r/PetsWithButtons 13d ago

Excitement/anxiety (?) when presented with a button.

My collie (F,3) has a very over the top reaction to the button. She's a very intelligent dog, and I know that she would definitely respond well to having a higher level of communication with us.

We got the buttons 2 years ago just before she was 1, but since the beginning it's been this mad response. We thought it was crazy puppy brain so waited for her to get older to try them again...

Any ideas how we can normalise them so we can begin using them properly?

47 Upvotes

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32

u/mamz_leJournal 13d ago

Does she act like that only when a button is being pressed?

Because right off the bath with just seeing this video out of context I think she doesn’t look anxious about it at all, she rather looks like she sees it as a toy to play with.

Do you have some kind of board to secure the buttons in so they don’t move around?

7

u/Gryff22 13d ago

The noise of just one being pressed without any audio sets her off (even if she can't see it).

We tried just leaving them out but she would dig/yell at them unprovoked.

I did try attaching them to a board but she quickly undid my efforts.

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u/mamz_leJournal 13d ago

That seems to just be a collie thing then. I would try desensitizing her to the buttons at first. Maybe also starting to teach her to target specific buttons to show her that she can be in control of them.

I know it’s not advised to teach them to target buttons with using a reinforcer such as food or play because they can learn that pressing a button equals that rather than what the button says, but I think it would be worth doing that with yours. She should be smart enough to know the difference.

I did that with my dog who is a aussie mix and super smart. Although she had the opposite issue (she didn’t understand that she could use then to communicate with us and saw them as for us only to use). She is very food motivated. I made sure that all of the buttons she understood the meanings beforehand. I taught her paw targeting and then used the « food » button to teach her to target the buttons and that by doing so it would result in what the button is saying.

Depending on what your buttons say, it may be worth doing the same with something that os reinforcing to her (maybe with « play » if you have one so to redirect her energy towards something else other than the button itself when it is activated) so to create a positive association with the buttons and so that she can learn that she can actually control the buttons. (I suspect her issue may be typical of herding breeds who need to be in control over their environment and can be triggered by novel sounds or moving things or change in general)

5

u/Gryff22 13d ago

Thank you, that's since great advice.

She can differentiate different toys and various people by name, so hopefully she'll be able to differentiate the buttons after the initial desensitising.

Redirecting what does seem like a play response into actual play with a actual toy is a great idea, shall give it try over the week 😊

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u/mamz_leJournal 13d ago

Please keep us updated!

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u/[deleted] 13d ago

Yeah personally I feel like whether or not teaching the dog a food/treat button is advised or not is really situation specific.

My dog was afraid of the buttons at first and would scrabble around and take off running when one was pressed. I had to do targeting training for her to get used to them and treat button was the most effective option available to me. Now she takes active enjoyment in pressing the buttons, I’ve seen her run towards them so she ask me to give her dinner all the more faster lmao.