Does anyone train their cat to do tricks?

Not Jackson Galaxy

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My two 13 week old kitties are the most food motivated beings i've ever come across in my life! I thought I might as well harness some of their energy.
They both come running to either of their names :lol: , no differentiation there. And they're keen to learn how to extricate more treats from me. We're trying to learn the 'paw' command and they're sort of starting to get it but it's a race against time because after half a second they just try to eat my fingers and climbing all over me to get to the bag of treats :lol::lol:. We're having fun but probably not making good progress.
 

Keeb

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My two 13 week old kitties are the most food motivated beings i've ever come across in my life! I thought I might as well harness some of their energy.
They both come running to either of their names :lol: , no differentiation there. And they're keen to learn how to extricate more treats from me. We're trying to learn the 'paw' command and they're sort of starting to get it but it's a race against time because after half a second they just try to eat my fingers and climbing all over me to get to the bag of treats :lol::lol:. We're having fun but probably not making good progress.
LOL, how cute. We wanted to train our sibs to walk on a leash but didn’t have the patience.
 

squirrelfriend

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Heres a great page on it. I'm teaching mine to be carrier + walk trained, to be put into the carrier; then out for a walk, then back into the carrier to go inside. So there is no more carrying the cat while I cross the street and it's much safer if something bad happens, like if there's a dog running in the park.
Not using a clicker, just pawsitive reinforcment.
 

Hoboforeternity

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i trained mine to use the scratcher. every meal time, i bring her plate to the scratching post and tap on it with my hand or plate, when she touch it, i give her the meal. after time it become easier, and touching become full scratching
 

minish

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Minish learned sit, give paw, high five and turn around. I had the same problem, tooooo much food motivated. You can teach with treats after their meal so they have the patience. minish knows these, but it doesn't mean she will perform. Or perform on command :)
 

Hoboforeternity

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Minish learned sit, give paw, high five and turn around. I had the same problem, tooooo much food motivated. You can teach with treats after their meal so they have the patience. minish knows these, but it doesn't mean she will perform. Or perform on command :)
what treats do you use? i've been just using kibbles as treats. his main food is canned, with kibbles with puzzle feeders and training/positive reinforcement.
 

maggie101

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Minish learned sit, give paw, high five and turn around. I had the same problem, tooooo much food motivated. You can teach with treats after their meal so they have the patience. minish knows these, but it doesn't mean she will perform. Or perform on command :)
My cat Peaches is too food motivated so I doubt I could train her. I have Maggie
 

danteshuman

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Yes I do! Jackie does up (high 5), sit, sit & meows, gets up on the footstool to put his harness on & off (so I don’t have to bend over so much) & spin. I introduced clicker training & it helped. Now I need to figure out some new tricks to teach him!
 

maggie101

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Yes I do! Jackie does up (high 5), sit, sit & meows, gets up on the footstool to put his harness on & off (so I don’t have to bend over so much) & spin. I introduced clicker training & it helped. Now I need to figure out some new tricks to teach him!
Only one I have taught my cat is to come when called. She is almost black so she is hard to find. I also use it for when she bothers Peaches. Only trick that is most important to me
 

PMousse

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Yes! Being food motivated makes them easier to train :)

I trained Ruckus, at age 13, how to sit, down (like crouching down), up (standing up with his front paws on an elevated spot), paw and high-five. So you can definitely teach an old cat new tricks :) But i wasn't successful at training him on other commands.

For a while he'd do all of those moves before I even issue the command because he learned that at least one of them would get him the treats in my hands haha.
 

Black Cats Abundant

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My two 13 week old kitties are the most food motivated beings i've ever come across in my life! I thought I might as well harness some of their energy.
They both come running to either of their names :lol: , no differentiation there. And they're keen to learn how to extricate more treats from me. We're trying to learn the 'paw' command and they're sort of starting to get it but it's a race against time because after half a second they just try to eat my fingers and climbing all over me to get to the bag of treats :lol::lol:. We're having fun but probably not making good progress.
Yes! Im teaching my insanely food motivated, black cat Shadow, to do a ton of tricks. Aside from her agility course, she had learned, Sit, Spin, Give Paw- high five and Shake, and an attempt at “open door” but she’s a bit to gentle for that one. She learns extremely quickly and knows to come to a special clicking sound. She is an indoor outdoor cat so it helps to have her come when she’s called, and she does without fail! Of course there was the inccedent where she got stuck on the garage door and worried me half to death bc she wouldn’t come, but in the end she is very obedient. As a rescue, I’m surprised how much she loves people, but it’s in the black cat genes I’m sure! When learning the paw command, I tap her paw with my left hand, while holding the treat in my right hand where she can’t see it, she Will eventually lift her paw to touch my left hand that is tapping her paw, and when she does this she gets the treat! Maybe before training sessions, you get all that extra energy out with a laser game or feather toy.
 

