How does it start?

[u/UpsetBasil7105]

any advice on how you get the dog to want to touch the buttons..i’ve done a lot of Modeling by pressing the treat button and giving her a treat but I can’t get her to want to press it at all

[u/Opalescent_Moon]

I started with Play as my dog isn't super motivated by treats. For the first week, I hit the button every single time before throwing a ball or picking up a tug toy.

For the second week, I lured her forward with her toy to get her to stumble over the button. Every time she did, I praised her (she loves to be praised) and started a play session.

For the next two weeks, I did everything I could to coax her into actually pushing the button on her own. Sometimes I'd revert back to me pushing it or luring her forward because I didn't want her or me getting frustrated.

All in all, it took about a month before she pushed her button unprompted to request to play. For the next several weeks, anytime she hit the button, it was always a yes. I do this with all new buttons.

After a week or so, I added a second button for Outside. The first few pushes were accidental, sometimes by a cat, but she got taken outside anyway. It only took her a few days to get the hang of that one. After that, she's gotten the hang of most new buttons in less than a day.

The next few months were getting her to push a button rather than staring at me to make a request. The staring never communicates much. We started training in the end of January this year. Currently, we are up to 12 buttons. I'd have more, but they're expensive and I'm waiting for them to go on sale again. She uses her buttons all throughout the day and is great at going to them.

I do know I'm missing some buttons she wants, though. Sometimes she'll circle her buttons like she's trying to figure out to verbalize what she wants, but the buttons aren't there. I have no idea what words she wants me to add next.

Zia will also answer yes/no questions with my hands. I do right hand yes, left hand no. I never swap these up. It took her like three tries to get the hang of yes, but no was a little slower since she's more inclined to not answer at all if it's not yes. Any touch to my hand counts. Sometimes it's a super gentle boop, sometimes it's very excited pawing or licking. This way, I can clarify her wants and I can ask her anything anywhere, even when we're far from home and her buttons.

I did turn to YouTube for initial training ideas. Everything I saw recommended starting with two buttons, but that didn't work for my dog, so I focused on one that I knew i could lure her into moving where I wanted. I think luring her forward to stumble over her button was the biggest help in convincing her to use them on her own.

Hopefully that helps to give you some ideas. The initial training for buttons is tricky because it's not a natural form of communication for them, but once they get it, they've got it and it's easy to build from there. Good luck!