Pictured above is my Standard Poodle, Versailles (named for the palace) in front of her semi-current button board. There are some buttons missing on the left due to moving and not having enough batteries yet. She has roughly 50 buttons. A single word is recorded onto each button, and pressing the button causes it to say that word out loud. She uses each word fluently, typically in sentences of 2-5 words. She is due for getting many more new words, but due to the aforementioned moving, I've had her language expansion on an artifical pause. I just want to be clear that I have been the limiting factor on her, not her own capacity.
Versailles is just over 2.5 years old now. She started learning her first three word buttons when she was... about 14ish weeks old? This particular training process has been 100% treat/reward free. The reward is being understood, and boy is this a powerful incentive.
There have been some studies on this phenomenon in recent years, and it appears that it is valid and reproducable. Here's one: https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/dogs-understand-words-soundboard-buttons-study-reveals
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Does she have a favorite word??
For awhile when she was little, her favorite button said "love you." She said it ALL THE TIME. Even in the middle of the night. She still says it but not as constantly. I think this is partially because she now has more words to express different kinds of positive feelings, such as "happy"
Then for about a week her favorite word was "yes." This is almost certainly because yes is also her marker word (the word we say to mark when she gets a trick right and is going to get a treat for her performance) so by the time she had the word as a button, she strongly associated yes not just with getting her way, but with positive affirmation, achievement, etc. The buttons are held on the board with velcro so we can peel them back up and change the batteries, or replace them if they break, and within ten minutes of my first adding the word yes to the board she had peeled it off and just spent the day walking around the house holding and triggering the "yes" button and doing little prancey dances. But it turns out it sort of loses its meaning if you just say it to yourself all the time without having actually achieved something, so she gave it back, I velcroed it back into place, and we just resumed normal use of Yes in conversations like it hadn't been her stim all week.
Nowadays, her most commonly word used is "car." I think that's more about the activity than the word. She loves to be driven to places, to see people, to get food, etc., and spends a lot of time suggesting locations the car could take her to. Also other people who could drive her if I say I am busy - she knows just which of our human friends has a license and vehicle. Sometimes when visitors come to the house she asks them if they will drive her somewhere. Usually she will give suggestions about where, but is open to hearing alternate pitches from them.
Then for about a week her favorite word was "yes." This is almost certainly because yes is also her marker word (the word we say to mark when she gets a trick right and is going to get a treat for her performance) so by the time she had the word as a button, she strongly associated yes not just with getting her way, but with positive affirmation, achievement, etc. The buttons are held on the board with velcro so we can peel them back up and change the batteries, or replace them if they break, and within ten minutes of my first adding the word yes to the board she had peeled it off and just spent the day walking around the house holding and triggering the "yes" button and doing little prancey dances. But it turns out it sort of loses its meaning if you just say it to yourself all the time without having actually achieved something, so she gave it back, I velcroed it back into place, and we just resumed normal use of Yes in conversations like it hadn't been her stim all week.
Nowadays, her most commonly word used is "car." I think that's more about the activity than the word. She loves to be driven to places, to see people, to get food, etc., and spends a lot of time suggesting locations the car could take her to. Also other people who could drive her if I say I am busy - she knows just which of our human friends has a license and vehicle. Sometimes when visitors come to the house she asks them if they will drive her somewhere. Usually she will give suggestions about where, but is open to hearing alternate pitches from them.
What was the most detailed sentence she's given? What was she responding to?
I think her max sentence length is about 5-6 words, and there are a whole lot of different examples of that so it's hard to pick one. So I'll just tell you about the first time I can remember her doing a five button sequence!
A human friend was over and was wrestling her. She slipped and accidentally caught the webbing of his thumb and forefinger on her teeth, and although it didn't draw blood it turned bright red and the poor guy yelped in pain. She stopped playing and seemed pretty shocked and confused. She said "Hmmm?" which is our verbal question mark, for turning a regular sentence into a question.
I told her "Friend feel ouch! Play ouch!" both verbally and with her buttons.
She paced and huffed and then pressed "Happy want feel, ouch bye bye" then went over and kissed the hand she had accidentally hurt. We took it to be an explanation of intent, she wanted the friend to feel happy from playing and for the ouch to go away.
A human friend was over and was wrestling her. She slipped and accidentally caught the webbing of his thumb and forefinger on her teeth, and although it didn't draw blood it turned bright red and the poor guy yelped in pain. She stopped playing and seemed pretty shocked and confused. She said "Hmmm?" which is our verbal question mark, for turning a regular sentence into a question.
I told her "Friend feel ouch! Play ouch!" both verbally and with her buttons.
She paced and huffed and then pressed "Happy want feel, ouch bye bye" then went over and kissed the hand she had accidentally hurt. We took it to be an explanation of intent, she wanted the friend to feel happy from playing and for the ouch to go away.
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