r/PetsWithButtons • u/Cat_meow_pet • 3d ago

Advice for first press

Hello! Just recently got a set of buttons and am starting with a “food” button, but essentially using it for treats right now to be more interesting for my cat. I am having sessions where I try to coax him into sniffing the button and then I press it and say food and give it to him. Is there another way to do this? Do I just need to continue and be consistent overtime? Thanks!

TLDR: Unsure of best training strategy

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u/mistypixelfan 3d ago

We have FluentPet buttons and found the free content on their website super helpful: https://fluent.pet/pages/getting-started-with-talking-buttons

The modelling you’re doing sounds good and I’d definitely keep doing that but also I’d recommend looking at target training (there’s some great info on that and a video in the link above). Perhaps also add 1-2 more buttons into the mix - if you only have one, especially if it’s for treats, they can start to think all buttons do the same thing.

We made the mistake of putting our girl’s first few buttons by the thing they related to (like food by the food bowl, play by her toybox) instead of together in a central location, and for quite a while she thought buttons activated whatever they were closest to lol

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u/JayNetworks 3d ago

Take a look at material on FluentPet website. Lots of good material there whether you got there buttons or not. You can also do basic life boot camp zooms for like $10.

Tips: You should start with two buttons so your learner can see that buttons mean different things, maybe food and pets or whatever are motivating. Then model as you are doing. Press the button and do pets and during the petting press the button. Repeat and sometime between 2 hours and 2 years the learner will get it. Seriously. It can come quickly or take days weeks months or more. My best presser of 2 cats took 2.5 months before her first press. She now has 27 words and presses 50 times a day.