This is our entry Eliluvsdice’s trick contest, second round.
GoneToTheDoggy photo contest – Tessa’s entry [video]
This is our entry for GoneToTheDoggy’s photo contest. We had a blast putting it together and taking the photos for it.
Java’s trick show [video]
Java did a short trick show as a fundraiser for our school. She did really well considering that there was a mini horse, steer and dunk tank. She enjoyed all the attention.
Cat training – the basics of clicker training cats
Those of you who have a cat and are interested in training him/her, this article is for you. I am going to go over the basics of clicker training your cat.
Many people say that cats are “untrainable”, but that is just not true. Cats are very intelligent and can learn tricks and behaviors, just like dogs (but may take a little longer to learn them depending on the cat.)
The benefits of training your cat
Training your cat gives her mental stimulation. It is a great way to keep your cat active. It also increases your bond with your cat and she will enjoy your company more because you have been paired with reinforcement. If I haven’t done a training session with Mollie in a while, when I finally do one, she is all over me for a few hours.
How to start – “Charge the clicker”
The first thing to do when beginning training with your cat, or any animal, is to charge the clicker – build meaning to it. By doing this, you teach your cat that the click means that a reward is coming. To charge the clicker, press and release the button on the clicker, then feed your cat a treat. Don’t present the food until after you have clicked, you want to make a clear connection between the click and the treat.
Click the clicker...
then feed a treat.
The clicker is used as a marker, you lure your cat up into a beg/sit pretty, you click when she comes up, then you give her a treat. Using a clicker gives you the ablity to be very precise in what you reinforce. For example, when teaching “High five”, you click the exact moment your cat touches her paw to your hand. If you click too early, you are just teaching your cat to paw towards your hand and if you click too late, the same thing will happen. Another example is teaching your cat a sustained target, you wouldn’t click as soon as she touches the object, you would click after she has been touching it for a while so she learns to hold it and wait for the click. Always click at the height of the behavior (when it’s at its best.)
Treats to use
All of our cats like different treats, so I can’t recommend a certain brand. Some cats are pickier than others, so just experiment with different treats to see what your cats likes the most. Here is a short list of possible treats that you could use:
– cheese
– lunch meat
– canned cat food
– kibble
Teaching eye contact
Eye contact is one of the most, if not the most, important thing to teach your cat. Teaching your cat to look at you teaches her to listen to and pay attention to you and takes some the focus off of the treats. To teach eye contact, wait for your cat to look at you, be patient. If she doesn’t look at you or seems bored, try making kissy sound, whistling or making a sound to get her attention. If this doesn’t work, try standing up and making the sound. It is okay if she doesn’t look right at your eyes on her first try. If she is having a hard time, click for her looking at you, then at your face, then at your eyes.
Wait for your cat to look at you
Click the instant that she looks at you, then feed her a treat.
Teaching the target stick
Teaching your kitty to touch her nose to the end of a target stick is helpful in many ways. You can teach so many tricks using the target stick, hold the stick just out of reach above your cat to get a sit pretty/beg or move it around in a circle for spin. You can also teach your cat to jump onto and off of objects by holding the stick where you want her to go.
To teach your cat to touch her nose to the target stick, hold it out in front of her and click her for smelling it. As she understands, hold the stick in different positions and move it as she follows it.
Hold the stick out to your cat
Click and treat when she touches her nose to it.
Hold the stick up for a beg/sit pretty.
When to train
It is best to do training sessions when your cat is a little hungry. If you free-feed your cat, you can take her bowl of food away a few hours before you are going to do a training session, so she will be hungry, and then give it back after the training session. Don’t do training sessions when your cat wants to take a nap, instead, do it after a nap.
Tips
– Keep training sessions short (1-2 minutes) in the beginning, then you can go increase to about 5 minutes or more, depending on your cat’s attention span.
– Be patient. When I first started clicker training one of our cats, it took her about 3 training sessions to just learn what the click means. Be patient and keep it up, your cat will get it!
– Focus on just a couple tricks at once, in the beginning, so your cat has a chance to understand each one. If you have a whole bunch of tricks that you’re working on, you’ll either not get to practice them that often or make training sessions longer to try to include time for each trick. Once your cat learns the trick, move on to another.
– Don’t get stuck on the lure. I made this mistake with Mollie and I’m slowly teaching her the verbal cues now. If you are constantly holding a treat in your hand to lure your cat to do tricks, it makes teaching a verbal cue (and getting rid to the lure) much, much harder. Here are two different techniques for removing the lure.
- Once your cat understands what you are asking, lure her without a treat in your hand, then feed from the other hand. Slowly decrease the amount of luring until you just make a small motion and your cat is offering the behavior on her own. Then, say the verbal cue just before she does the trick on her own. Jack pot (give her lots of treats and praise) when she does it.
