Meet Tiffany and Maple, a German Shepherd who started their button jou

Meet Tiffany and Maple, a German Shepherd who started their button journey at just 3 months old. Apr 16, 2026 By Calvin Docking Q. Who is this learner of yours? Maple is a 1 year 11 month old German Shepherd dog Q. How long did it take for Maple to press her first button? Maple pressed her first button the same day we began teaching her. She was 3 months old. Watch the moment here! Q. What have the buttons revealed about Maple that you wouldn’t have known without the buttons? She legit misses us when we’re not home! She always goes straight to her button and says “mommy” or “daddy” or my kid’s names when they’re not home. She uses “where” and “hmmm?” often as well. Q. What do you do to ensure the buttons remain an engaging and positive experience for Maple over time? We all (myself, my husband and my kids who are 10 and 9) encourage Maple to use her buttons. We often speak to her while also modeling or using the buttons with her. When I add new words or charge her base she says “I love you”. Q. What’s your funniest button moment? Maple “telling on” my kids when they moved her buttons. She said “hahaha you’re funny”, then “mommy!” and looks directly at me. Then when they move them back for her she says “I love you!” It’s all on this video: Want buttons like Maple? He uses Connect Buttons with HexTiles. Shop Maple's Buttons Q. What’s your most surprising button moment? When she strings together multiple words. In this video she says 4 very relevant words together.. “Ball”, “where”, “help”, “Miles” The ball was stuck under the couch and my son, Miles was nearby. Watch Part 1 Here! Also, the time my son was upset and crying in his room and she pressed “Miles” and “sad” Watch Part 2 Here! Q. What challenges have you faced with button teaching? With the busy-ness of life I have to remind myself to pay full attention when she is pressing her buttons. I don’t take every opportunity to praise her like I should. Not because I don’t want to! But I find that when I am busy, doing chores or cooking dinner for example, she presses to get my attention. Q. How do you decide when to introduce a new word to Maple? It’s usually when an opportunity arises for her to use a certain word but she didn’t have it. That spurs me to consider whether it would be a good word to add. lAlso, when it is contextually appropriate, like the change of seasons for example. I try to be aware of word pairings and parts of language as well. With my experience as an SLP, I try to remember how those things can factor in with humans using AAC devices and perhaps this is how animals understand lang

uage as well. Bunny is a great example of that! Q. What advice would you give to others who are interested in teaching their learners to use buttons? I highly/enthusiastically encourage others to at least try to teach their learners to use buttons. To the point where I am probably annoying! Just kidding! But, why not at least try? Spend a few minutes a day teaching the basics and see if it catches on. I feel like in the beginning, I thought I didn’t spend enough time “training” Maple. Ultimately she did a lot of the work herself! She continuously surprised me even in times where I thought, “I didn’t spend enough time on that word with her…” Then all of a sudden she’s using it in context. We don’t give them the credit they deserve that’s for sure! So I guess my two bits of advice would be 1. Try it! And 2. Be patient and don’t just give up! You will most certainly be surprised. Join the conversation at community.fluent.pet! Share Share Reading next Meet Mónica and Baxter, the Button-Talking Goldendoodle Mar 18, 2026 Calvin Docking How a Soundboard Becomes a Map of Separate Buttons Apr 24, 2026 Leo Trottier Leave a comment This site is protected by hCaptcha and the hCaptcha Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Name Email Message Submit