Clicker Training

bijouandrocky

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Anybody clicker train their cat? I am looking for new tricks to try, but here are the tricks I have taught so far:

-Sit

-Down

-Paw

-Up

-Circle

Pretty useless stuff, but entertaining nevertheless :) My cats are loving learning new tricks, and I am too! Any new tricks you have successfully taught your cats? I will gladly share the process of how I taught the other ones if anyone is interested.
 

smartyfoj

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I'm very interested in how you taught your cats those tricks! I would love to clicker train my family's cats but we tried a little and never had much success. 

Sorry I don't have any other tricks for you to teach your cats.

I am especially uncertain how to clicker train the cats when they all have great hearing and I don't want the cats to be confused about who is being trained.  Did you clicker train you cats together or separately?
 
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bijouandrocky

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I trained my cats separately, its a lot easier to deal with one cat at a time! As for them overhearing the clicks, not much can be done about that I suppose.

The key to clicker training my cats was food. It has to be a food that they love though! Sometimes we use cooked chicken or tuna, but store bought treats will work fine as long as your cats go crazy for them!

I bought a dog clicker trainer from my local pet store, with the metal piece that snaps to make the click. As long as the sound is distinguishable from everyday sounds, it should be good. You can also download free clickers on your phone from the app store.

If you are starting out, I would zero in a behavior that comes very naturally to your cat. I started with "sit" for this reason. Before teaching any tricks though, you must get your cat to associate the sound of the click with reward. So at first, just click the clicker and present the cat with the treat right after the sound of the click! Repeat this a couple of times until you feel confident, and then wait for your cat to do the behavior. Once the cat has sat, right away click, and present the cat with a reward. Every time the cat repeats the behavior you wish to reinforce, click and present with the treat. After your cat has got the hang of it, you can try incorporating visual commands and voice commands to your cat. I find that my cats respond to visual cues better, but whatever works for you.

There are lots of resources on the internet, just do a quick google search and you'll find them :) Good luck, and let me know if it works out! 
 

smartyfoj

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Thanks for your explanation! I plan to start clicker training mid December when I gave more free time. I already bought clickers from amazon and I'm thinking of using some freeze chicken dried treats that will only be used for clicker training.
 
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