- Lure her with a treat a couple times, then without a treat and feed from the other hand. Say the verbal cue, then lure your cat (without a treat in your hand). Eventually, your cat will make the connection between the verbal cue and her action and respond to the verbal cue. You can test how well she knows the verbal cue by saying it, waiting, and if she doesn’t do the behavior, you need to work on it more, since you have already said the verbal cue, lure her, click and treat.
– Start with simple behaviors first (sit, wave, shake, high five, beg, spin) and then work your way up to more complex behaviors.
– If you happened to have a cat that doesn’t care at all about food and just wants to love on you, you are not alone. 🙂 Socks is just like this. I am experimenting with using praise and attention for a reward for her. It has worked pretty well so far. If you’re interested, I have a movie of this on ClickerPetsMore.
I hope that you found this helpful. Now go have fun training your kitty.
If you have any questions or suggestions, please leave a comment. Thanks!
To see movies of our cats doing tricks or training sessions with them, click on the titles below:
Another frisbee practice – “3 in 1” throws [video]
Here is another movie of me and Tessa practicing the “3 in 1” frisbee throw catches. I am really working on getting her to keep running after a catch. She is doing really well. Pretty soon, she’ll be catching all the frisbees in the same throw!
Stay tuned for more! 🙂
Tessa’s entry for eliluvsdice’s trick contest [video]
This is our entry for eliluvsdice’s trick contest.
The music in this video can be found at: Freeplay Music
How to teach a dog or puppy not to chase or mouth brooms or mops
Puppies are very curious and playful and can develop undesirable behaviors if not taught. One is chasing or mouthing brooms or mops. The key is to teach impulse control. Here are instructions on how to solve this problem by replacing it with a desirable behavior. This was written specifically for a owner of a puppy, but owners of adult dogs who have this problem can hopefully benefit from this too.
Step 1) Calmness walking by the broom/mopBegin by having your dog on leash (preferably with the leash attached to a harness, if you have one) and with a handful of treats and your mop or broom nearby. Put the mop on the ground and walk your puppy by it, dropping treats for him/her staying calm. If your puppy can’t stay calm, increase your distance from the broom, then work your way up as your dog succeeds. Once your dog can calmly walk next to the stationary broom, you’re ready for step two.
Step 2) Calmness with slight movements with the broom
Begin with distance if necessary. With your dog on leash, have a helper make a small movement with the broom, before your puppy has a chance to think about biting or chasing it, pop a treat in his/her mouth. Repeat this a few times, then feed your puppy the treat one second after the broom movement, repeat several times. Increase the time between the broom moving and your dog receiving his/her reward for being calm.
If you had to start with distance, slowly decrease the distance as your dog succeeds.
Step 3) More broom movement
Slowly increase the broom movement (starting with distance if necessary). As your dog is succeeding, start to make more of a sweeping motion, feeding your puppy a treat every time.
Step 4) Lessen rewards
Begin to lessen the rewards, giving your puppy a treat for every 2-3 times for being calm with the broom is moved. Continue to increase the movement until you can sweep or mop and your puppy doesn’t seem to care at all.
Prevention and Management:
Solving an undesirable behavior involves several layers, not only do you train the absence of it to take its place, but you also have to use prevention and management so your dog doesn’t practice the undesirable behavior out of a training session. Use prevention and management in your case, by putting the broom away or out of reach from your puppy (if he will attack it when it is stationary), have your puppy in his/her crate or in another room when you have to use the mop or broom. This way, your puppy won’t practice the undesirable behavior and your training efforts will make a difference.
Other tips:
– Don’t encourage this behavior – never incise your puppy to chase or bit the broom.
– Don’t yell at your puppy, this increases the excitement and drive to attack the broom.
– Use tasty treats, I like to use cheese and meat.
– Be patient
– The key to success is to go at your dog’s pace – don’t rush through the steps.
Training sessions – Tulip and Socks [video]
Here is a short movie of the training sessions that I did today with Tulip and Socks. I am in the process of teaching Tulip to touch her nose to the end of a target stick.
Socks is the sweetest little kitty, but doesn’t care at all about treats or food. She would rather rub against me, sit in my lap or have me et her. This is really sweet, but makes motivating her in training a little trickier, so I am experimenting using praise and attention as a reward.
Clicker training with Tulip the cat [video]
I have been training Tulip, one of our outdoor cats, she is so smart! I have been clicker training her for about a week now. She is so much fun to train. 🙂
We have four cats (Socks, Stripes, Tulip and Mollie). I have been able to train three of them, but Socks is a bit of a challenge. She is so affectionate and doesn’t care about the food (canned cat food) at all, she just wants to rub against me or sit in my lap. If you can help me with this, please email me or leave a comment. Thanks. 🙂
Pool fun with Java and Tessa [video]
Java and Tessa enjoyed a swim in the pool this afternoon. It is getting really warm here.
The music in this video can be found at: Freeplay Music