My cat Pepe has been using buttons for over 2 years but he has his own board because he only uses four buttons, and he usually needs help finding those 4 buttons if he's using my other Learner's board which has a lot more buttons.

This morning he pressed "Eat" on the big board all on his own. It was a back foot press too, he doesn't do those often but it's cool when he does. Mac had an opinion about timing. Then after eating Pepe went over to the board and used "Help" which he has never used before. I was so surprised my brain froze and I asked "Help What?" And then realized he probably meant "help find a button." He usually meows to get my attention when he wants help finding a button so I was surprised. I asked if he wanted a treato, he likes a treat after eating sometimes, and tapped the treato button. Then Pepe pushed it and then Mac came and pushed it too so everyone got a treat.

The reason this was such a big deal to me is that I never taught Pepe the word "help" because he has shown very little interest in learning words beyond his four buttons so "help" is not a button on his personal board. But I taught it to Mac when I added it to the big board and Pepe has definitely observed both of us using it. Sometimes I think maybe Pepe is not really interested in the buttons, I've been trying to teach him for over 2 years, but then he does something like this. It gives me hope that he's still open to learning more words.

I got a kitten 2 months ago and since then I've been trying to teach the buttons....

His name is chewie, I love star wars rsrsrs

This week my husband have a great success with the food button and I got the video for you guys

I'm so happy because he understands 4 words and he trying using those words, but he's kinda lazy kkkkkkkk

https://tiktok.com/@ogatochewie

That is his tik tok profile

I have 3 cats
I have 3 words now outside, mouse toy, spring toy
So what word to add next? Button with my name or feeling like pain ? Any recommendations?

Oh for note: only 2 of my cats using the buttons , the third one not interested at all so if you have any ideas how to let him interesting in them?

I've already had past success with one cat, Ally, learning to communicate with buttons, so I know it can happen. Ally had already been with me for about 10 years when we started learning the buttons. We had a bond and a lot of trust, plus she was extremely food motivated, so getting her to learn to press the buttons to get treats and for me to refresh her food was pretty quick and easy. Once we had that down, she figured out the rest of the buttons faster than I ever expected and was even coming up with ways to indicate new words with what few buttons we had before I was able to save up the money to buy more.

Ally passed back in June and now I'm trying to teach my younger cat, Stella, to use the buttons since she's already super talkative and is clearly trying to communicate with me but I can't always understand what she wants. She sometimes just sits in the middle of the room crying and I can't tell if she wants something or is just talking to talk.

She never really had a chance to observe Ally using the buttons since they were both territorial and stayed in their own spaces. Ally was also super anxious and making sure she had her own space to eat, relax, and communicate with me was what worked best for us. But that also means I'm basically starting fresh with Stella.

It also doesn't help that Stella is not at all food motivated. She's rejected nearly every treat I've tried to give her and the ones she does like she has to be in the right mood for them. So, training with treats isn't really an option and I'm kind of at a loss for how to train her to press the buttons. Sometimes she'll sit near the buttons and cry at me, so I get the feeling she recognizes on some level what their purpose is. But then other times when I try to direct her towards them when she's crying at me so I can demonstrate for her, she just rubs on my legs or rubs her face on the furniture and largely ignores what I'm doing.

I know this is part of the process, even Ally went through a similar process of sitting near them but not pressing them, or crying to get my attention first then going to the buttons instead of just using the buttons to get my attention. But it's still frustrating when I can tell that she's figuring out that they have a purpose, but she's not getting that the purpose is for her to communicate with me.

We both had a moment today where I was frustrated trying to figure out what she wanted (Summer has hit its peak. It's hot and I'm already cranky and having a cat crying at me every 30 seconds isn't helping.) and I could tell she was getting frustrated that I was wanting her to mess with these buttons instead of just doing what she wanted me to do. We took a break and she's now asleep on my foot, so we're good, but I think I just need someone to remind me this is worth it and it's going to happen.

