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Expanding Vocabulary: Where Else?
If you've already taught your dog beginning locations and are ready for more
vocabulary, or if you'd like to incorporate a larger vocabulary from the start,
here are some ideas:
•
"Car" if your dog accompanies you on car rides frequently
•
"Store" if you bring your dog to a pet store or other shops often
•
Specific park names if you have a few different parks in your repertoire
You can even think about more locations inside your home:
•
"Bed," "Kennel," or "Crate" to represent your dog's space
•
"Upstairs" or "Downstairs"
Activities to Differentiate Between Locations
Now that you know which locations to program and when to introduce them,
try these activities at home with your pet to help them learn each location,
and have fun together in the process!
Practice makes perfect! For best results, use your dog's buttons every day!
For Places Outside the Home:
Activity #1: Going to the Park!
1. Before leaving for the park,
call your dog over to their buttons.
2. Both verbally and with your dog's
button, model "park" 3–5 times.
Example: "Stella! We're going to the
park! Park park park."
3. Pause and stay silent for 5–10 seconds
while watching your dog's response.
"Park!"
"Park!"
"Park!"
4. Say "park" again 2–3 times with verbal speech
and your dog's button.
5. Head out the door!
Repeat this activity every time you take your dog
to the park. By modeling "park" before you leave,
you're teaching your dog to connect the word
"park" with the place itself.
Activity #2: Talk While You're There!
Even though you likely won't have your dog's buttons with you, you can
still verbally model words for your dog! When you're at the park, tell your
dog "play at park. Park park! Play at park." The more your dog hears words
in the appropriate contexts, the more they'll form connections between
words and their meanings.
Activity #3: Going to the Park... Later!
If your dog says a location such as "park"
when you can't take them, or they say "park"
while exploring their buttons, it's important to
still respond! You can say "no park," "all done
park," or "park later." Responding to a word
is a form of reinforcement. By repeating your
dog's word back to them, you are showing
them that you heard and understood. Plus,
you're teaching your dog other words that can
be combined together someday for different
functions of communication!
Mix It Up!: Though I've used the park in the examples above, these
activities can help you teach all kinds of locations! Just substitute "park"
for a word like "beach" or "store," and begin practicing from there!
"Let's go
to the
Park!"
"Park
later!"
It's important
to still respond!
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