Scout & Sheila
Mental Health Professional
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Scout is a Catahoula Mix. She spent her first 3 months on the streets of TX, and the next 3 in a kennel in 2 different rescues.
I am a Mental Health Professional working in Secondary Education.
I love using the buttons to give Scout a voice!
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Holy cannoli, I just had a realization. When breaking down and interpreting multi-button presses if youâre feeling stuck try breaking down the meaning based on your learnerâs âsoundboard compound wordsâ not each individual word!
So many learners are pairing words together to mean another word they donât have a button for. So for instance, âhungry, chew, playâ could be sequencing, or it could be meant as âhungry + chew + playâ = edible chew treat. Itâs not so tricky to interpret on itâs own, but when you combine it with other button presses and other âsoundboard compound wordsâ it gets a lot more complicated to interpret!Â
So many learners are pairing words together to mean another word they donât have a button for. So for instance, âhungry, chew, playâ could be sequencing, or it could be meant as âhungry + chew + playâ = edible chew treat. Itâs not so tricky to interpret on itâs own, but when you combine it with other button presses and other âsoundboard compound wordsâ it gets a lot more complicated to interpret!Â
This is how we determine which new words Bastian might need :) Since he always has access to water, when he would activate the button, we would get him cold water from the fridge. At some point he began hitting "water treat" and we eventually concluded that he wanted his treats from the fridge. Now he has a fridge button! I love how clever they are when selecting words for meaning. BTW anyone know what dinner car is? This is our latest combo, and we do not get delivery often!Â

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Through my time chatting with you all I have noticed that several of the learners are using the same combinations to mean the same thing!Â
Of course not all learners automatically mean the same thing when they combined buttons, but I thought it would be neat if we had sort of a dictionary or translator going of these âsoundboard compound wordsâ Â our pets use. This way if we are feeling stuck interpreting we can look here for ideas.Â
Iâll start!
Water + outside = pee
Hungry + play = do some training/tricks for treats
Hungry + chew = edible treat
Hungry + chew play = nylon toy w/edible treat
Outside + home = beyond the dog gate (kitchen and basement for us)
Hungry + water = add a little water to the kibble
Hungry + ball = nylon toy w/frozen oatmeal (Scoutâs version of a Kong)
Ball + water = ???? (Maybe also for frozen oatmeal toy since she might be saying ball + cold)
Of course not all learners automatically mean the same thing when they combined buttons, but I thought it would be neat if we had sort of a dictionary or translator going of these âsoundboard compound wordsâ Â our pets use. This way if we are feeling stuck interpreting we can look here for ideas.Â
Iâll start!
Water + outside = pee
Hungry + play = do some training/tricks for treats
Hungry + chew = edible treat
Hungry + chew play = nylon toy w/edible treat
Outside + home = beyond the dog gate (kitchen and basement for us)
Hungry + water = add a little water to the kibble
Hungry + ball = nylon toy w/frozen oatmeal (Scoutâs version of a Kong)
Ball + water = ???? (Maybe also for frozen oatmeal toy since she might be saying ball + cold)

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One of the hardest times for Scout is when I'm teaching on Zoom. She jumps on me, mouths me, barks, etc. (she's also not a fan when I'm watching videos on my phone, or working quietly at my computer). I've worked with her extensively on her behaviors while I'm on Zoom, as well as my behaviors (using headphones, going in another room to give her quiet space, etc) and she's gotten A LOT better, but the last few hours of the day she still has a rough time. I completely understand, because I'm worn out from 8 or 9 hours a day on Zoom as well! I was thinking of adding a button to help us talk about this together. (ex: mom Zoom, mom all done Zoom, Mom all done Zoom soon, etc).
I was wondering if anyone has used any similar buttons or plans to do so, and if so what term was/will be used? How did it go? I don't foresee us needing a Zoom button as much after the pandemic, so I was thinking of using the term "work", "computer", or "busy" instead. Any thoughts or suggestions?
I was wondering if anyone has used any similar buttons or plans to do so, and if so what term was/will be used? How did it go? I don't foresee us needing a Zoom button as much after the pandemic, so I was thinking of using the term "work", "computer", or "busy" instead. Any thoughts or suggestions?
I've always worked from home, but my pets do bother me a lot. It's only after midnight that they quiet down and go to sleep that I can finally work in peace.
I think the word "busy" would help out to describe you cannot pay attention right now. For example, when you're in the middle of cooking, you also can't pay attention to you dog; you're busy after all!
I use "settle now" a lot when I'm done interacting with my dog and I have other things to do. He doesn't like it, but he gets the hint after a couple of repeatings.
I think the word "busy" would help out to describe you cannot pay attention right now. For example, when you're in the middle of cooking, you also can't pay attention to you dog; you're busy after all!
