Catch Beki & Fülöp in action on Instagram @fulop.a.beszelo.beagle
Q. Who is this learner of yours?
Fülöp is a 5-year-old Beagle from Hungary and he is without a question true to his breed: he is extremely smart, albeit a little stubborn, would prioritize anything (at least kind of) edible over anything, but very loving and cuddly. He’s been with me since his puppyhood when I was 21 and I like to think we’ve grown together a lot these past couple of years.
Q. What was your learner's first button?
We started with four buttons: ‘walk’, ‘love you’, ‘water’ and ‘play’. But looking back, I think I could have found better starter words. I’d read that you are not supposed to start with a food-related button, but I underestimated how much he wanted to talk about eating, and he didn’t really care that none of the existing ones meant that. He tried and tried to ask for food with whatever buttons he had. Talking about food is such a fundamental part of communication (even for humans who have so much more to talk about!), so I still wish I wasn’t so afraid of starting with a ‘treat’ button.
Q. How long did it take for them to press their first button?
Fülöp is a very curious type, so he started investigating the buttons immediately. His first independent press was minutes after I'd put them down, but I would say it took him a few weeks to use all four intentionally.
Q. What have the buttons revealed about your learner that you wouldn’t have known without the buttons?
I’ve learned so much from Fülöp’s button journey! The buttons proved he loved play more than I thought, and the daily requests definitely confirmed my suspicion of how important enrichment is. Also, I would have never guessed how close attention he keeps to my promises. I often reply ‘later’ to one of his requests and he always blows my mind with the fact that he never forgets to remind me to keep my word.
Q. What inspired you to do button teaching?
Like most of us, I was (still am) completely in awe of Bunny’s videos but first I was having doubts whether Fülöp is “smart enough”. I always thought he was very intelligent but button communication seemed to me like something that would need exceptional talent from both the animal as well as the guardian. But I couldn’t stop thinking about the opportunities of AIC. I loved the idea of giving more control to my dog and improving our relationship. In the end, after the encouragement of a family member I’ve decided to give it a try, and it ended up being one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
Q. What challenges have you faced with button teaching? How did you overcome them?
I often find silent phases challenging. I am a person who struggles to keep up their motivation, and that’s especially hard when your learner is not pressing anything or only uses the buttons a couple of times a day around feeding time. I am trying to set modeling goals I can reach every day and I always try to figure out the reason why he could use his buttons less if the silent phase lasted more than a few weeks.
There was a time when Fülöp was only using his food-related buttons for months, and I realized that as the board grew, the space between the individual hextiles got smaller. Turns out, he didn’t mind a full hextile but he preferred to have space between tiles so he can easily walk around the words. I’ve added a pathway for accessibility and not only did his silent phase immediately end but his button usage exploded.
Q. What’s your funniest button moment?
There were so many funny moments! One that comes to mind is the time when Fülöp was doing a new puzzle and he started to get a little frustrated because he couldn’t figure out how to get the treats out. He went to his board seemingly angrily and pressed “poop treat” as a way of either expressing his annoyance with the treats not cooperating or referring to the puzzle “pooping out treats”. Of course I helped him get the treats out and then all was well.
Q. What’s your most surprising button moment?
Fülöp was pressing the ‘sound’ button in the weirdest moments for days and I just couldn’t figure it out. There were times before when he commented on the neighbors being too loud so I figured he knew what the button meant, but he was consistently pressing ‘sound’ when it was completely silent and it didn’t look like narrating. He said ‘sound’ over and over again, and then he kept staring at me as if he waited for an answer. I’ve taken him to the vet for a regular checkup, and while I was there I asked them to check his ears. He had a minor ear infection. He didn’t show any symptoms (yet), and he didn’t have an ‘ouch’ or an ‘ear’ button at the time, but he managed to communicate what he needed.
Q. What’s your favorite button moment?
I was a little skeptical about Fülöp’s button usage for a long time. He showed a lot of interest and joy in using the buttons but I wasn’t entirely sure if he really grasped what each button meant, so my favorite moment has to be when he finally convinced me. We were cuddling on the couch. I modeled ‘love you’ then I left the room. A minute went by and I heard ‘more love you’ from the board. He couldn’t have been prompted as I wasn’t even in the room, and looking at the recording it was undeniably intentional.
Q. How have buttons changed your relationship with your learner?
I’d like to say Fülöp and I have always been close but our relationship now is incomparable with how it was before. Introducing the buttons not only made it easier for me to take care of him but helped him to take a more active role in our relationship. Now things are not just happening to him but he has the ability to actively take part in his day to day life. Obviously I still have to make a lot of decisions about his life, but there is a huge difference between a dog who is completely depending on their human with such basic things as when they get to go outside and a dog who can easily communicate exactly where and which enrichment activity they’d like to take part in at the moment. And he might get rejected from time to time, but I feel like his confidence level has risen hugely just by being heard, and having the ability to communicate more precisely definitely deepened our bond.
Q. What advice would you give to others who are interested in teaching their learners to use buttons?
Try not to have expectations! Every learner is unique, and going into AIC with the expectation that your learner will talk about dreams or will have a million buttons in a year can easily spoil the fun. The beauty of button communication is that the soundboard is a place where the animal has control, so I believe it is better to focus on what your learner is interested in instead of what you want to talk about. Don’t force them in any way, let them set the pace, keep up the modeling and have fun! There is so much joy in communicating, and it is easy to forget that if you are too occupied with comparing yourself and your learner to others.