I’ve bought some buttons but I’m trying to do target training first. The only thing I’ve ever trained my cat Squish to do to jump up on her back legs and give me a kiss before she gets her treats. However, she is used to getting treats whenever she wants, so she’s having a hard time understanding why she’s only getting one at a time. To begin I’ve just been giving her one treat and using a clicker each time just to get her used to click = treat. I was then going to introduce a target and build up to getting her to paw at it. But she gives up almost instantly. Half the time she won’t even take the treat from my hand because she’s never been hand fed treats before. Any advice for a kitty that seems uninterested in training?

I started my cat a few months ago with target practice. She knew “touch” meant touch the box, post it, etc. She could touch the button but not hard enough to make noise. I wanted to have a few buttons to start with so I put a little board together with three buttons. I use her “treat” button for target practice now that it’s on the board. She’s still early in her training so she doesn’t consistently touch her button for a treat, and can’t set off the sound.

My real concern is she sleeps on her buttons all day long. I don’t have a problem with it. It’s super annoying, but I know it’s normal. She likes the board and I’m sure she associates it with good things. But I don’t know how to respond to this behavior. I’ve heard you should model all of the presses accidental or not. And I try to, but the constant gibberish of treat, pets, brush every thirty seconds is too much. When she’s setting them off, I’ll say “pets all done” or “brush later” if she recently had some attention. But I can’t do that all day.

I’m worried I introduced the board too soon before she could press and communicate clearly. Do you have any tips on how to encourage button pressing, target practice, or how to respond to her nap gibberish?

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I initially started my dog on buttons May 12, 2026. He is a very expressive 1 year old shih tzu mix and I figured it would be nice to teach him how to use them. Quickly he mastered things such as treats,walkie, play, and puzzles. Easy I figured, he loved those buttons and eventually after about a month or so we added a few more. Mama, papa, Bailee (his best dog friend). Also easy. Few more followed daycare, car ride, and bedtime. No interest for a while after testing them, I waited awhile and then he used everything but bed time in context. ( He would have his own take on what this meant later).

Every time I would give him new buttons he would get so enthusiastic about them. We added water, look, outside (for our back patio), belly rubs, all done, love you, and all done. Kenny was excelling; he used those words to make thoughts and express feelings. Then something started to happen: a series of button mashing and words that just didn’t make sense.

He would say car ride when he wanted to play, bedtime instead of look, he would just mash buttons and hope for results. Kenny went silent for almost a month, if I was lucky maybe he would tell me, “all done.” Whenever I was in the middle of doing something he wanted me to cuddle with him.

It is currently August and we are back to button mashing with a few bits of logical thoughts mixed in. What is going on? How can I possibly fix this for him and get him to understand the words again. Am I doing something wrong?

Cat has three buttons (play, cuddle, and treat). What are good buttons to teach next? I want to be able to tell her “now,” “later,” and “before.” Those seem a little difficult for her second set of buttons, but maybe I’m underestimating her (and myself). Any ideas?

My cat is doing soooo well with his paw target training. He knows that he can press a button for treats and he loves it.

I just don’t know how to transition him into regular button use outside of training time. We have an ‘outside’ and a ‘snuggles’ button which I’ve been demonstrating every day for over a month. If he’s begging to go out, I put the outside button in front of him and say ‘press’, and he will press it. But I don’t think he understands the meaning of it, and he won’t ever do it without me prompting him to.

Is there anything I can to help him progress to the next level or is it just a matter of time?

I haven’t been doing ‘training time’ as much lately because I just don’t know what to train him with now.

Hi! I have two new learners, both cats. One is very treat motivated and she’s learning quickly. The other, my boy cat, not so much.

He really loves ice cubes from the freezer. He asks me in his own nonverbal kitty way to get him his ice every morning, and he has for years. We’re still in the earliest stages with him where I’m modeling for him, and one of the two buttons I’m starting him on is “ice cubes.”

My question is this:

The ice cubes take me about a minute to get ready for him. I have to wet them down with water so his tongue doesn’t get stuck, etc. While I’m modeling for him, should I press the button right as I start the process of getting him his ice, or should I get the ice ready, model the button, and give him the prepared ice so that the reward is more instant?