I use "settle now" a lot when I'm done interacting with my dog and I have other things to do. He doesn't like it, but he gets the hint after a couple of repeatings.
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I bring Ava to work with me, so I have both a Work and Home button. She does push Home when we're at work, usually when the people who get there earlier start leaving and there's no one to pay attention to her. More, Later, and Soon have come in handy at those times. Usually I'll answer her with More Work, Home Soon/Later depending on how much time we have until we leave.
 I'll ask her if she wants scritches or play as alternatives to distract her from her boredom, but I'm also able to step away if only for a few seconds. Is there puzzle toys or something similar that she likes that you can pull out just for when to starts to get antsy to occupy her time until you're done?
 I'll ask her if she wants scritches or play as alternatives to distract her from her boredom, but I'm also able to step away if only for a few seconds. Is there puzzle toys or something similar that she likes that you can pull out just for when to starts to get antsy to occupy her time until you're done?
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Anyone jot down all of their learners conversations in one day? What did your learner say?! Do they have any favorite words or phrases right now? I've never done this until today, and it was quite interesting to sit down at the end of the night and look over everything she said! I capture so few of Scouts conversations on video, so I usually forget about most of the conversations we have. It's so neat to be able to go back and read them.
Scout had access to her (12) buttons for 6 hours today, and here's some of what I was able to get down. She was less chatty then usual, most likely because I added two new (blank) hexes to her board. She kept staring at the board and hovering over buttons. My guess is she was trying to reorient herself. My husband forgot to document, so all of these conversations are the ones with me and a couple with my husband that I was nearby for:
Scout, mom, dad, chew, potty, home, outside. (I had added two new blank hexes to her board last night after she went to bed, so when she woke up this morning she started testing out her buttons to assess where they all were)
Play, outside, home, home, ball, water. (she finished playing outside with dad, now she was home, and she wanted me to get her some kibble with water in it)
Mom, Scout, Scout. (She wanted my attention, I was on my phone drinking tea at the table after breakfast)
home.
outside.
potty, potty.
mom, all done.
Dad.
home, outside.
hungry.
Potty.
Outside.
All done, dad, Scout.
Outside, home. (my husband had just gone in the basement again, still thinking this might be basement sometimes?)
outside, potty.
outside, chew, play. (play frisbee! - she likes to chew it even though we don't let her)
potty.
water.
Scout had access to her (12) buttons for 6 hours today, and here's some of what I was able to get down. She was less chatty then usual, most likely because I added two new (blank) hexes to her board. She kept staring at the board and hovering over buttons. My guess is she was trying to reorient herself. My husband forgot to document, so all of these conversations are the ones with me and a couple with my husband that I was nearby for:
Scout, mom, dad, chew, potty, home, outside. (I had added two new blank hexes to her board last night after she went to bed, so when she woke up this morning she started testing out her buttons to assess where they all were)
Play, outside, home, home, ball, water. (she finished playing outside with dad, now she was home, and she wanted me to get her some kibble with water in it)
Mom, Scout, Scout. (She wanted my attention, I was on my phone drinking tea at the table after breakfast)
home.
outside.
potty, potty.
mom, all done.
Dad.
home, outside.
hungry.
Potty.
Outside.
All done, dad, Scout.
Outside, home. (my husband had just gone in the basement again, still thinking this might be basement sometimes?)
outside, potty.
outside, chew, play. (play frisbee! - she likes to chew it even though we don't let her)
potty.
water.
It's so cool to see Scout use all of her buttons so much, especially combining them! Can't wait to see when you introduce more buttons to expand her vocabulary as she's getting the hang of it fast.
"Outside home" may be Scout's way of saying downstairs perhaps.
I've been logging my dog's button presses for the past two weeks, and have gotten some interesting data out of it:
These are single button presses. He loves to use "outside" a lot, even though he doesn't quite always mean to go outside, so I haven't figured out yet what he means by this sometimes. "Come" is his second most used button, he just really loves it when we follow him in another room, or come join him at the buttons. Of course, "play" is third. He constantly wants to play.
Zuko only does two button presses sometimes (35 instances so far), but here's the data:
"Outside home" may be Scout's way of saying downstairs perhaps.
I've been logging my dog's button presses for the past two weeks, and have gotten some interesting data out of it:
Zuko only does two button presses sometimes (35 instances so far), but here's the data:
Seeing this data, it's actually fascinating to me how he uses "want" versus "come". For example, he mostly uses "come play" and not "want play". But he will say "want treat" but not "come treat". I think he understands "want" as a request for an object, and "come" to go and do something.
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We're looking into getting a camera so I've read all the threads on here that I could find about cameras. It seems like everyone who mentions their camera mentions a con and mentions looking for something better. Does anyone like the camera they have?
I thought it might be helpful to get a thread going with a few questions.
I thought it might be helpful to get a thread going with a few questions.
- What camera do you have?
