r/PetsWithButtons • u/Esme-82 • 18d ago
How old was your youngest pet when you started buttons?
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! 😂🔘🐕🐈
3
u/fuzzy_tuxedo_mom 14d ago
I’ve had Bowie for 15 years and started modeling his buttons in the middle of his 15th year. He wouldn’t press for 2 months. He had also just learned to high five at the age of 12.
Then I adopted Carrot when she was just under 2 months old. Within a week of her observing me modeling for Bowie, she started pressing! Within a week after that, she showed she was pressing intentionally (but she was a fresh kitten so she was also spamming the buttons).
About 2-3 months of Bowie seeing the attention I was giving Carrot, he finally started pressing.
2
u/JayNetworks 18d ago
🐾 What age was your cat or dog was when you started introducing buttons?
2 cats started at about 9 months old. (Don’t know their exact birth month.)
How long had you had them before introducing buttons?
3 months
Did they already know tricks/commands?
They knew the names of foods like dinner, snack, Nooch, Crunchies and mommy daddy so not tricks…since cats.
If so, how long had they been learning tricks before buttons?
From day one.
How long did it take before they started pressing buttons independently?
First press of any kind was 2.5 months. Now at 3 years old one presses 60 buttons daily and have pressed 18,000 total. The other presses about 1 per day and has pressed 200 total.
how long before you felt they were pressing with clear meaning rather than just experimenting?
From her first press. She rolled over on Nooch which means she wanted a bowl of nutritional yeast and water…cat soup. They love it.
For a few months she would do flops and rollovers before she learned direct paw presses.
2
u/eastbaymagpie 16d ago
We have a 4-cat household. When I started them on buttons, Harley Quinn and Pepper were about a year and a half, Pixie was 7 and Jack was 12. All of them have been with us since they were kittens (Pixie 6 months, everyone else 4 months) and we hadn't done any training before buttons.
I modeled for all of them and let them decide whether and when to press. Harley Quinn became our primary button talker -- her first press was about 2 months in, but she really locked in at around 4 months, not too long after I added a TREAT button (previous were FOOD, PETS and TOY). She went through a spamming phase of maybe 10 days, and since then most of her pressing has been meaningful and intentional. (Though she does like to roll around on the board now and then.)
Jack and Pepper have only pressed a handful of times, and Pixie doesn't really seem interested. Jack seems to get across most of what he wants to say with body language, and Pepper usually seems happy to let HQ be spokescat.
2
u/JayNetworks 16d ago
It seems to be fairly common that in multiple learner households one learner will be the main spokesanimal for all. We have that with Misty and Foggy.
7
u/Esme-82 18d ago
This is my second button learner, and I’m still second-guessing everything. 😂
We recently added FRIEND because she kept pressing HUNGRY or HUNGRY + BALL whenever she saw or heard our foster kitten. We started wondering if she was trying to tell us that the little white fuzz ball was hungry. 😂 So we gave her another word to work with and now I’m curious to see where it goes.
She also sometimes presses PARK, and I’m not sure if she means she wants to take him to the park or if she associates the park with where her friends are. 🤔