Yin likes to start by having people teach their cats to sit, especially if they’re having problems with their cat chasing them and attacking their legs. Sure, that’s showy, but you can teach your cat more useful tricks that don’t run the risk of burning the house down. If you’ve ever been to Key West’s Mallory Square at sunset, you’ve probably seen Dominique LeFort’s trained cats jumping through hoops of fire. “I don’t know many instances in which a relationship doesn’t benefit from better communication.” Keep training sessions short, no more than two or three minutes at a time, since cats have short attention spans.“There are powerful benefits to training in any situation, and its major benefit is that you’re developing an interspecies communication system,” says animal behaviorist Mary Lee Nitschke, a professor of psychology at Linfield College in Portland, Ore. Once your cat will touch a target, you can use it to teach him to spin in a circle, jump through a hoop or go to a specific place. Gradually extend the distance the cat must come before touching the target. As soon as he touches the target with his nose, click and give him a treat. Put a small amount of wet food on the end of the target and show it to your cat, holding it just far enough away that he has to reach forward to get the food. Use a target such as a pencil with a large eraser on the end or a narrow bird perch. This is useful because it can help you direct your cat to certain areas. Sound advice: Always reward your cat when he comes to you, and never call him and then do something he doesn’t like, such as giving him a pill or taking him to the veterinarian. If you need to evacuate your home because of a fire or other emergency, it saves valuable time if your cat comes when called. Learning to come when called can save a cat’s life. Your cat will quickly associate that sound with mealtime and respond instantly to it. Every time you set down your cat’s food bowl, make an easily repeatable sound: ring a bell, jingle your keys or whistle a tune (don’t use the clicker for this trick). This may be the easiest trick to teach, believe it or not.
For instance, if your cat likes to sprawl across your desk while you’re working, make it rewarding instead for him to sit at your feet or on a chair next to you. Once he learns to sit on cue (cats don’t respond to commands, you know), you can have your cat sit as an alternative to things he might do that annoy you. As you do so, give a name to the action - “Sit” - and praise him for it - “Good sit!” Click and treat any time you see your cat sitting, whether you’ve asked him to or not. The instant he sits, click and give a treat. As his nose goes up to sniff it, his rear automatically goes down into a sit position. Start by holding a treat just above your cat’s head. It’s also the foundation for teaching stay, sit up and wave. This is a great trick to teach cats who have a habit of jumping on guests’ laps uninvited or chasing people and attacking their legs. Here are three easy tricks to teach your feline Einstein.
All you need is a clicker, some aromatic treats your cat can gulp down quickly, good timing and a little patience. Kittens pick up tricks more quickly because their brains are more elastic, but cats of any age can learn new behaviors. It helps you and your cat learn to communicate more skillfully, adding a new dimension to your relationship. Cats are smart and active, and training provides them with mental stimulation as well as a physical workout. We like to think of it more as enhancing their lives. Cats are highly intelligent and many of them are amenable to learning tricks - or, as cats would put it, teaching you to give them treats.īut why train a cat? Doesn’t that take away from their inherent “cattitude”? The easiest way to teach a trick is to “capture” a behavior a cat does normally by rewarding him whenever he does it.We know what you’re thinking: Cats can’t learn tricks.
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