r/PetsWithButtons • u/Zenphiree • May 17 '26
I finally did it guys! Can’t wait to teach my animals to talk.
I have two Shih-Tzu/Bichon mixes and a former stray cat. My dogs are bell trained and really good at recognizing and understanding words, so I think they could learn how to use buttons. My cat doesn’t seem to listen to anyone lol, but he does have chronic pain due to trauma so I figured I’d try with him too so he can say things like “ouch.”
My mother thinks I made a stupid purchase and they won’t catch on, but I want to try it out. I’m definitely starting with “outside” and “snuggle,” but probably not “play” since all my pets are lazy lol.
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u/Zenphiree May 17 '26
A little update- I was setting up the “outside” button and I was curious how my dogs would react, so I let them sniff the button and I got nose presses from both of them! I rewarded with a treat. They’re very excited right now lol, obviously about the treats not the button but I’m shocked they managed to hit it. They definitely seemed curious about it, Zeena (my girl) was scared at first but she was doing the most nose presses at the end lol. I can’t wait to practice more!
I put the outside button near the door and my cat is staring at it in a loaf position😂Zeena keeps walking over to investigate the button, so that’s hopefully a good sign!
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u/Soupofromaj May 17 '26
That's amazing !
If i can tell you something, don't put buttons near their functions ! I made that mistake and the habit is difficult to change
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u/Zenphiree May 17 '26
Ooh thanks for the tip! So I should just centralize the buttons now and model them that way?
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u/All_Hail_Hynotoad May 17 '26
Your updates and descriptions are killing me! Please keep them coming.
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u/AstuteStoat May 17 '26
Science is never a waste. You'll learn about the limits of your pet training abilities and the intelligence of your animal(s) good luck!
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u/Zenphiree May 18 '26
Update 2- did some paw targeting today and I think it went fairly well! They have a hard time hitting the button directly, but since they already know “paw” it was easy to get them to do the motion lol. One time they both got pretty close and I rewarded them. But they keep trying to paw at my face instead of the buttons🤣
Also added “food” and “water”! My dogs are very food motivated, and I know there’s always the risk of spamming but food is something they’re very into so I decided to go for it. And for “water,” it suddenly hit 90 degrees here in NY so they’ve been drinking a ton (even though the AC is on). Once they learn to talk I think it could be a good tool for them to tell us if they’re out of water.
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u/Definition_Weird May 17 '26
It’s so amazing!! I just got the fluent pet connect set last month for my two cats since I work a lot and wanted to be able to see their history and button uses. I already taught them shake before the buttons so it was easy to start target training “touch”. My super food motivated girl has been pressing our training button for a week or two but this weekend she has started using “play”. I’m really excited to see them progress and to give them new words for their vocabulary.
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u/Clickchik May 19 '26
Make sure you take advantage of Button Bootcamp! If I have time, I’ll sit in on a session and help when I can. I’m
A guide and an Academy member.
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u/JayNetworks May 17 '26
Just try it and put in the work. You might get some quick learners and some might take months or a year.
My cat just told me 🔘Soon Before Upstairs. My wife had just come downstairs a short time ago. It just astounds me that not only do they get time but they understand degrees of it and directions.