If you want to teach your cat basic obedience commands like, sit, come etc, you can use similar techniques used to training dogs.  You see, cats usually won’t do anything, unless there is some incentive for them.  Prodding and poking the cat to try and force it into position just won’t work with them.  What you will need to do is condition them to do certain behaviors.  Very similar to how your cat probably now responds at meal time reacting to the opening of the cat food.

Why Train My Cat?

Well, there may be times when you would like your cat to stay inside the house when the door is being opened by someone and not rush out, so a simple stay or sit could alleviate that problem.  Not only that, but the training is fun for you and your cat and strengthens your bond with them.

Where do you start?

To do this type of training, will require some treats and a device called a clicker.   A clicker is a  small device that makes a clicking sound.  You will be clicking the clicker and giving the cat a food treat.  This is commonly referred to as the click and treat.  As soon as you click, you treat.  Very soon, the cat associates the sound of the click with the a food reward.  A way to test if that is happening is to move away from the cat and then click, if they move towards you, it is quite likely they are now associating the click with a food reward. You should use very small pieces of food the cat likes, tuna, cheese and make the portions small.  We don’t want to fill them up during the training. Each training session should only be about 5-10 minutes so as not to bore the cat.  Also, try to restrict each session to just one command.

The Sit

With your clicker in hand, and your treats at the ready, take a small treat and move it over the cat’s eyeline so she has to look up.  What you want is for them to move their head back, then plant it’s bottom on the ground.  If the cat trys to jump up and take the food, don’t let it.   As soon as the cat’s bottom hits the ground, click the clicker and give the cat the treat.  Repeat this until every time you are moving your hand over their head, they sit.  Now start saying ‘SIT’ when you are moving your hand over their head.  The will eventually start responding to the ‘SIT’ command.  Then try not having the food in the hand, moving your hand over their head and saying ‘SIT’, click then treat.  Then, you can phase out the hand movement all together and just use ‘SIT’.  Make sure every time you click, you treat.

The Come

This one is pretty easy to train.  Move a little way away from the cat and lure them with a treat.  As they move towards you, click and treat, move around the house, not too far away from the cat, but just far enough away so they have to move to get the treat.  Now start saying ‘COME’ and luring then click and treat.  Increase the distance you want your cat to travel to get the click and treat.  Try doing this with another person, each armed with the clicker and treats.Sit across the room from each other and call the cat, as the cat moves to one person, they click and treat.  The other person then calls ‘COME’ and clicks and treats when the cat gets to them.  This really reinforces the ‘COME’

The Stay

Stand in front of your cat.  Hold our your hand and say ‘STAY’.  Take one step backwards, then one step forwards back to the cat.  Then click and treat.  If the cat moves before you get back, make your step backwards and forwards much quicker.  Then increase your distance to two steps backwards then forwards back to the cat.  Making sure, you click, when you get back to the cat.  The click always ends the command.  Eventually increase the size of distance between you and the cat.

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