Train Your Cat to Do Tricks

If you have ever been to an animal show that uses regular pets, you know that cats can be trained to do tricks. Training cats to do tricks is easy to do, if you have time, patience, and a good reward. Cat training follows the same basic principles as training other animals. These are giving a command, recognizing the appropriate behavior in the cat, rewarding the cat, and reinforcing the behavior. Training your cat will be easier if you start at a young age.

How to Train a Cat: What You Need

To train your cat, you need a clicker. It is a training tool that you click when the cat performs correctly. Get one at a pet store or order it online. You also need a reward. This is where training a cat can be tricky, because they can be fussy eaters. You might want to eliminate wet food and treats while training your cat, so they are more interested in the reward. I have used cut up chicken, baby food meat sticks, cat treats, and cut up steak. Cats have small stomachs, so cut the pieces into small chunks.

How to Train a Cat: The Basics

What you are going to do is give your cat a hand signal with a verbal command. When they do the trick, you click the clicker and reward them. Praise them and give them a treat. If the cat trick is complex, you might want to click as they are approaching the correct behavior and coax them into it. Eventually, your cat will respond to just the hand signal, or just the verbal command. Finally, you keep reinforcing the behavior by having the cat repeat the trick, slowly weaning them off the reward.

How to Train a Cat: The First Trick

Cats are natural beggars and can balance on their hind legs very well. As a result, I use this as the first trick. Hold out your hand with your palm flat, above a foot over the cat's head. Say "up" and click and reward them when they stand up on their hind legs. If you need to, coach them into the position with a sniff of the reward. Work on getting them to hold the position a little bit longer and higher each time.

How to Train a Cat: More Tricks

After you have taught your cat its first trick, you should be able to teach them many more. It is just a matter of imagination. I like to teach the cat down as well. I put the cat on the table. Then I point to the ground and say down. You may need to lead them by the nose a little at first. Click, reward, and repeat as necessary. This is nice to teach your cats if they jump up on things.

I also teach my cats to jump across things. Line up your dining room chairs with a space in between each seat. Make it about a foot. Tell your cat "jump" and draw a rainbow "across" motion with your finger. Click each time they do it correctly. Eventually, you can train your cat to jump across multiple obstacles, and you can space them out a little further. This is a lot of fun when you get them going. They will eventually run the course with the hand signals and clicks.

How to Train a Cat: Warnings

I feel obligated to warn you that cats are very stubborn and can be very smart. Whether or not they will participate in training may be up to them. Only reward your cat and use positive reinforcement. Never punish them. I once had a cat that learned these four commands in a weekend. I had him working out my house like it was an obstacle course. He went up and down, and across everything in sight. Then, he had enough treats, and he never did a trick again. So, consider yourself forewarned. With enough persistence, I am sure this can be overcome, but in this case the cat trained me to stop trying.