 Purred: Sun Nov 18, '12 11:18pm PST |
 | |  | | After an argument with a friend about cats and dogs,i decided to train my 2 cats to sit. I wanted to prove that cats can learn tricks, they just have to be taught differently than dogs.
I used clicker training to teach Tiny and Angel to sit for a treat. I chose to use both hand and verbal cues. Prior to training, i have had my cats 'work' for treats with treat balls, puzzle boxes, and hiding treats on there cat trees. I took a video to prove the trick and many people could not believe i trained my cats to sit.
The cats loved training and it was interesting to me, so i decided to do more. I read in a few books to teach cats to follow a 'target stick' as a training tool. This is the method they use to train big cats and other wild animals. My target stick is a chop stick with pink duck tape at the end to make a ball. I worked with them over a few weeks to touch the target stick with there nose, and to jump up on things (chair, cat tree, ect) when i tap the area with the stick.
Next i taught Tiny to sit up while on the cat post or chair (Angel has yet to 'figure out' this trick)
the best trick so far is the "give Angel a kiss" trick. This was taught by luck. Since Tiny is the boss, she often grooms Angel on the head. during a training session, I caught them doing it.I said "give Angel a kiss" then clicked and treated them both. while they were still close i scratched angels head so she lowered it, said "give Angel a kiss" a few times, and Tiny did. Another treat. Tiny is extremely good at figuring out what i want of her. It helped that Angel lowers her head when i pet her, so it was like she was presenting her head for Tiny to groom.
Does anyone else trick train? I am still working on more tricks. |  |  | |  |
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