I bought a cat training book

Last night I stopped at PetCo. I rarely go into PetCo as it is super expensive compared to the pet store I normally shop at. I have been looking for a specific cat toy and it was the only pet store left in town that I had not been to. Well I didn't find the toy I was looking for but I found a book on how to train cats. Since all my cats already fetch & know how to sit when told I figured why not take it to the next step. Jordan is especially smart & I know he gets bored easily. So I didn't really have a chance to do much with him last night except get him used to the clicker. They have never heard a clicker & they were all intrested in it which is good because I was afraid that it might frighten them. I still want a treat pouch, but they didn't have a small one & I didn't want to buy the big one. I also want the spoon on a stick (Jordan tends to bite my fingers when taking treats), but I suspect I will have to make my own. Anyone ever try to "train" their cats?

As a librarian and a cat purrrson, I'd CATalog this book under 'fiction'. Perhaps even 'fantasy.'

Originally Posted by Rang_27

I bought a cat training book

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Congratulations! They'll have you trained in no time!

Best of luck to you! Though I am a bit skeptical, . Hopefully you'll make some progress. And then come over and get my crazy boys in line, .

I don't expect a miracle, they are still cats, but I would just love for them to know more tricks. People usually think it's amazing they know how to sit. Of coarse my cats are very food motivated. I think Jordan is smart enough to get the jumping from chair to chair type stuff, but I'm not sure how well he can see & how much longer he will have his sight for. He does knows what Up means & will still jump in my arms.

Originally Posted by Rang_27

I don't expect a miracle, they are still cats, but I would just love for them to know more tricks. People usually think it's amazing they know how to sit. Of coarse my cats are very food motivated. I think Jordan is smart enough to get the jumping from chair to chair type stuff, but I'm not sure how well he can see & how much longer he will have his sight for. He does knows what Up means & will still jump in my arms.

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I've seen a few cats that will high five, hug, kiss, and play dead on command. Pretty stinking cute! Hope your boys add to their repertoire.

Originally Posted by CatNurse22

I've seen a few cats that will high five, hug, kiss, and play dead on command. Pretty stinking cute! Hope your boys add to their repertoire.

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Yep, those are exactly the kind of tricks I'd like them to do. I think targeting would be cool too, but I think it's important to start small.

My Jack loves training--though we haven't done it in awhile--much to much going on here with Ginger and her kittens. He also is a big fan of fetch.

Here's a video I posted awhile ago of Jack performing.

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v407/cinderella19/?action=view&current=MVI_4329.flv

Leslie

I took an animal behavior class in college-- someone had trained their cat to do these individual tasks, stand on this chair, jump to this chair on command... one video that blew me away was this cat, was trained to follow a lazer pointer, he followed it into a cat tunnel, opened a door on this thing, run through another tunnel and get a treat.

I think it is possible, but it has to be the correct cat. My cats for example are super food motivated. They will be easy to train with a little food. I have a friend whose cat could care less about food, she would be difficult to impossible to train. I guess I think Jordan is super trainable too because not only will he sell his sole for food, but he is also super smart & gets bored easily. I figure he will be a cat that will like the challange of training.

I've tried clicker training with my cat Liam (not even really the smartest of my cats, but for some reason I chose him to teach it to first).

He loved the sessions, ran upstairs to the bedroom when he knew a session would begin. We only tackled the "touch the wooden spoon with his nose" trick but he did very well!

Just going to rummage up a few pics and the video for you if I can find it! Both Liam and my horse had only done the training for a couple of sessions when the videos were taken so all things considered they were doing quite well!

First a photo of Liam awaiting the clicker session:


Some videos!
http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a17/scarlett001/?action=view&current=160_6068.flv
http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a17/scarlett001/?action=view&current=160_6070.flv

This is my horse clicker training with a friend (he is retired with a permanent injury so we do clicker training to amuse ourselves!).

http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a17/scarlett001/?action=view&current=157_5771.flv

I bought a cat training book and a clicker, though I've never even attempted it. I was impressed with the other videos, though. I think Daisy would train easier than Speck, so I might try her out with it. When I come home and snap my fingers, she sits up like a meerkat and grabs my hand. This is something she thought of, so maybe she'd enjoy other tricks.