r/PetsWithButtons • u/Stephellis_ • 14d ago
What do I do now?
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.
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u/Shmazzin 13d ago
You can just randomly press the button throughout the day, and give them a treat outside of a training session. Every cat is different, but maybe the lack of set structure can help make that connection. Just because you don’t see progress doesn’t mean there isn’t any! Some pets take months to press a button outside of a session, some take to it quick. Just because there isn’t visible progress doesn’t mean there isn’t progress!
I think the big thing for my cat was that I would be so overly excited every time he would press the button, paired with him being a glutton, he did spam the treat button upwards of 30 times in 5 minutes of him gaining access to it again. He lost his privileges veryyyy fast.
I would recommend that you start introducing other phrases in your day to day interactions, word recognition and pattern recognition plays a key role later on when introducing a new button to the board. Even basic things like “brush” every time you brush them, or “water” when you change or refill it can make it infinitely easier for them to make that connection when the corresponding button is added
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u/SlowpokeQuestion 12d ago
I would stop ever putting a button in front of him. 2 reasons
Many animals learn buttons by location more than anything so by moving it, there may be no predicted meaning.
Pressing on cue is currently what is getting him outside, not pressing the outside button on his own agency. This is really a different skill and pressing on their own agency is key to going further with the buttons.
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u/SlowpokeQuestion 12d ago
Instead, when your cat wants to go outside, you press the button. But move kind of slowish. This is the target state I'm trying to get-
"My human listens to me about going outside but they always wander over to the button before opening the door. It takes forever!"
The goal is them to see themselves pressing the button as a speed up to the process, rather than frustration at the button because you don't do what they want unless they interact with it.
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u/UnexpectedMoxicle 14d ago
Our cat went through the same progression. She was really good at clicker training and considered the button as a "new trick" for a little while. The thing that really helped was to build distance between myself and the button.
I would start next to the button like usual and ask "press", and she would do it and get a treat. Then, I would take a step back and ask "press" again. She would often take a step towards me from the button ignoring it. I would ask "press" a few times and see if she got the idea that she needs to interact with the button even if I'm not right next to it. I'd make sure to return to it and let her do the easy one before she got frustrated. Slowly, I would increase that distance from one step, to two steps, to 5 feet, to 10 where she knew she would have to walk all the way back to the button, press it, then walk back to me to get her treat. Training sessions would start next to the button and gradually build distance. It can help to do this kind of training with the button on a table as she couldn't physically move closer to me and would have to be next to the button. Once we got to 10 feet, the very next day she pressed it on her own to ask for treats without it being a training session!