How Do I Train My Cat To Do Tricks? (sit, Lay Down, Stay, Etc...)

I have a cat that recently moved in with me and seems to like me. I was wondering if there was a way to get him to sit, lay down, and so on.

Cats don't do tricks to appease humans. They do tricks for their benefit. With the right amount of treating and reward driven training you could train a cat. It isn't easy though and the reward has to be given consistently. You are more likely to train to come when called, go to a specific room or get off furniture then the traditional dog tricks. Try watching one of those pet trick shows and you'll see that most cat tricks are getting them to go from point a to point b more so then doing specific actions on their own.

Once thing cats sometimes do spontaneously is to fetch. Almost every cat will chase after a thrown toy. If they're really having a good time, they may bring it back on their own for more. If you're on the ball with a clicker and treats, you can give the cat some positive reinforcement and the behavior will likely be reinforced. It is inconvenient to carry around a pocketful of treats and the clicker all the time, but that's the best way to reinforce desired behavior.

Sitting can sometimes be facilitated by showing the cat the treat, then pushing it back toward their nose lightly. They'll usually back up a bit often sitting as desired with little other encouragement. The treat is then right there for reinforcement of the behavior. Make sure you give verbal instruction too: I.e., "Sit !."

My cats know about 10 commands, mostly for things like up, down, come here, etc. Whenever I wanted to teach them something, what I was really doing was associating something they had just done to a command and a treat/praise.

For "down" it was easy - a gentle tap or push while saying down to get them off where ever they were and a treat (or praise, my guys reacted really well to "good boys" and pets). Then just keep repeating it until the went down on there own (always with praise not too many treats after a while)

We all learned "who wants to play" by accident because I would say that when I got the wand toy or springs out to play with them. All three of them come running when I say it. They also learned a hand signal for "come here" by accident in pretty much the same way.

I'm trying to teach them circus tricks like the big cats, but I'm a little half-hearted about it and so are the cats. My next big move is to get them to go into the carrier on command.

Like V vince / Kieka said, look at clicker training videos and also target training videos. But be ready for some major frustration.

TLDR: try clicker training, but be careful not to give your cat too many unhealthy treats.

I've had decent luck training my cat a number of tricks. Some she'll do 100%, others only when it suits her mood. in general getting a cat to do things is more like a request than a command. They know what you want, and all else equal, most cats do want to please people, but sometimes they just don't want to do what you are asking.

The more interesting and unusual she mostly taught herself and i didn't give her treats for, but they are a sort of self rewarding behavior. there is no magical way to make this happen, just, if you notice your cat deciding to do a 'trick" you like, praise them like crazy and hope they decide to do it more. you can't really teach that type of thing actively, though.

i can say "nosebump" and she'll lick my finger. She does it very reliably (95% + of the time). i also taught her to lope along after me when i say, "come along", which she'll usually do, but not always (soemtimes it suits her to not follow me around. )


I've also taught her some more traditional stuff like going to a specific place on command (I tap it with my finger and say "up here"", using the usual methods (lots of treats, clicker training, etc. )

incidentally, if you use treats for training, please try and make the "treat' be nutritionally complete like a tiny piece fo dehydrated raw or a high end kibbble ( I've had amazing results with Dr Elsey's kibbble especially the salmon) as a treat. Standard treats are generally not that good for cats, and even the better ones aren't nutritionally complete.

My kids really enjoy Daniel King's cat agility / clicker training videos.
Daniel King

I've had three cats in my life, and I taught the first two to "come", "get down" and "sit" with no issues. I started the training when they were kittens, without clickers and, basically, like danteshuman suggests, associating treats with a concurrent desired behavior.

My cat I have now knows a lot of words and phrases, but "get down" and "sit" are of no use to her. ( )

At this point, I think one of the best long-term and useful "tricks" to teach a cat is to get them to "come" to you when needed and to calmly work with you when you need to give medicine or pills (along with treats and hugs and scritches). If they don't need a pill, antibiotic, or syringe medicine until many years into the future, you can still practice giving them placebo treats. Having the ability to get the cat to trust you and feel safe when you are giving meds in invaluable.

I don’t see my reply so I will add my 2 cents.

About getting cats to come, yes I agree and I will work on that. In my experience the best thing you can do for an escaped kitty is stay calm, always make them returning or coming to you a positive (no matter how angry you are at the little jerk for sneaking out without his harness.)

Also I use hand signals with my commands, since cats seem to latch onto those real quick. A shaking treat bag always means come and you will get treats. It helps if they sneak out.

Lastly about pills/meds I taught all my cats that they get treats when they get their nails clipped, teeth brushed, hair brushed etc. it seems to translate pretty seamlessly to giving cats their medications. It helps build up trust and teach them you give treats when you are done annoying them.
*you need yummy irresistible treats!

danteshuman said:

I don’t see my reply so I will add my 2 cents. ...

Click to expand...

whoops! I meant, D duncanmac . Sorry to give you an accidental shout-out!

My first reaction to your headline is “start with the right cat”. I mean every cat learns from us and could most likely learn a command or two. But some cats are just not interested in treats or performing for us.

Oh and cats learn from each other wicked fast when treats are involved!!! Our semi-feral learned how to sit for treats by watching my boys do it. One day instead of two cats sitting for treats when I shook the treat bag, the next day there were three cats sitting! Years later he still sits quietly for treats.

I do think younger cats learn quicker. Currently I’m working on modifying my boy’s ‘up’ which was originally me trying to teach him to do a high 5, but they reached up with both paws so I called it a high 10. Up was just an easier word to use. Now I’m working on getting him to jump a little bit before he lightly touches my pinched fingers (holding the treat) with his paws. He doesn’t use his claws he just lightly grips/touches my fingers with his paws and then lands ...., as I praise him and drop the treat. I over praise him.... get all high pitch and ‘good boy, you are such a good boy!!! Good boy Jackie you are so great!’ Kind of praise is said while he eats his treat.