- What was the approximate price you paid?
- What are the pros?
- What are the cons?
- Other things worth mentioning? (sound quality, length of time it records, etc)
- What camera do you have?
Blink
- What was the approximate price you paid?
$25 wired $69 wireless (plus $35 sync module for every 10 cameras)
- What are the pros?
1080 resolution, free storage for customers w/ account before 4/20, motion activated recording, IR for night recording, good sound qualityÂ
- What are the cons?
limited to 60 sec recording blocks, cloud storage fee for new customers, multiple cameras donât always record concurrently, clicking sound at start of recordingÂ
- Other things worth mentioning?Â
The wireless cameras cost more but enable setup anywhere. Heavy recording use does eat up batteries.
No idea of security from hacking so mine are limited to soundboard area.
No idea of security from hacking so mine are limited to soundboard area.
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I just bought this one because I was legit worried about security on my previous one, and tp -link has being doing network security for years.
I like this one better already, app is super easy to navigate. 24/7 recording on microSD, no subscription needed.
Will keep you posted (with shiny new button videos from Lil!)
I like this one better already, app is super easy to navigate. 24/7 recording on microSD, no subscription needed.
Will keep you posted (with shiny new button videos from Lil!)
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Earlier this morning Scout pressed "outside" and I said "outside soon". 10-15 minutes later she pressed "outside" again and I said "outside soon". 10-15 minutes later she pressed "home" "home" "outside" very intentionally.Â
I'm not sure if she was trying to say "we've been home a lot, I really want to go outside now", or if she was saying "you said okay to outside twice, but we stayed home twice (she doesn't understand soon/later/now yet), can we please go outside now???". I doubt that she'd actually have the capacity to count the times, remember, and communicate about the number of times it didn't happen, but it was so interesting to observe.Â
I'm not sure if she was trying to say "we've been home a lot, I really want to go outside now", or if she was saying "you said okay to outside twice, but we stayed home twice (she doesn't understand soon/later/now yet), can we please go outside now???". I doubt that she'd actually have the capacity to count the times, remember, and communicate about the number of times it didn't happen, but it was so interesting to observe.Â

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Holy guacamole. What an interesting interaction today.Â
Scout has a few nylon chew toys (2 nebula star things, 2 steaks, 2 3-prong shapes, and 1 heart) that we fill with with oatmeal and freeze every week. She gets 1 each time we leave her alone in the house.Â
This evening I was filling the toys with oatmeal and put them in the freezer. I let her lick the last bit of oatmeal off my finger before I washed the bowl in the sink. She clearly wanted more oatmeal (she sits beside me on the mat in the kitchen to request some food I'm cooking with because I will not give her anything until she is in a calm sit on the mat), but I had nothing left to give since I put it all in the freezer.Â
That's when Scout went to her board and hit "hungry" "play", paused then hit "hungry" "water" (how she requests kibble + some water in her bowl). We assumed that hungry play meant she was asking to do tricks/training (her usual meaning for it). She had already eaten dinner and was done with treats for the night so my husband said "all done hungry water". She then hit "potty" "play" "ball" (a frequent sequence request). We said "all done play ball. Do you want to potty outside?". Scout then thought for a second and hit "ball" "hungry", paused for a very brief second" and then "ball" "hungry" "play" "chew".
I think she was asking for one of her frozen oatmeal toys! I got her one of the smaller ones out of the freezer and gave it to her because I was so impressed with her request.
She's been using the terms "ball, hungry" and "ball, water" for weeks now, so I'm excited that we may have finally uncovered what "ball, hungry" means!!! I will continue to observe her to see if any of her other behaviors help to confirm this. I will also continue to try and figure out what the heck "ball" "water" means!
Scout has a few nylon chew toys (2 nebula star things, 2 steaks, 2 3-prong shapes, and 1 heart) that we fill with with oatmeal and freeze every week. She gets 1 each time we leave her alone in the house.Â
This evening I was filling the toys with oatmeal and put them in the freezer. I let her lick the last bit of oatmeal off my finger before I washed the bowl in the sink. She clearly wanted more oatmeal (she sits beside me on the mat in the kitchen to request some food I'm cooking with because I will not give her anything until she is in a calm sit on the mat), but I had nothing left to give since I put it all in the freezer.Â
That's when Scout went to her board and hit "hungry" "play", paused then hit "hungry" "water" (how she requests kibble + some water in her bowl). We assumed that hungry play meant she was asking to do tricks/training (her usual meaning for it). She had already eaten dinner and was done with treats for the night so my husband said "all done hungry water". She then hit "potty" "play" "ball" (a frequent sequence request). We said "all done play ball. Do you want to potty outside?". Scout then thought for a second and hit "ball" "hungry", paused for a very brief second" and then "ball" "hungry" "play" "chew".
