clicker training cats?

I had great success clicker training our dog (she's extremely treat driven, and other training methods like choke chain and dominance-type methods just didn't work), and had the bright idea of trying to clicker train my cats, too. I gave it a shot this morning, conditioning them to associate the sound of the clicker with food rewards. But I don't know if I'm slowing myself down. I put the treats in a belt pouch (bought for training el muttnik), and all they do is stare at the pouch. Cats are smart! Anyone else trained their cats? Any tips, tricks, ideas, to make the process smoother and faster? I'm not planning on entering the kitties in any obedience competitions, I'd just like to teach them a few "useless" tricks like coming on comand and sitting.

I don't think coming on command is useless. My cats are outdoor and that is the first and most important thing I wanted them to learn. I did not use a clicker but tapping on their food dish worked as well. After a while I only needed to call.
By the way, thank you for not using those other awful training methods.

Originally posted by yayi
By the way, thank you for not using those other awful training methods.

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When I started training Dixie, we had her in a choker, because she is our first dog, and at the time, we didn't know better. She flunked her first exam, and I think the training method had a lot to do with it. She re-took her level 1, and came in 1st place!! By then, I'd done a lot of work with her, building her confidence, and I'd discovered positive reinforcement. Part of the exam was an out of sight down-stay. Out of 10 dogs, she was the ONLY dog who didn't get up!! I was SOOOOOOO proud of her!!!
Since then, I've taken her through level 2 (off leash), and her progress is remarkable! I think she's a LOT more trustworthy now, and she listens much better too! (she used to run away if she was let off leash, now she'll wander, but always keep track of me, and won't let me get too far away. Yay!

(she looks fat in this pic., but she's not... honest!)

As for the kitties, I tried again yesterday, and I was able to see the beginning of an association. COOL!!

Karen Pryor has a website dedicated to clicker training. She goes into animal shelters and clicker trains the cats and makes them easier to adopt out. I lost all my bookmarks in the last crash but I will see if I can find it doing a search. She just recently appeared on Pet Star with her cat- and did agility.


Found it:

http://www.clickertraining.com/home/index.htm