What You'll Need to Get Started

• Recordable AAC buttons — several brands designed for this purpose are available

• A non-slip surface or a dedicated button board to mount them on

• Small, high-value treats for rewarding button interactions

• A recording of your own voice saying each word clearly

• Patience — this is a gradual, layered process, not an overnight trick

You don't need many buttons to begin. In fact, starting with just one or two is strongly recommended — it allows your dog to build a solid, reliable association with those words before the vocabulary expands.

Choosing Your First Words

Start with the most immediately relevant words in your dog's daily life — words that connect directly to things that happen or things they want. The best first buttons are ones you'll naturally use many times a day, making modeling (see below) easy and frequent.

Strong first button candidates:

• "Outside" or "potty" — place near the door

• "Play" or "ball" — associated with their favorite activity

• "Water" — place near the water bowl

• "Walk" — use before putting on the leash

• "Food" or "eat" — use before mealtimes

Record each button in your own voice using the word naturally and clearly. Placement matters: the "outside" button belongs near the door; the "water" button belongs near the bowl. Physical context reinforces meaning.

How to Introduce Buttons

1. Model, Model, Model

   The foundation of teaching AAC buttons is modeling — pressing the button yourself, in the moment when the word is relevant, and then following through with the action.

   Going for a walk? Press "walk," say the word, then pick up the leash. Offering water? Press "water," say the word, then refill the bowl. Your dog learns by watching you. They see: button press → word → thing that happens. This is how the association is built, before your dog ever presses a button themselves.

2. Reward Any Engagement with the Button

   In the early stages, reward any interaction with the button — sniffing it, pawing near it, touching it accidentally. You're building a positive association with the button object before meaning comes into the picture. Use your marker ("yes!") and a treat for any contact. Enthusiasm matters.

3. Watch for Intent

   Over time, you will start to see your dog pressing the button in context — going to the "outside" button when they need to go out, pressing "play" when they bring you a toy. This is the moment that makes everything worth it. Respond immediately and enthusiastically. The faster and more consistently you honor button presses, the more your dog understands that the buttons actually work.

Building a Button Board

Once your dog reliably and intentionally uses their first one or two buttons, you can begin adding words — one at a time, with several weeks between additions to allow each new word to solidify. Organize buttons logically: group activity words together, keep frequently used ones most accessible.

Words Many Dogs Learn Over Time

• Activities and places: outside, walk, park, car, play, ball, swim, training

• People and animals: family members' names, other pets' names

• Physical states: water, food, treat, belly, cuddle, sleep

• Emotional expressions: love, happy, hurt, scared, mad, no

• Concepts: help, come, stranger, later, all done

Tips for Success

• Consistency Is Everything

  Every person in your household should model buttons the same way and respond when your dog uses them. Inconsistency is confusing to a dog learning this system for the first time.

• Respond to Every Intentional Press

  If your dog presses "play" and you ignore it, you've just taught them the button doesn't work. Even if you can't do the thing right now, acknowledge the communication — a calm "I hear you, we'll play soon" goes a long way. Honor the attempt.

• Don't Test — Just Live

  Resist the urge to point at buttons and ask "what do you want?" or quiz your dog on their buttons. Instead, model language naturally throughout your day and let your dog initiate. AAC works best when it's woven into life, not staged as a performance.

• Record Interesting Moments

  Canine communication research is still in its early stages, and the data being gathered from everyday dog-button users is genuinely contributing to science. Keep a journal or short video record of interesting button combinations or moments that feel meaningful. You may start to see patterns that surprise you.

• Match Pace to Your Individual Dog

  Some dogs pick this up within weeks. Others take months to press their first intentional button. Speed depends on the individual dog, how consistently you model, how motivated they are by the associated activities, and how you handle the early stages. There is no wrong pace — there is only the pace that works for your dog.
  

What Does the Research Say?

The scientific investigation of canine AAC use is still developing, and that's part of what makes it so exciting to follow. The "They Can Talk" citizen science study at UC San Diego has enrolled thousands of pet dogs and is producing the largest dataset ever collected on animal communication. Early findings suggest that dogs can learn to use buttons to reliably request specific things, distinguish between distinct concepts, and in some cases, use buttons in novel combinations.

Veterinary behaviorists emphasize that regardless of what the research ultimately concludes about the depth of canine language comprehension, the process of teaching buttons is inherently enriching. It provides exceptional mental stimulation, strengthens the communication and attunement between dog and human, and gives your dog a meaningful sense of agency — the sense that their inner world can be expressed and heard.

That, to us, is reason enough.