Cat Training

Many people think that cats cannot be trained. While the dog training industry is huge there are not very many products or information about how to train your cat. Some cat breeds such as the Maine Coon can actually be trained much easier than other cat breeds but all healthy cats should be able to be trained to some extent.

The first step to training your cat is to find out what your cat really likes because you will be giving your cat this as a reward for following your commands properly. The most obvious award of course is a special cat treat. You should make sure to find your cat a treat that it really likes and feed him this treat only as a reward to properly following your commands.

Cats can learn many different behaviors or "tricks" such as meowing on command, coming on command, sitting up on command, sitting down on command, jumping through a hoop, jumping over a stick, and even playing fetch like a dog. Some cats may be able to learn how to open doors or even how to go to the bathroom on a toilet! As mentioned earlier the ability of a cat to learn new behaviors depends a lot on the cat.

When using a food treat for your cat's reward it's important that your food treat be reasonably healthy for the cat. Some ideas are tuna, cheese, popcorn, or store bought cat treats. If you try store bought cat treats you may have to do some shopping because I've found that my cat doesn't like many of the brands we've tried.

It's important that you give the treat to your cat immediately after they perform the desired behavior otherwise he will not associate his behavior with the treat! You can give the treat to your cat from your hand or on the floor. Some cats do not like to eat from hands so just do what works best with your cat!

One trick to making sure your cat understands that the treat is indeed associated with his behavior is to use a clicker. A clicker is a training tool that has gained much popularity in the dog training world but can also be used when training cats. To use the clicker for cat training you make a clicking sound with your clicker every time your cat does the right behavior on your command and then you give them the treat. This way they associate the treat with the click and they associate the click with their behavior. This will allow you to click precisely when they perform the intended behavior so that you can better make your cat understand what he is being awarded for. Using this method you can be sure that your cat will not forget what they are being rewarded for while you are reaching for the cat treat.

Just like with dog training you should never use any sort of negative "punishment" when trying to train your cat. This will only make your cat afraid of you and it will stunt his learning and greatly harm your relationship.

Training your cat can be a lot of fun! I think it's cooler than training your dog because everyone knows about dog training. Cat training is a bit more unique but just as possible. Using your imagination you may be able to train your cat to do all sorts of things, perhaps even play the piano!