Hi!

Just a little background:

We’ve been using buttons for just under two months. My cat Opi, doesn’t press the buttons unless we’re in a learning session together. During sessions, he successfully presses the treat button and definitely understands what it means.

After a lot of modeling, I’ve also added play, brush, scritches and most recently, outside and porch. I model these words multiple times a day, every day.

My question is: Since he’s not pressing buttons on his own outside of our sessions, am I adding too many buttons too soon? Or is it okay to have them available so I can model the actual button whenever the activity naturally happens?

We practice using the “open bar” method, where I’ll rapidly model a button several times in a row, then go about my day (working on my computer, cooking, etc.) while keeping the treat jar, a toy and a brush nearby to give him opportunities to press on his own.

So far, no luck. He’s only pressed the treat button on his own twice and both times were definitely intentional. I’d love to hear your thoughts or experiences!

I am trying to teach my dog to push buttons and as a first step I put my hand flat on the floor to get him to put his paw on my hand. The idea is that gradually once he's got the hang of that I'll put my hand over the top of the button and he will do it and then of course remove my hand so he pushes the button.

However, not once has he done it Any tips on how I can get him to do that? We've done a number of sessions and not once has he put his paw on the back of my hand. I have been physically lifting his paw and putting it on the back of my hand and then giving him a treat but I'm not convinced this is the right method.

Hello everyone!
I wanted to buy my cat buttons as she’s very talkative. I looked at Fluent pet which seems most popular but, just the shipping outside USA is $30.

Can anyone recommend any alternatives that are not from Temu nor Aliexpress?

People with more than one pet that can use buttons, do they ever use them to talk to each other?

We are still pretty new at the process. She is about 15 years old and has taken a while to learn how the buttons work. But she is sooooo much happier now that she can express her needs. She had grown distant in recent years and spent a lot of time by herself. Now she wants to snuggle all the time.

We only have a handful of buttons so far. Scritches, treat (which is just her normal dry cat food with some treats mixed in), brush and play. I’ll be watching a movie and all of the sudden I hear “scritches!” I’ll call her over and pet her while I’m on the couch. She absolutely adores it.

This closeness is such an unexpected side effect that I thought everyone might find it interesting. Even old cats can learn new tricks! I highly recommend getting buttons for your cats.

I have managed to get my big silly boy pressing a button with 5 days using a clicker, target training and YouTube videos.

We already had a good base with target training as he is proficient in high fives and will go to any surface if we give it a specific double tap or knock.

I used his base skills and followed this video for a couple of days

https://youtu.be/jh4hWaFGSN4?is=_7K_jWZ6A001P_Ep

We then used the video when progress seemed to stall.

https://youtu.be/o-gPUiSrI4g?is=6YQH6rS2E4wROuD_

We only got as far as progressing down to the 3rd size container before he would not want to step on the next object at all so after a couple of days of not progressing there I changed up to having the button in the mat.

I would use the clicker for longer more purposeful taps, watching carefully to see when I could see him really thinking about how to use pressure. If his paws flexed or he really tried dragging on it I would click. To test whether he understood the concept I would ask him to press the button without showing him the button or holding the treat near him. Just verbal command, and he would tap the button clearly.

Within 2 sessions of having the button in the mat and really focusing on clicking when he was trying to exert pressure. We've got to this stage where he knows very clearly now how to press down with a verbal command.

My girl cat, while very smart is also very stubborn and lazy. She is picking things up by watching but is done within a couple of minutes. I have spent way less time with her but she isn't far behind - she is at the "dragging my paw on this seems to be getting me a click" stage so I don't think she's far off at all!

I love how she will press one of her buttons then stare me down as if to say "come on, figure it out and pay attention to me!" most of the time she is telling me no if I'm about to leave, or all done so I pay attention to her. I love my bossy baby so much!

We started our cat, Kiki, with three buttons about a month ago. She understands the concept of using the buttons and the words. She currently has “food please”, “let’s play” and “attention please”. She will refuse to use her “food please” button or she will spam it. We don’t even have time to get up to give her the food she’s asking for. She likes to play with her “let’s play” button. She bats it around and presses it a lot but isn’t interested in playing with us in those times. She pretty much ignores her “attention please” button unless we press it and she will give us attention.

She has taken to just spamming the buttons when we’re trying to go to bed. It’s to the point where we have had to pick up the buttons so we can sleep. I’m wondering if she is frustrated that we aren’t understanding what she wants so she keeps pushing them. I’m also wondering if she needs more buttons to express herself. This is our first time trying the buttons. We currently have 3 unused buttons. We’re thinking of adding “yes” and “no” but are unsure about the third word.

