Does clicker training work with cats? Of course it does! I often hear people say that clicker training works with dogs (or a different species) but they are still skeptical about it working with certain other species (such as cats or horses). Cats, of course, have a bit of a reputation for being independent and untrainable. The trick, as with any other species, is finding a high value treat or activity that the cat will be very willing to work for.
Here are two great video clips I ran across today of shelter volunteers at the Michigan Humane Society. In this short clicker training session, they are working on teaching this young cat to go lie on a blanket. They reward the cat with a few seconds of play time for every correct response. What I like about this video is how eager and engaged the kitty seems. He is a quick learner and he is definitely enjoying his clicker training sessions.
Check out the two videos below. I think that you’ll agree that cats are trainable! These two clips are each about two and a half minutes. However, even in that short time you can watch the cat figure out what he’s suppose to do to get the reward. What I really like about these videos is that they use play as a reinforcer. Play keeps the cats active and moving around. This means that the cat is offering lots of behavior that they can then shape.
I’d love to hear more about cat training from anyone who’s tried it with their cat!
heb toch het idee,, dat de kat vooral de relatie van het klikgeluid met braaf zitten op het kleedje en…tegelijkertijd het heerlijke vangspelletje maakt!
My friend Ruthie (animal communicator) said that clicker training would work with any animal, so I tried it with my two yellow tigers, Calvin and Hobbs. Calvin had the bad habit of clawing my backside while I was sitting at the computer. Hobbs just likes to claw my backside wherever I am if I am not paying attention to kitties.
The plan: They are on prescription diet so the only reward I could think of was to have a container of their dry food at the computer table. I also put one of their favorite chairs right beside my chair.
Action: If the cat clawed my backside, I would sweep them away with my arm. If they jumped on the side chair, I clicked my tongue and gave them a treat.
Results: My cats have me fully trained. When they jump up on the chair beside me, they get a treat, no clicking required. LOL They will frequently lie on the chair on on the computer table in front of the monitor, but they have stopped clawing my backside (most of the time) an they will sit “with me” at the computer while I work.
Does clicker training work with cats? Yes, now even my 7 year old granddaughter can get them to do things using the clicker training I taught her.
Love, Toni Fire Hair
Awesome!
Thanks for sharing your experience with cat training.
Sounds like your cats have you well trained. 🙂
Isn’t clicker training great for teaching our animals what we want them to be doing?
Mary
We are using the clicker to train our kitten, Puzzle, to come when called, sit and to target. She generally gets one training session per day, using part of her breakfast. Cats react a wee bit differently than dogs do and you have to be much more patient to get the behavior, but it does work.
very cool, Holly. Glad to hear that you are doing clicker training with your kitten. It is always helpful to start training at an early age.
I think you are right that cats can teach us a lot about being patient.
Mary
I think you saw the videos I posted of Mr B in school learning how to weigh himself. I taught him a lot of things using a clicker and we used to train all the cats used in commercials with clickers.This video illustrates an important concept–don’t hold too long of a training session. You want an animal to stay interested and be clear on the objective.Play training is a little harder sometimes because you are using a social event as the reward but I always like to see the little motor heads working to figure it all out and see if they can manipulate you further!Mr B learned “out of the kitchen,” sit,, “place” (because he was aggressive during feeding and we wanted him out of the feeding area until called), down, off, come when called, wait, and scale. He remains one of my favorite kitty students to date since when he realized he controlled the treat delivery with his actions–he began purring and purred through each and every session!
Yes, I remember your Mr B videos!
That’s awesome that he would purr during the sessions. Sounds like he really liked his clicker training!
Glad you do…he was such a pain in the butt but so fun when he “got” it.
perfect timing! we’re getting a new barn kitten next week and I just might have to try a few things with her using the clicker.
I have a friend who named her cat “Dog” and has been trying to train it like a dog. She rewards him with a treat everytime she comes home when the cat comes to the door….ultimately she wants to be greeted by the cat the same way a dog would greet you. So far I think it’s been working.
A new kitty sounds like fun! You’ll have to post some on your blog if you try any clicker training with the kitty. And maybe just some general photos and videos as well–everyone loves cute kittens!
That’s too funny about your friend. If she has a high value reward, I don’t see why it wouldn’t work!
My indoor-only cats used to greet me that way, complete with “jumping up” to put their paws on my legs. But I did not give them treats, just a lot of attention and would pick them up.
Good point.
A reward doesn’t have to be food to be effective. Love and attention can be great reinforcers.
Hi. That’s me in the video. This was my first time working with cats (I normally train dogs). I really enjoyed it. Overall, it was like training some of the more reserved dogs. It pleasantly shocked me how much cats enjoyed playing.
Thanks for commenting!
How neat that you get to work with the shelter cats and dogs. I’m sure it is fun for you, as well as great enrichment and fun for the animals. I’d love to hear more about your experiences.
Mary
This is so freaking cute! They are doing a great job of showing how the clicker and positive reinforcement can really work! Also, I like that they are showing you how to reinforce the behavior with something other than food! I just bought the clicker for my cat and I was starting to get a little worried that she would gain a million pounds from all the training!
I like your post.
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Here you see how it works:
http://youtu.be/mfz8-NeQYBA
Glad to see that people are using clicker training already! Come and visit us to see how much more you can do with it than just to train a few tricks.
http://www.MrJinx.tv