Cats are very intelligent and curious animals, which have a great capacity for learning. However, generally many people may find it strange to teach new things and tricks to a feline, beyond basic obedience, due to their reputation for being rather independent and self-centered animals.
Now, feline training exists, and this activity brings multiple benefits to the well-being of your cat, since it stimulates him mentally, proposes different challenges in his day to day and, of course, and enriches the relationship with his tutor. For this reason, if you are interested in knowing how to train a cat, be sure to read this article to the end.
What is feline training?
The concept of training refers to the act of carrying out a learning process in an animal, with the purpose that it learns to carry out an action after indicating it, either through a gesture or an oral command.
This procedure is performed in all kinds of animals, with the intention that they learn the most varied skills and / or tricks. From small actions, such as pawing or sitting, to complex performances, such as dancing.
Differences between training and educating a cat
This term should not be confused with education, because although this concept is related to training, because they are learning processes, both have different purposes.
Education is necessary, since the animal learns to behave and adapt positively to different daily situations. For example, teaching a cat to play without hurting you implies that you are educating him to behave properly when you play with him. You are not teaching him a specific slogan, as would be done in training, but to change his behavior so that the game is beneficial for both of you.
Can you train a cat?
Of course. Training is a procedure that can be used in all kinds of animals, be they our pets, birds, rodents, and even the well-known dolphins. All animals that are capable of learning can be trained if the theory of learning, specifically, is known the conditioning. However, it is necessary to know the needs, capacities and behavior patterns of each species in order to have realistic objectives.
However, why do we not know this facet of cats so much compared to dogs? The individual characteristics of felines make them more difficult to train compared to dogs. Or in any case, the correct statement would be that dogs are much easier to train because of what they are, dogs. This is because they have been with us humans for many centuries, and being our companions for so long they have shaped their cognition, having a much more adaptable mind and interest in liking us, in addition to learning, which is why they have been used for the most varied jobs and we know more about the facet of dog training.
Cats, on the other hand, are much more instinctive, they do not need to please us and they have not been required to become prone to learning, because they have not been needed over time for specific jobs. At most, these have become our pets because they were originally kept to drive away mice, a goal for which they do not need to be trained, as they do it by and for themselves.
How to train your cat?
Training a cat is a process that will require perseverance, patience, and an understanding of feline behavior. The guidelines that you should take into account are:
Short sessions
The time you spend training your cat should last no more than 15 minutes, several days a week. This is because surely your cat loses interest easily, especially if you have started training it recently.
For this reason, the ideal is to end the session before your cat begins to ignore you or get distracted, you should always make sure that throughout the session your cat is motivated and that it is you who ends the session, not him when he is tired.
Awards and motivation
It is unthinkable to train your cat without using positive reinforcement that is, giving it a very valuable reward every time it performs the desired action. This is because the prize will motivate your cat to carry out this learning and pay attention to you.
The prize in question should be something that is only present during the training session (therefore, caresses or their feed are not worth it), something really of value that you associate with these sessions, such as wet food, slices of ham, malt for cats…
Finally, in many of the tricks that you can teach your cat, the prize will serve as a guide to follow, so that it moves in the desired way to achieve a specific position.
Easy goals
During training, you should set small goals that gradually get closer to the final goal, a fact that is technically known in training as increasing criteria.
What does this mean? For example, if you want to teach your cat to stand up on its hind legs, you should first reward any elevation it makes of the front legs and progressively increase the difficulty, rewarding it each time it has made progress. That is, reward when it raises one leg, then reward it when it raises two legs, then when it holds a few seconds raising the body, etc. You cannot pretend, therefore, that your cat from the beginning can stand on its hind legs, because it will not understand or achieve it, and it will end up frustrated.
Avoid physical manipulation and punishment
Many times we tend to pick up and move the animal as if it were a doll to teach it to perform a trick. This procedure is not entirely effective, because by how they learn, the animal does not understand that it has to adopt a position to which we force it, but rather to take an action to obtain a reinforcer , that is, the reward.
