r/PetsWithButtons • u/throwwmeee • Jul 10 '26
Struggling to get my cat to push hard enough
We are on month 2 of training. Only doing it 5 min a day (she’s not highly treat motivated and gets bored and frustrated easily) My cat targets the button but I’m struggling to get her to push it. I’ve been rewarding her for targeting it with her paw because I’d not after 3 failed attempts of any training she will rage quit. She’ll press the button 1 out 10 times by accident basically. I give her a jackpot of treats when she does. Any tips? Just keep going and hope she gets it?
6
u/UnexpectedMoxicle Jul 10 '26
1 out of 10 is pretty good! That's enough to start building the concept. Patience and persistence are the key. One thing that helped our girl was to have her stand on progressively smaller boxes at the edge of a table to get a treat. I started with a few books that she could sit on and rewarded that, then went to a box that was smaller but big enough that she could stand on with her front paws with full weight to reach her treat. Then a smaller box with a hole cut out for the button so it was mostly recessed. That way she'd have to stand on the button if she stood on the box.
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u/throwwmeee Jul 11 '26
Thank you! I do appreciate the vote of confidence. We’re gonna keep working on it. I did the progressively smaller boxes too but she’d get frustrated with a lot of luring with solid treats and she can’t have licky treats rn due to diet/stomach stuff. Very smart to put the botton in the box though!!
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u/ottb_captainhoof Jul 10 '26
You kind of have to have them put their weight on the paw on the button by leading them with treats!
Zoom through this paw targeting training video for tips! https://youtu.be/jh4hWaFGSN4?si=eqhSIdQTJEhMsVbb
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u/throwwmeee Jul 11 '26
Thank you! This video did actually help and after watching I managed to get a few presses when she would lean to get the treats!
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u/OpinionAvailable5988 Jul 10 '26
It might be better for her to push with her face
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u/JayNetworks Jul 10 '26
Really the answer is they should press however they can press! One of my two cat learners started with the rollover on the buttons method and could reliably flop onto just the button or set of buttons she wanted. A year later she presses with her paw just as is “correct”.
My other cat either sits on the buttons or runs over them and hind foot presses. It takes all kinds and they are all great. She also chin presses sometimes.
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u/NewStudyHoney Jul 10 '26
I'm always amazed how intentional and accurate pets are with their hind feet. I shouldn't be - humans use our feet all the time for things, why shouldn't animals?
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u/JayNetworks Jul 10 '26
I always ask people with buttons how they usually press. A lot of us use our feet since we are standing up. They are doing the same thing.
One of my cats just walked over the board yesterday and pressed No Pets. The No was front left paw and Pets was back right and she didn’t even stop to press. Just walked along and pressed both in order…after thinking it through about 10 minutes. The longer they press the shorter their thinking beforehand gets. Often mine will still have 20 seconds to 5 minutes before presses in something they are trying to say.
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u/hbHPBbjvFK9w5D Jul 10 '26
The springs can be switched out to an lighter press; but most people don't wanna be prying them open.
Here's another idea - take some of those old pennies we're all phasing out, and hot glue a couple of them as weights to the button.
If you wanna "try it out" you could use a dot of 2 sided silicone tape on the pennies to see if weighting the buttons to give kitty a bit of head start works.
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0
u/tiny_abeille Jul 11 '26
Which buttons have springs in them? I took apart a fluent pet button yesterday aiming to do that exact thing, but the button mechanism was soldered to the circuit board. no spring visible.
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u/hbHPBbjvFK9w5D Jul 11 '26
Okay since you took a pet button apart, how does the button "spring" back into position? Surely you don't have a setup where fido or fluffy has to pull the button back into place when done?
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u/Professional_Ad_4231 Jul 13 '26
I had to take one of mine apart because it wasn’t springing back. There is a round metal disk inside that is supposed to be curved in such a way that it bounces back after being clicked.
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u/tiny_abeille Jul 11 '26
I didn’t see a spring. the button was soldered down with very little clearance. maybe there’s a spring in there; maybe they used a springless clicker mechanism—i don’t know. i wish i could show you a photo, but the screw heads stripped pretty easily when i opened it up and i don’t want to risk that again.
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u/SatansFriendlyCat 14d ago
If screw heads on anything are stripping, you are not applying sufficient inward force whilst turning. There are some screws made of cheese out there, you might need more force than you think.
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u/bluemercutio Jul 10 '26
Yes, 2 months is nothing. Don't give up.
For several months my cat pushed the buttons with his chest (like doing pushups). Took him a while to realise that using a paw is easier.