Saturday, 25 March 2023
Cats have a reputation for doing what they want, so plenty of people consider them “untrainable.”
But in fact, your feline friend can actually learn many of the same behaviours you’d teach your dog.
When it comes to cat training, the world is your oyster, says Beth Brown, certified cat behaviour consultant and owner of Ear to Tail.
Specifically, your cat can learn any number of fun or useful behaviours, including:
Besides giving you prime TikTok content, training your cat could potentially benefit you both by keeping your kitty engaged and strengthening your relationship.
So if you’re ready to sink your claws into cat training, read on for five tips from feline behaviour experts.
You might be familiar with two main ways to reinforce a pet’s behaviour during training sessions:
“Positive reinforcement-based methods really are much more effective for cats than trying to punish unwanted behaviours,” says Joey Lusvardi, cat behaviour specialist and owner of Class Act Cats.
While negative reinforcement might get your cat to temporarily stop a specific behaviour, it could also damage your relationship.
Take the infamous squirt bottle, for example. If you spray your cat when they jump on the kitchen counter, they likely won’t associate it with hopping on the countertop. Instead, they’ll associate it with you.
This doesn’t just frighten your cat. You probably won’t get the long-term results you want with this method, Lusvardi says.
Sticking to positive reinforcement could lead to better results overall, not to mention less stressful training sessions for both you and your cat.
Your dog may work for food or praise. But when it comes to your cat, finding their favourite reinforcer may prove just a little bit trickier.
Cats are individuals, and each one has different reward preferences, says J.R. Henderson, cat behaviour specialist, contributor to The Animal Training Academy and owner of ZenCatsRoc.
Many cats find motivation in food or treats. But others might take interest in other types of rewards, such as:
If you’re unsure what reward your cat prefers, Henderson points to preference tests as a useful tool.
With a preference test, you present multiple options to your cat and see which one they consistently choose. For example, you might leave both a chicken-flavoured treat and a salmon-flavoured treat on the floor, then check which one your cat snaps up first.
If your cat chooses the salmon treat nine out of 10 times, you can rest assured that’s probably their preferred flavour — and the one they’re more likely to work for.
Training tools like clickers could also help your cat learn.
Like the name suggests, a clicker is a small handheld device that makes a “clicking” sound when you press it.
Clicker training works like this: You press the clicker when your cat does the behaviour you want to reinforce, then give your cat their preferred reward — like a few seconds with their favourite toy. Experts also call this marker training, since you “mark” the behaviour with the clicker.
Over time, your cat will learn that the click equals an upcoming reward — and they’ll begin doing the behaviour more to try and get the reward.
Sometimes, it might help to reward your cat when they engage in certain behaviours naturally. Experts call this technique “capturing.”
For example, if you want to teach your cat the command “sit,” you can wait until they sit on their own, then mark the behaviour with your clicker.
“At the exact moment their butt hits the ground, click,” Lusvardi says.
From there, you can give your cat a reward to reinforce the behaviour, then add a cue, like the word “sit” or a hand gesture.
When you repeat this over and over, your cat should eventually catch on and start sitting at your cue.
“It gives them a chance to go back into sit so you can reinforce the behaviour again,” Lusvardi says.
Ready to teach your cat something more complex than a simple trick?
According to Henderson, breaking the behaviour down into bite-size pieces may help your cat better understand what you want from them.
For example, if you want to teach your cat to enter a cat flap, you might:
Once your cat feels comfortable, you can increase the criteria to earn a click — like starting with the flap shut and only rewarding your cat when they walk through on their own.
Training with a graded approach will set both yourself and your cats up for utmost success, Henderson says.
There’s really not a lot of difference between training a cat and a dog. A lot of the basic processes are the same, Lusvardi says.
That said, not everything translates across species, and cats can present some unique quirks. For example, your dog’s obedience class might last an hour, but cats have a much shorter internal clock.
“I often recommend training sessions for cats last no more than 5 minutes. I actually prefer to aim for 2 minutes,” Brown says.
Any longer, and your cat could lose interest — and you want them to enjoy training sessions.
“Both you and your cat should be having fun the whole time. If either of you isn’t enjoying the training, it’s not going to be very effective,” Lusvardi says.
What if you follow all the expert advice, but your cat only stares at you blankly during training sessions?
“When cats choose not to engage with you while they’re training, it’s often because they are feeling anxious, scared, or frustrated,” Brown says.
Common pitfalls that might throw off your cat’s progress include:
It’s normal for many cats to need multiple sessions to catch on, Lusvardi says. So, don’t stress if your cat doesn’t pick things up as quickly as you’d like.
Cats may not have a dogged desire to please. But you can still teach them commands or tricks — like coming when you call them or sitting on cue.
Positive reinforcement, clickers, and teaching behaviour in increments could help your cat succeed. Just keep in mind that you and your cat should both enjoy training.
“It’s okay to laugh during the training session if your cat doesn’t catch on right away. Enjoy the process and know that you’ll get to the end result eventually,” Lusvardi says.
