Catch Snowy and Cody in action on Instagram @snowycodyragdolls

Q. So Shuang, who are these learners of yours?

Snowy and Cody. Snowy is just over 3 years old, he is chatty, active, but demanding. He started button-learning 1.5 years ago. Cody is just under 3 years old, he is calm, affectionate and timid. He started button-learning 1 year ago.

Q. What were their first buttons?

“Play” for Snowy. “Treats” for Cody.

Q. How long did it take for them to press their first buttons?

It only took Snowy 10 minutes to learn how to activate a button. From the following day onwards, he started pressing it proactively. To get Cody to press down and activate a button, it took him 2 weeks of systematic training. Then it came naturally for him to press it proactively.

Q. What have the buttons revealed about your learners that you wouldn’t have known without the buttons?

I learnt that Snowy isn’t very food-oriented but loves playing with different toys and interacting with humans. He can be persistent when demanding something but also understands when I decline. The buttons confirmed for me that Cody just wants food all day.

Q. What inspired you to do button teaching?

II’ve been following Bunny’s journey from day 1, long before I owned a pet myself. Then, it was the story of the 12-year-old cat Billi learning and using buttons that inspired me enough to decide that I should try with my 2-year-olds.

Q. What’s your funniest button moment?

When I added the word “angry”, I modeled it for a few days but Snowy never pressed it himself. One day a friend of mine visited and tried to pet Snowy. Snowy very much values his personal space so he didn’t like that attention, so he hissed and hit my friend, then walked towards the soundboard and, for the first time, said “angry”. My friend felt offended but I laughed so hard.

Q. What’s your favorite button moment?

It was 20 minutes before the 1st FluentPet summit, I was sitting on the couch to get the laptop ready. Snowy went to the soundboard and said “Mama”, “Love you”. Given these two buttons are on the opposite ends of the soundboards, and he doesn’t usually say multiple words at once, I was so excited and screamed - sorry neighbors.

Q. What advice would you give to others who are interested in teaching their learners to use buttons?

I get lots of comments saying “I don’t want to get buttons for my cat because he/she will just spam on the ‘treat’ button all day”. While that may be true (Cody is a bit like that), I would say that teaching a cat how to activate buttons is already hard enough (speaking from my experience of guiding many followers on their button teaching journeys), so you are worrying about choosing between Oxford or Cambridge when you are still in primary school. Ok that may be a weird analogy, what I mean is, cross that bridge when you come to it, don’t let these worries take away the great opportunity. Try it, you may be surprised!

Q. How did you go about teaching your learner to press their first button?

Snowy learnt through paw-targeting. He has the tendency to press down when he offers his paws. Cody, however, would just swipe the button away. I was very frustrated until I discovered the amazing tutorial by Cat School.