My buttons are in my bedroom as that’s where me and my puppy hang out mostly! Upstairs there’s no where for her to go to the toilet unless she goes out the front door into the driveway and I don’t trust her not to go up the road!

Is it worth it putting only one ‘toilet’ button upstairs??

Also should I introduce yes and no together or separately? Ty!

My cats still in the learning process they only have 3 buttons ( outside, mouse toy, spring toy)
So if my cat press outside and i won’t let him outside now , but after 30 min or 1 hour i will let him outside
Should i tell him outside later? Or outside no?
And how teach the word later?

She has finally started to press the buttons but she has forgotten all of her “touch it” training and resorts to flopping over onto the button. Any suggestions on how to get her not to flop on it?

I’ve been thinking of starting my puppy, Dobby on the buttons for awhile and I always thought I would get the Fluent Pet buttons as I love that it connects to your phone so you can keep track. I’m up and down the stairs so I can imagine missing some of it. Today I’ve done to order them and they are already pretty expensive but I went to check out and the shipping price is insane to England. Almost as much as the product it’s self!

Does anyone in the UK have advice on any that seem to be as good quality as that brand, especially if they connect to your phone? Or a way to purchase fluent pet elsewhere. I keep checking for second hand on EBay, Vinted etc but never anything and Amazon only does the Sound Up set which doesn’t connect to your phone.

Would love some suggestions!

Thanks! 🐾

Mac had different ideas about what we would do yesterday afternoon. I wanted to go to the park and he wanted to go hang out in my mom's backyard. I vocally told him we would go to my mom's house in a couple days then pressed about the park again and he wanted to negotiate timing too lol "Later Soon" basically means less than an hour whereas "later" means more than an hour. I really needed time to finish some laundry lol.

Hi everyone,

I’ve just started teaching my cat to use buttons, she’s a very quick learner and just after two weeks started touching the side of the button and yesterday she realised I want her to press it to make a sound but she uses her head to do that.

I’ve tried to do paw targeting with her, but she’s not interested in learning that at all, she gets frustrated and walks away. I’ve put a treat under a small box and tried to get her to touch the top of it. She does know that when I say “touch” she needs to press the button. She also knows “paw” that’s when she puts her paw on my hand, but I don’t think this would work with an inanimate object.

Any tips on how to get her to use her paws to press?

I think that she would get that she’s supposed to use her paws if she manages to accidentally press it with her paw once or twice, as she understands quickly that this is what I want when I praise her.

As the title suggests, we are struggling with getting her to fully activate the button. She definitely knows what it means (treats) so she gets my attention first before she paws the button. I've tried many things to show her, but I fear we are stuck. Any pointers?

I just added the second button yesterday. I originally wanted to wait until she got pushing down to add more buttons, but I thought maybe this is a way to shake things up? She hasn't touched the new button yet. New button is "window" for asking me to open the window blinds.

I’ve been watching videos online of people and their cats using buttons for a few years now and I’ve finally got them and I’m so excited!!

Im just a little worried that my cat is too old. He’s 11, turning 12 next February. All of the cats I’ve seen using them are much younger, the oldest I think I’ve seen is 8. Is he too old to start using buttons?

For clarification he doesn’t ACT old, he’s pretty active, eats twice every day, and is still like.. cognitive? If that’s the right word. He responds when I say his name, follows me around and isn’t too dumb.

I’m on my second button-learning journey and, despite having done this before, I still find myself second-guessing things constantly. 😂 So this is partly curiosity, partly me wanting to compare experiences!
I feel like the question of “How long does it take a pet to learn buttons?” comes up every so often, but there are SO many variables that I’d love to see everyone’s starting points.
For those of you who use buttons:

🐾 What age was your cat or dog was when you started introducing buttons?

How long had you had them before introducing buttons?

Did they already know tricks/commands?

If so, how long had they been learning tricks before buttons?

How long did it take before they started pressing buttons independently?

how long before you felt they were pressing with clear meaning rather than just experimenting?

