Within the first few days of getting him, at 13 weeks, he would hear his food sachet open and be down within seconds to eat so his ability to associate an action with a reward was obvious. I decided just to try and see if he could complete some basic training, with some opposition from the family who were of the opinion that a cat should be independent and just be a cat. My only issue was that as we had made a decision that he was going to be a house cat that he would need stimulus.
Dreamies were his favourite treat food at the time, so we would find a quiet moment in the house, no people, no noise and no feet storming into the kitchen. I would sit on the floor and started with asking for a paw, well within the day he had that down pat so to speak. I would use both a hand shape and voice for the command and then give him the treat immediately. I did try clicker training but for me that was a no go, I found using a hand sign and feeding the treat too much of a juggling act.
It was only a short three weeks thereafter when I had managed to get him to successfully succeed with -
- Paw, sign (upturned flat hand) and voice
- Up, sign (ok sign) and voice
- Down, sign (hand flat on the floor facing down) and voice
- Roll over, sign ( index finger making spiral motions) and voice
- Jump, sign ( patting the object to jump to) and voice
Here is a video of our boy at 22 weeks - he does get better throughout the video. He is our serious serene boy, he likes to be respected. He is now one and a half and still enjoys training in a quiet moment away from his feline brothers.
Remind me to show you the video of him going independant and breaking into the food drawer : )))
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