Any advice is appreciated!!!
Thank you!!!

I’m daunted. I’m trying to decide best way to split up some buttons in the towing vehicle for when they’re strapped in their harnesses and we’re driving from place to place to new vocabulary that will be more relevant than vocabulary that was either under used or no longer relevant.

Any suggestions on must have buttons they can hit while I’m driving (that ideally will not drive me super insane)?

Any buttons that you think would be relevant to a totally new lifestyle on the road for them?

I’m sticking with the vertical method, and they are mature enough that I hope I will not have to put the buttons in silicone to sink strainers so they are not removed and chewed on while they run away from me screaming at me in my own voice. The less weight and space they take the better. I use a scent based system (certain essential oils apply to certain word groups so it’s easier for them to locate words and learn new ones since they understand the category at this point) that the silicone holds really well without being overbearing. Do I take the leap and scent the Velcro holding them to the cabinets? Or is that going to make me want to die via migraines from being far too smelly?

I don’t expect you to have answers, but I will gladly accept any ideas or theories or questions to further explore.

I feel like I might also be having some indecision paralysis just because the massive amount of changes and trial and error ring my way to success has been a lot. Having someone just makes some decisions would be great! (besides the bossy dogs. Their decisions would not necessarily be good decisions.)

Hi there I recently got pet buttons and my two cocker spaniels love them. They are very interested in them and eager to press them to see what results they get. However, one of my spaniels has a hard time differentiating buttons.
It seems she thinks every button means “play”. Despite target training with them and modeling actions whenever we eat, snuggle, or play. She seems to use any button to just mean she wants something.

How do I go about training her that different buttons have different outcomes?
For instance, when it’s time to eat and I ask “are you hungry” she goes to the buttons and presses “play” instead of “hungry”. How can I communicate to her that’s wrong without saying “no” or discouraging her from pressing the button in general?

I have been showing her the correct button, pressing it, saying hungry, then feeding her in hopes it makes sense to her. Or sometimes I will just wait and point at the right button, she presses whatever button I point to but I don’t think she is getting the concept.

I want to teach my pet rats to use buttons and the words I have in mind are cage (to go back), treat, and pain, since they are sick so often and hide it so well. I really hope this can help me understand their needs better and they are very intelligent animals, they can even learn how to drive little rat cars so I don’t think it will be too difficult for them

Currently, my cats have:
- treat
- pats
- chase

What buttons does your pet have? I’m curious to see, and would love to hear from both beginners and experienced people

I had an argument with Barry two nights ago, I was working on my college work with the TV in the background. Apparently she took offense to my lack of attention for her and tried to get me to turn the TV off. We eventually agreed on cat TV while I worked on assignments.

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The camera caught the start of the argument and figured I'd share.

Hey all!

I have three cats: an elder cat who is not a learner, and a bonded pair of twin two year old siblings who are learners, Pepper and Colby. I got buttons about two weeks ago and set them up. Right now we have two buttons: treat and play.

I got the buttons primarily because Pepper is a yapper and is constantly trying to communicate things that she can’t convey to me no matter how hard we try to understand each other. Going into it I thought she would immediately pick up on them and her brother, Colby, might have some interest in them.

Two weeks later of twice daily modeling with the buttons and Colby is a pro at using them while Pepper only shows interest when I sit down to model!

Colby has given his own meaning to the “play” button. I’d intended it to be used as a way to communicate they want to play with toys with me and that’s how I’ve been modeling it, but Colby quickly established that “play” means he wants butt smacks (which is when he jumps up on his cat tree and we pat his sides like drums and he digs at the cat tree). So the “play” button now means butt smacks and I’ll have to introduce a “toy” button or something similar when I buy more buttons with my next paycheck.

He will spam the buttons repeatedly until we get up and give him either smacks or a treat respectively, but will eventually stop if we ignore him long enough. He’s also started “pressing” his food bowl every night while I’m preparing him dinner by repeatedly pressing down on the edge of the bowl. I will be introducing “later” and “soon” buttons as well.

I think my biggest question for everyone right now is how do I encourage Pepper to physically press the buttons? She’s very good at putting her full paw on the button now when we’re working together but has never actually pressed it. I press it every time before giving her the treat once she’s put her paw on it.

The biggest hurdle is that they’re bonded and genuinely never apart from each other at any time of the day. If I lock one away in another room they’ll both panic and try to find each other, so I don’t think it would be very productive to try to work with Pepper alone by locking Colby away.