miss eveliina

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I trained Eveliina to fetch. She wasn’t really motivated by food. She just enjoyed chasing her crinkle ball and bringing it back to be thrown again .. and again .. and again. After that, she started bringing her favourite toy mouse to be thrown for her. We still have that mouse after many years. She’ll sometimes drop it on my face at night if she’s really in the mood to fetch. :lol:
 

Tobermory

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I taught Lily to sit. It was self defense. She’d lunge and bite my fingers when I offered her a treat. She wasn’t trying to bite; my fingers just got in the way. She has learned to sit and take them gently from my fingers before she gets anything. Iris is already ladylike when it comes to treats. I tried to teach Mocha to take a treat from my fingers, but I gave up. She has learned to wait until I put the treat on the floor in front of her and not swipe my hand with her pointy bits.
 

Xraystyle

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I have gotten Puar to do "high five" but it's a result of him trying to swat at my hands and me embracing the challenge. At first, he was just attacking, so I made a game of it saying "high five" as he batted my palm, but taking my hand away before he could bite. Then I began to positively reinforce the batting, so now he will do it even when he's not trying to play. It's cute because he looks confused as to why he's swatting my hand, but he does it anyway. He's not very food motivated, so it's just been a result of routine. He'll sit on the desk or the stairs and give me high fives. I do still have to be careful though that I don't leave my hand out for tooooo long otherwise he will high-five my fingers with his teeth.
 

theyremine

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I taught my Stellar to "sit and look pretty' using treats but when I tried to teach a new trick, she would always "sit and look pretty". Guess she's just a one trick cat. All my 5 cats come when called and know several other key words but I didn't specifically try to teach this, they just learned because of repetition and cause and effect.
 

danteshuman

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I have gotten Puar to do "high five" but it's a result of him trying to swat at my hands and me embracing the challenge. At first, he was just attacking, so I made a game of it saying "high five" as he batted my palm, but taking my hand away before he could bite. Then I began to positively reinforce the batting, so now he will do it even when he's not trying to play. It's cute because he looks confused as to why he's swatting my hand, but he does it anyway. He's not very food motivated, so it's just been a result of routine. He'll sit on the desk or the stairs and give me high fives. I do still have to be careful though that I don't leave my hand out for tooooo long otherwise he will high-five my fingers with his teeth.
Well I taught all 3 kittens up/high 10 by the time they hit 3 months old, However from the time I got them at a month old, I taught them toys not hands & to be gentle with my fragile fur less skin. So they learned to tap my fingers with both paws (minus claws) and I dropped their treats.🤣 As they got older and lazier they gradually switched to one paw. At almost 2 years old, 2 of the kittens sometimes give a lazy wave to see if I will give them treats. Jackie lives with me so he knows he needs to perform for “cookies.” I also give lots of treats when I visit them, every time they come to me when I call & they are outside. It is eassier then trying to round up 3 cats outside.🤷🏻‍♀️
 

mekkababble

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Clove does tricks. She loves it to the point she'll howl at me to practice every night. She knows high five, spin, and catch. She sometimes tries to do all three at once before she knows which one I'll ask for. Super easy to train too. For catch, I literally just tossed the treat to her and pick it back up if she doesn't try to catch it. High five, I put a treat between two fingers and she touches my hand with her paw to get it. Spin, I had her follow the treat around in a circle. I'd say it took maybe a week or two max to teach each trick. We keep trying 'sit up', but Clove keeps trying to jump and grab my hand. We'll get it someday.

Funny thing is she won't do any of this unless she's sure I have treats to give her.
 

Caspers Human

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Casper sits up like a dog.

It was an incidental behavior that we reinforced. He sat up and Casper's Girl-Human gave him lots of love and attention for it. Now, he sits up and meows at us whenever he wants attention.

Hmm... Maybe that means Casper has trained US! :eek:

Casper DOES know how to do a magic trick... He can make catnip disappear! :D
 
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