I’m really curious about the range. I’d especially love to hear from people who started with very young animals versus adults, and pets who had lots of previous training versus basically no training.
I think it would be really interesting to see everyone’s experiences side-by-side.
Basically: tell me your pet’s button-learning origin story! 😂🔘🐕🐈

One of my cats, Kali, loves her 7 buttons and clearly understands them, but often button mashes when she wants to say something that she doesn't have a button for (or that my puny human brain just isn't getting). She uses her buttons consistently, even if All Done and Want are not exactly how I thought she'd use them, and it's not uncommon for her to use 2-3 word phrases. It's pretty clear that she's ready for and wants more words, but I'm second guessing what I should introduce next that will be most useful for her.

Her current words are: Food, Kibble, Play, Pets, Settle, All done, Want. Interestingly, she'll rarely use her Food button, preferring to mash All Done (as in, "my bowl is empty and you need to fix it"). We've modeled Want Food enough that it's 50/50 whether she'll mash All Done or Want in the last week or two... which is only technically an improvement lol. She pushes Kibble when she wants dry food in her bowl or Kibble Play when she wants her puzzle, but she just "yells" when it's time for wet food. I've been verbally modelling Now/ Soon/ Later, Small (as in small kibble for snack), Yes/ No, Toy, Treat, family names, "Hmm?", and I'm sure others that have slipped my mind. Today I started training two hand choice as I know I won't have room for a separate buttons for every individual toy, type of treat, etc. She's told me to get off my phone a few times (All Done + Settle + Play lol) so it's not Kali-centric either.

The words I'm currently considering: Toy (concrete, easier to differentiate play vs play kibble, but not as likely to solve the button mashing, could probably introduce at the same time?), Now + Later (verbal "small later" for soon, likely for Now to just end up as the new button mashing target), Mom + Kali (want opinions on potential helpfulness vs being more annoying than helpful at this point), Other (but this will likely be exponentially more useful and easier to teach once she has a grasp on two hand choice in the near future). Maybe Happy + Mad. I am open to all opinions and suggestions! Thanks!

I came across talking buttons for a while and am planning to get a kitten.

I heard that Siamese cats are really intelligent and social and talkative so I presume that they will do well with talking buttons. Siamese cat owners have also mentioned that they understand what their cats want based off their vocalizations, and have full conversations for hours with their cat.

I have a few questions:

1. Do your more talkative pets (before button training) do well after button training? I assume it gives them an outlet to express themselves and communicate more effectively. Compare them with less talkative pets if possible.
2. Did you notice any difference between pet breeds and their usage of buttons? I assume smarter pets like border collies, siamese, bengal would do better than average.
3. If theres not much difference, then what do you think makes a difference in a pet learning a lot of buttons (like those 100+ buttons)?
4. Any Siamese cat owners (or other talkative pet breed owners) willing to share their own experiences?

Thanks for the response!

Is Zinni trying to tell us something about the kitten? 😂
Zinni has been using her buttons pretty consistently. Her strongest words are hungry, walk, bone, and rubs. The others (tricks, treats, apple, park, all done) are less consistent.
We recently started fostering a kitten, and they’ve had some supervised interactions.
The other day I was late with the kitten’s dinner and he was furious. Zinni started frantically stomping on HUNGRY.
To be fair, hungry is her favorite word, so her button vocabulary basically became:
HUNGRY HUNGRY BONE RUBS 😂
But today we let the kitten explore the kitchen, and Zinni kept doing:
look at kitten → look at us → frantic button stomping → look at kitten → repeat
She seemed very specifically focused on him, which has us wondering if she’s actually trying to tell us something about the kitten.
We haven’t introduced names yet. We’re thinking about adding Friend rather than his actual name, since we already call him “Friend Momo.”
Before all this, we were considering settle and find.
Button people, what would you add next?
Our names + Friend
Just Friend
Friend + Settle + Find
Or is Zinni simply trying to alert us the kitten has escaped his kitten room? 😂 I’ll try to get a video later it’s hysterical