I just want to share a behavior thing that makes me happy. Also it makes me feel clever, because I'm training Brenna, and I love watching her little gears turn while she works things out. She's such a clever girl! So this is what I've been doing with her, and it's working!
Brenna is a Supervisor Cat, so she has to watch everything that's going on in the house. Her favorite thing to watch is when we're in the kitchen making food. Now that we make the cat food there, she sits in the Cat Chair and watches very very closely while we're cutting up the meat and such. At first, she really wanted to climb up on the counter, and that was frustrating. The other thing she does is keep her rump on the chair but put her paws on the counter. But I have a powerful tool when I'm in the kitchen- food that she really wants! So first I taught her "Paws Down," where if she put up her paws, and then one of us told her "Paws Down!" and she listened, treat time! Until she got really good at that. That took maybe 2 days for her to do it reliably. She only really puts her paws up when we're making food or dishing out food, so if we aren't making the food, we just withhold her dish until she complies. She's smart, so it doesn't take her long to track down her mind and remember what the command is for, even when she's excited about dinner time. Now we don't even need to give her a treat and she responds to the command.
So far, so good! But she's figured out that she has to put her paws UP before she can do her "trick" and take them DOWN. And we don't want her to just pop up and down like that, expecting a treat all the time. So I changed tactics today. What I really want from her is to have her sit quietly, or at least politely, in the Cat Chair while I'm doing things in the kitchen. I noticed that she tends to put up her paws when I'm starting to offer her a treat, especially if I haven't asked for her "trick." So, I hold out a piece of meat, and as soon as she starts to rear up, I pull it away but don't scold or say anything. She's smart, and she wants the treat, so she tries to figure out what I want. She tries to bat at my hand, or bat at the counter top, or put her paws up and then down, and finally after maybe 30 seconds of trying different things, she just sits down, confused. Treat! Good girl. We just did that over and over until she learned to sit and wait for me to put the treat right next to her. She's really getting the hang of it! The last half of my meat-cutting went a lot faster than the first half. I gave her a treat or two whenever she'd been sitting still for a little while. I think a few more days, and she'll be a Very Polite Kitty.
And when it's not food time, if she forgets herself, we can remind her "Paws Down!"
The next thing I want to do with her is develop some kind of behavior she can use to ask us for food. Something that's less obnoxious than wailing at us, winding herself around our ankles till we fall over, etc. That's her usual method, and it's not that I don't want to feed her! But those things are irritating to us, and if we can all come to an agreement on what she can do to tell us she's hungry or needs attention, I think things will go more smoothly.Any ideas on a good behavior to encourage? She needs to not get on the counter top, and sitting in the Cat Chair is something she wants to do a lot of the time because it is like having a cat shelf in the kitchen, so I don't think simply hopping in the chair is a viable one.
I don't have a clicker yet, but probably I will end up getting one and learning how to use it. I can see how it must be a powerful tool, when used right. This is so much fun! I love that I can teach her new things that make both of us happier. At the end of our little training session today, Brenna was purring and loving on me a whole bunch. She enjoyed it! She figured out how the human treat dispenser works, and I think she liked the puzzle of it.
Brenna is a Supervisor Cat, so she has to watch everything that's going on in the house. Her favorite thing to watch is when we're in the kitchen making food. Now that we make the cat food there, she sits in the Cat Chair and watches very very closely while we're cutting up the meat and such. At first, she really wanted to climb up on the counter, and that was frustrating. The other thing she does is keep her rump on the chair but put her paws on the counter. But I have a powerful tool when I'm in the kitchen- food that she really wants! So first I taught her "Paws Down," where if she put up her paws, and then one of us told her "Paws Down!" and she listened, treat time! Until she got really good at that. That took maybe 2 days for her to do it reliably. She only really puts her paws up when we're making food or dishing out food, so if we aren't making the food, we just withhold her dish until she complies. She's smart, so it doesn't take her long to track down her mind and remember what the command is for, even when she's excited about dinner time. Now we don't even need to give her a treat and she responds to the command.
So far, so good! But she's figured out that she has to put her paws UP before she can do her "trick" and take them DOWN. And we don't want her to just pop up and down like that, expecting a treat all the time. So I changed tactics today. What I really want from her is to have her sit quietly, or at least politely, in the Cat Chair while I'm doing things in the kitchen. I noticed that she tends to put up her paws when I'm starting to offer her a treat, especially if I haven't asked for her "trick." So, I hold out a piece of meat, and as soon as she starts to rear up, I pull it away but don't scold or say anything. She's smart, and she wants the treat, so she tries to figure out what I want. She tries to bat at my hand, or bat at the counter top, or put her paws up and then down, and finally after maybe 30 seconds of trying different things, she just sits down, confused. Treat! Good girl. We just did that over and over until she learned to sit and wait for me to put the treat right next to her. She's really getting the hang of it! The last half of my meat-cutting went a lot faster than the first half. I gave her a treat or two whenever she'd been sitting still for a little while. I think a few more days, and she'll be a Very Polite Kitty.
And when it's not food time, if she forgets herself, we can remind her "Paws Down!"The next thing I want to do with her is develop some kind of behavior she can use to ask us for food. Something that's less obnoxious than wailing at us, winding herself around our ankles till we fall over, etc. That's her usual method, and it's not that I don't want to feed her! But those things are irritating to us, and if we can all come to an agreement on what she can do to tell us she's hungry or needs attention, I think things will go more smoothly.Any ideas on a good behavior to encourage? She needs to not get on the counter top, and sitting in the Cat Chair is something she wants to do a lot of the time because it is like having a cat shelf in the kitchen, so I don't think simply hopping in the chair is a viable one.
I don't have a clicker yet, but probably I will end up getting one and learning how to use it. I can see how it must be a powerful tool, when used right. This is so much fun! I love that I can teach her new things that make both of us happier. At the end of our little training session today, Brenna was purring and loving on me a whole bunch. She enjoyed it! She figured out how the human treat dispenser works, and I think she liked the puzzle of it.