Applying physical manipulation to cats is much more contradictory, because while dogs can tolerate to a lesser or greater extent being manipulated depending on their character (for example, taking their paws to teach them to give it), the cat simply detests it, due to that being caught is instinctively seen as a threat. Therefore, the training session designed to be motivating and entertaining for the feline, ends up becoming unpleasant.
In the same way, punishing your cat so that it learns is simply unfeasible, because it will not understand you and will generate mistrust, a fact completely counterproductive if what you want is that your cat wants to be with you and trust you, with the purpose to learn new things.
Gestural and verbal command
To teach your cat to perform an action after you ask it with a verbal command, you must first teach it to obey the gesture , as they generally have an easier time learning to obey visual commands .
Next, you must associate this gesture with an auditory stimulus, that is, a short and clear word, which must always be the same and in the same tone of voice so as not to create confusion.
Understand your cat
It is not the same to teach a young cat than an older one, in the same way, you should not have the same objectives for a meek cat to a rather scary one. The limit on what you can or cannot teach your cat will be its well-being. That is, if teaching your cat something implies that it is going to suffer stress and / or physical pain, due to age, some pathology, its character … you should simply stop teaching this trick and look for a simpler one or, obviously, do not cause discomfort, because training should be an activity that benefits both.
Clicker use
The clicker is a very useful tool that is used in the training of all kinds of animals, as it allows teaching all kinds of tricks and the most spectacular skills, respecting their natural behavior.
This consists of a small box (it fits perfectly in the hand), which each time you press a button emits a “click” sound, and serves to indicate to the animal what it is doing well , so that it can repeat it.
To use this tool, you will first need to load the clicker. This step consists of associating the “click” sound with positive reinforcement. For this reason, the first days of training you should only teach him this association to create a good foundation for training. To do this, give the prize to your cat and, every time he goes for it, make the sound. In this way, your cat will understand that every time the “click” sounds you are going to reward it.
Tricks to teach your cat
With the use of the clicker, there are many possibilities you have to teach your cat. In fact, any behavior that your cat performs normally, such as meowing, you can associate it with a slogan if you make a gesture (visual stimulus), make the “click” when it performs the action and you reward it instantly. Your cat will constantly associate this gesture with the action he has just performed.
How to teach a cat to sit?
- Hold the clicker in one hand and the prize in the other.
- Raise the treat above your cat’s head.
- Your cat will sit up and / or lean his body back. Make “click” with the clicker and quickly give the prize.
- Insist several sessions, until your cat is fully seated and associates the gesture of raising the prize above his head with sitting down. When she does, she associates the action with a clear oral command, such as “sit” or “sit.”
How to teach a cat to lie down?
- Hold the clicker in one hand and the prize in the other.
- Ask him to sit down.
- Drag the award from under his head to the ground.
- Your cat will begin to lean its body towards the ground. Make a “click” with the clicker and give him the prize quickly every time he gets close to the pitching position. With insistence, you will make it end up stretching.
- When your cat understands the gesture, associate it with the oral command such as “lie down” or “floor”.
How to teach a cat to turn around?
- Hold the clicker in one hand and the prize in the other.
- Ask him to lie down on the floor.
- Drag the prize up his spine from one side of his body (lateral) to the other end.
- Your cat will follow the treat with its head, turning its body on itself from one side to the other. Make “click” with the clicker and quickly give the prize.
- When your cat understands the gesture, associate it with the oral command such as “croquette” or “turn.”
How to teach a cat to stand on two legs?
- Hold the clicker in one hand and the prize in the other.
- Ask him to sit down.
- Drag the award up from his head to follow him, rising off the ground.
- Reward the minimum elevation of the ground (even if it is only one leg), using the clicker and rewarding at the moment. Increase the criteria progressively.
- Once you learn to raise your front legs, gradually increase the amount of time you must hold (i.e., first one second, then two, etc.).
- When your cat understands the gesture, associate it with the oral command such as “up”.
