Teach Your Dog to Communicate Through Buttons
Do you find yourself asking your pet questions wishing they could answer? Well, now you can! Recently, quite popular on social media, Pet Communication Buttons are pet owners’ new favorite training activity! These buttons allow owners to record words or phrases for their pets to express themselves. Our smart furry friends can utilize these word-speaking buttons to tell owners what they need/want. Use this article as a guide to teaching your pet to speak!
Supplies
Speech Buttons
Hunger For Words Talking Pet Starter Pack
With over 3,700 reviews on Amazon.com, these speech buttons are the best starter pack for teaching your dog to speak! The $29.99 package includes four recordable buttons and a guidebook developed by Christina Hunger, a certified speech pathologist who started the talking dog movement. A downside is the lack of a stationary mat; these buttons will slip and slide on the floors, so you’ll need to get a foam mat and velcro strips (see below) to anchor the buttons. If your pet masters the first four basic commands, they have more buttons for sale to add to the line-up!
8 Pack Dog Communication Training Buttons
Value pack! For $37.99, you can get eight multi-color buttons to teach your pet how to speak! These buttons allow owners to record up to 30 seconds of words or sound effects. Like the previous brand, a downside is the lack of a stationary mat; these buttons will slip and slide on the floors, so you’ll need to get a foam mat and velcro strips to anchor the buttons. This product has a 5-star rating on Amazon.com from 150 ratings.
FluentPet Dog Talking Button Tester Kit
This FluentPet Tester Kit includes speech buttons and interlocking hexagonal mats to hold the buttons for an all-in-one starter kit for $34.95! The tester kit starts with two buttons so you can decide whether or not your dog likes it; if they do, you can grow your soundboard from there. The grids can hold up to six buttons to keep them organized or group similar terms or actions! Your purchase also includes a digital download of their FluentPet Starter Guidebook.
Velcro
Depending on which brand of speech buttons you choose, you might also need to get a pack of velcro. The adhesive strips will aid in attaching the buttons to a solid surface, like foam or rubber mat. The buttons are smooth on the bottom, so they’ll slide all over the floor along with Fido! (If you also need a mat, keep scrolling!)
Mats
We recommend an Amazon Basics Mat or Foam Square Mats to stick the velcro strips to create a durable surface!
Guide to Teaching
- Throughout this process, patience and constituency are the keys to effective training!
- Once you receive your buttons, it’s time to start training! Start with a list of the most common words/phrases you use with your pup, like “potty,” “outside,” “water,” etc. Pairing frequently heard words with the button sounds helps bridge understanding to the purpose.
- When you want Fido to start learning, press the buttons, then do the action intended. Hit “potty” then head outside, use “food” before feeding them dinner, or use “bedtime” then go ahead to your night routine. It teaches your pet to mimic your actions; our doggos love mirroring what we humans do, so naturally, they’ll become more interested in the button pushing.
- Patience and constituency!
- Once your pet starts pressing the buttons, follow these actions with lots of praise or a treat to reward the behavior!
- If they master the basics, time to start adding more buttons and words!