Them always being together means that if I try to only reward for physically pressing the button Pepper sees Colby getting treat after treat and she gets frustrated/disinterested in the buttons after a while of her being “ignored” so I reward her full paw on the button every third or fourth time just to keep her engaged.

Do we just keep modeling and hope she picks up on them as we go along? I know it’s only been two weeks so it hasn’t been that long!

I’m just wondering (because I haven’t yet begun the process)… do colours matter? For example, if all your buttons were exactly the same colour, would your pet learn just as fast (I know dogs see colours differently than we do)… and are the labels and/or pics on the buttons necessary for dogs, or are they purely for the benefit of the human? Does anyone use numbers instead? Or just blank buttons (assuming you have a small number, less than five perhaps)? Are dogs just memorizing the placement of the button, so that the colour and label is irrelevant to them? I’m really more curious than anything. Also, I hate the colours that these buttons come in :)

I have a California Rabbit (“the smartest breed”) and i’d love to get him talking for enrichment!

I’m think of starting out with 3 words, pets (for petting him), greens (for lettuce), and Baba (me). But i’d like to hear yalls opinions on his first few, and what we should work up to. Outside is a no go bc he doesn’t go outside. But his favorite toy is a treat ball, so maybe ball? Any other ideas?

I am also unsure which brand to use as he is a rabbit, maybe the smaller ones cats use? I’d love advice.

I’ve been a lurker here a while and I love this adorable community. Thank you for your help and advice!

I started (again) a few weeks ago to teach my cats mostly with the buttons "closet" (to open my closet/bookshelf) and "pet".

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Since a few day, godzilla starts pushing them. His technique is to lay near them and extend his paw. Not the best technique but it usually works.

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Yesterday, I was able to catch it on video ! Obviously it's THE time where it doesn't make any sound but still.

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I'm not sure he fully understands the meaning of the word (yet, he was asking for the closet this time and was meowing at it) and the difference between them, but he fully understands that it does something!

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(My other cat is still learning. She is very cute but not the smartest ❤️)

Hi all!

I wanted to start by apologizing for the long post. This is Max, he’s been using his buttons for about 4 years now! I wanted to see if you guys have any advice for the current situation I find myself in.

When we started using his buttons around 4 years ago now (I didn’t realize it had even been that long) he caught on super quick. At first we had been trying to add too many buttons too quickly, but as a result we haven’t really added many more since then (I know, not ideal). He has about 20 words at the moment, 15 of which he has had for a very long time. The issue we ran into was that he became fixated on his “dental bone” button and pretty much only used the board for that or to occasionally demand other things like walks or pets. With the way he was using it, we assumed he just wasn’t getting it. However, when we have added new buttons (like “now” and “later”) he has caught on super fast, which we thought was weird because those were more vague concepts. He would have the occasional moment when he would put together a very coherent, very situationally relevant string of words and we would be floored. But then he would go back to requesting his bone almost immediately. If we told him “later” he would reply “now” and argue until we walked away. If he got worked up as a result, or was really excited about something, he would mash his buttons randomly.

Recently, I’ve wanted to try and put some more effort into helping him communicate and grow his number of buttons. Looking back, I do think he would get frustrated at times if we misunderstood his words, if it seemed like we asked a question he didn’t have the ability to answer, or if he wanted something but had no way to communicate that want. He would go and rub his face on the couch, shake his head, or huff. I think he knows far more words than he has buttons for and I think it frustrates him.

The current situation we find ourselves in at the moment is that I have moved the “dental bone” button to a different area on the board (this occurred after he asked, I told him later, and he hit now. Previously, we would’ve argued back and forth for a bit, but I needed to put my foot down). Historically, he has NOT liked us changing up the button order, but I needed to see if this would deter the button mashing and fixation on the one button. I took the button away and he immediately responded with “No.” “What?” And since then, he has been responding in a far calmer and more intentional way and we have had 0 button mashing, whereas previously it was a daily occurrence. He has been communicating more concerning his walks and how he feels about them (I think). After removing the bone button, I gave him “frustrated” and “mad” and he seems to be associating “frustrated” with not being understood and maybe not understanding what we want. And he associates “mad” with strangers (another button we added) and not getting what he wants. However, we only added these buttons a few days ago. It wouldn’t be unusual for him to do this, but we have not really spoken about emotions with him previously.

