Using speech buttons: Teaching your cat to combine words

This article is a continuation of this one.

Once your cat is at a stage in speech button learning where they know several words, you can begin to model how they could combine those words to accomplish different tasks. In the above video you can see how I started teaching Steve how to “play outside.”

I waited for him to ask to play, and then played with him for about five minutes. I then set his toy down and made sure he was still interested in playing (you’ll see on the video he asks verbally to continue). I took that opportunity to show him a new way that we could play - modeling the “Play” and “Outside” buttons on his board several times before opening the door and going outdoors with his toy (a cat dancer, probably the most popular toy with all cats in the world!). Steve was SO excited about the idea of combining his two very favorite things. While we played outside, I made sure to repeat “play outside” verbally as a reinforcer. I will make sure to repeat this process every day until he begins to combine the words himself, asking for outdoor play!