I think she was asking for one of her frozen oatmeal toys! I got her one of the smaller ones out of the freezer and gave it to her because I was so impressed with her request.
She's been using the terms "ball, hungry" and "ball, water" for weeks now, so I'm excited that we may have finally uncovered what "ball, hungry" means!!! I will continue to observe her to see if any of her other behaviors help to confirm this. I will also continue to try and figure out what the heck "ball" "water" means!
YESYESYESYESYES!!!!!! Eat Ball!!!!! Lil was less than 4mos old and only had 8 buttons. One night she kept pressing  âEat Ballâ over and over. I told her âSilly girl, we donât eat our balls!â I didnât understand, so she went and brought me her empty Kong. Stupid humans. Thatâs totally an Eat Ball!
She also refers specifically to âCold Eatâ from fridge/freezer, as well as Water Eat, which is the equivalent of your Hungry Water. AND she says Play Eat for training too!!!
She also refers specifically to âCold Eatâ from fridge/freezer, as well as Water Eat, which is the equivalent of your Hungry Water. AND she says Play Eat for training too!!!
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That's amazing she clarified her request! I think "ball water" means the same thing! Remember, she was using "water" to refer to cold things, and since you're freezing these chew toys, they're definitely cold. I think she was just trying her best to express she wanted these frozen delights using the limited buttons she had.
I hope you get your buttons soon, your dog is hungry for more.
I hope you get your buttons soon, your dog is hungry for more.
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Jill of all trades
How many buttons does Scout have? Scout may need more buttons for clarification.
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After dinner I was washing the dishes in the sink and Scout hit "mom" "play" "water"! We have never modeled using buttons for us washing the dishes, so I got a big kick out of this narration.
Now if only washing the dishes was actually play and not work!
Now if only washing the dishes was actually play and not work!

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Our pup occasionally starts getting creative and uses words on her board to mean other things if she doesn't have the proper word for them. For example she would combine "water" "outside" to mean pee before she had a potty button. She will use "hungry" "ball" to ask if she can chew on her chuckit ball. She also has been using "Play" "water" "outside" to ask to play in the snow. She will also use "Hungry" "water" to ask for water to be put in with her food.
But there is a new combo she has been using for a month or two now that I just cannot figure out for the life of me... "ball" "water". She has been using this a lot lately when I think she's asking for her food. Has anyone else had a learner use this combo??? Any thoughts on what this could mean??? Is she referring to her kibble as tiny balls? Is she trying to differentiate between eating kibble vs. chewing on a toy. Maybe she asking for something else??? She appears to be intentionally communicating something, but I can't figure it out for the life of me!
***edit*** Iâve attached a video, but in this video she combines hungry, ball, and water. Later on when I model âScoutâ âhungryâ she very intentionally walks over to press âballâ. When I offered her both her food and the ball she picked the food. I have no clue what she is trying to tell me!!!
Sometimes it also alludes me what my dog might mean. They start using words to get creative and can mean several things, or nothing at all.
So let's start with the variations your pup uses for water, which so far means:
- Actual water
- The act of drinking
- Snow
- Peeing
- Seems to be associated with any liquid or something cold
Now try and figure out why she would use "ball"! Ball can be associated with:
- A toy she can play with
- Anything round
Could it mean... snow ball? Does she want to chew on a snow ball? I know some owner give their dogs ice cubes to play with, this can also be a possibility if she's familiar with ice cubes.
So let's start with the variations your pup uses for water, which so far means:
- Actual water
- The act of drinking
- Snow
- Peeing
- Seems to be associated with any liquid or something cold
Now try and figure out why she would use "ball"! Ball can be associated with:
- A toy she can play with
- Anything round
Could it mean... snow ball? Does she want to chew on a snow ball? I know some owner give their dogs ice cubes to play with, this can also be a possibility if she's familiar with ice cubes.
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Dog Mom
do/have you ever put kibble into a puzzle ball/treat dispenser for her?
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Anyone else have a learner that combines two thoughts into one sentence? Our dog is high energy and we know her brain is often moving at 100 mph. She will occasionally speak in run-on like sentences (for example Mom, dad, All done, hungry, play, outside - I still haven't figured out if she is trying to say "are you done eating? can we play outside" OR "MOM, DAD, stop eating so we can go outside!!!" but it appears as if it's something along those lines). It also seems like she's offering us choices sometimes like we do to her ("Hungry, water, play, outside" - you guys can give me some lunch or we can go play outside).Â
Has anyone else experienced this?
Has anyone else experienced this?
Sometimes the sequence matters for sure! She could be saying things like "when you're all done eating, let's play outside."
Buttons like "later" and "now" could help make this more clear whether it's a "I want this now!" request, or a "Can we do this when you're done?" request.
Buttons like "later" and "now" could help make this more clear whether it's a "I want this now!" request, or a "Can we do this when you're done?" request.
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