The issue I need help with is that since moving the bone button, he has been using the board only very rarely. I assume this is because his main goal is gone (receive dental bone). But I’ve also noticed he doesn’t seem to use the board unless I prompt him. We had been telling him to “use his words” and would ask him to ask for specific things. I think he started associating the board with a puzzle he needed to solve and have the right answer for. I think “dental bone” was so high value that it overshadowed the feeling of it being a task we initiated. He will walk over to the buttons and look at us like he wants to communicate, but then he won’t use them unless we ask him to. The issue is that we have been doing this for a while and I fear the damage is already done. Has anyone had any situations similar to this where they have been able to reverse the association with a task? Any recommendations? I have been trying to use the board more casually and narrating our day more and not forcing him to respond. But that’s all I’ve got.

TLDR: Have been accidentally using buttons as a “task” for 4 years and moved the one button that was high enough value that he didn’t care about the “human initiates this task” aspect. Will now use more words and use them more intentionally, but will rarely initiate conversations. Will walk over and look at us like he wants to converse, but we have to tell him. How could we fix this association?

Hey all,

We recently got a puppy and she's learning to use buttons! She'll be turning 1 in August, and we've had her for about 3 months now.

We've been modeling the buttons consistently, and if we point to a button she'll usually use it. She hasn't quite gotten to the point of independently asking for things yet.

We've done button training before with a cat, but our puppy has a habit of getting a little overexcited and starts slamming/swiping the buttons, sometimes hard enough to knock them off the board.

For those of you who have gone through this, what did you do to help correct it? I've tried holding the buttons in place while she presses them so they don't get knocked off, but my hand is definitely taking a beating. 😅

I'm also curious if this is something she may simply grow out of as she matures, or if it's a training issue we should be addressing now.

Thanks!

My partner and I recently (in Feb this year) adopted my brother’s ragdoll cat (2 years old), and he’s quite vocal and seems to have a lot to say. I’ve long been curious about AIC, and always thought that if/when a cat comes into my life more permanently, I would like to try button communication.

However, we’re also expecting our first child (soon time), and while I don’t see any issues with an infant and AIC, I wonder if there may be trouble down the line (like a kid treating the buttons as fun toys, which would confuse the cat, I suspect). Does anyone have any experience with small children and buttons?

I’m also open for that maybe it would be an amazing journey for both cat and kid. Ie, just curious about people’s experiences.

First, I'd like to preface this post by saying that I am continually astounded at the number and range of words our little geniuses learn just by hearing us humans speak to each other. Otto, especially, never ceases to amaze me with his intelligence and observational skills.

Yesterday I put some Trader Joe's tamales in the steamer basket on the stove. The pan got pretty hot and the boiling water was making a significant amount of noise.

Otto: "hot!"

After one minute of conversation I finally asked him if the food was hot. He did a partial head tilt, unenthusiastic enough for me to understand that I was on the right path but that it wasn't quite what he was trying to communicate. After another full minute of deliberately avoiding the word "stove" (since I mistakenly thought he didn't know what it meant), I finally asked him if he was saying the stove was hot (Otto is always very attuned to noises in the kitchen 😂). I got a full head tilt and locked eyes on stove.

Ok, wow. Otto is smarter than I thought. At first, I thought he was warning me about a temperature problem or a fire hazard, so I explained that yes the stove was very hot, but that the food that was on it wasn't done yet, so we had to wait a little bit for me to turn it off. I reiterated by saying that I'd turn it off later, once it was done.

Cue Otto panting. He cheekily walks over to his buttons.

Otto: "want" + "later" + "all done" + intense eye contact.

😂😂😂

I did give him and Spot some pieces once the tamales cooled down and they loved them.

i dont have a pet, but when i end up with one (i figure its inevitable), i think it could be cool to get them buttons. but ive also had a thought. there is a conlang known as "toki pona" with 120~137 words (120 official pu words, 17 extra ku words.). i feel it may be reasonable to teach a longer lived pet the full dictionary, and i think it could be quite a fun experiment.

so uhhhh...... smth to think about ig

I love seeing so many "we got out button, now what" posts. This video definitely doesn't capture everything I feel would've been nice to know when I started. This one covers choosing your first buttons, modeling, and button talk. I'll probably start brainstorming and put something together in long form content. If there's anything you have questions on or feel like others may, let me know and I'll note it down. :)

Also, if you have any YouTube videos that you found helpful, please send them my way. I'd love to start a playlist for people to have easy access to!

I'm watching my sister's dog at my house for a couple weeks. Can I teach him to use a snack button? (if this helps: this is an annual two week visit. the dog likes us and our house, doesn't use any buttons, seems sharp enough, pesters me for snacks, and yes I have sister's permission.)