buttons update:
we have 3 buttons out (the 4th one in the package eats batteries so I threw it out). WATER (refill the bowl), DOOR (outside access for walks or potty), and HELP (food stuck in a food puzzle, dropped kong in trash can, cat inaccessible, cat won’t play with him, stranger outside...)
for those not familiar with button training, the recommendation is to start with an outdoor cue (easy to understand, used repeatedly over the course of the day) and next try a PLAY or TOYS one. Hazard, being Hazard, thinks we should just know when he needs to pee (to be fair, we do) and is still wrapping his head around adding water to his bowl instead of just licking it completely dry.
he has, however, started to grasp that the HELP button makes us do things, and most often it makes us produce food. after a quick extinction burst (HELP doesn’t make us give him food, it makes us solve his current problem) he’s now grasped the idea that HELP makes a current stressor easier. this most often comes up when working on nail trims, where he can get up and go press HELP to get a treat.
long story short: this morning Hazard got his puzzle feeder stuck and came over and pounded HELP four or five times. great, except that he then couldn’t show us where he put the feeder and so this led to 5 minutes of two adult humans wandering around a 1 bdrm apartment looking for a dog toy while the dog in question periodically says HELP
