Water

Unlike food, nearly all dogs will stop drinking water once they're full. For this reason, the introduction of a button for WATER is much less likely to be obsessive trigger use. Dehydration is significantly more dangerous than hunger, providing another justification for WATER as a button.

If you plan on introducing FOOD, WATER may pair well with it.

Meanings and uses

• Fill the water bowl

• I am thirsty

• I would like to have access to the water bowl now.

• Refill water bowl

Button sounds

• "Water"

• "Thirsty"

Modeling techniques

Among our group of successful modelers, the following techniques were used:

• Hit button poured water

• Pressed the button when filling the water bowl.

• If we noticed our learner hanging out near their empty bowl, we would press the button and then filled the bowl. Our learner got the idea after several days.

What seems to have worked well

Among our group of successful modelers, the following seemed to be helpful:

• Putting the button near the water bowl at first

• Pressing the button prior to filling the water bowl worked well.

• Waiting until the water bowl was empty (which was hard because she doesn't seem to empty it often)

• Making sure the response to the learner's request was quick

What seems to have gotten in the way

Among our group of successful modelers, they avoided doing the following:

• He would get annoyed at first and hit the water bowl if he hit the wrong button