please follow Java naming conventions and...