Training Cats to do Tricks

N

numbersman

Joined
Nov 28, 2010
Messages
596
Can it be done? My daughter wants to train our kitten to jump through a hoop. I was thinking that maybe some treats as rewards, start off with the hoop on the ground, etc, but I have no experience with training animals to do tricks. What are the chances do you think? Any tips or tricks I should be aware of?
 
Don't think you can train it to do anything, because cats do whatever they want to do. You can however "trick" it to do something such as, jumping through a hoop. Just use one of those dangling toys, and dangle it on the other side of the hoop. Have the hoop just high enough off the ground so that the cat can't go under it.

There's still a very good chance the cat will just go around the hoop to get to the toy. Cats are still very fun to play with (throw a ball and it will run after it), but they certainly won't bring it back to you like a dog would. Just know that cats are lazy and defiant by nature.
 
We had a cat at the nursery where I worked that I had trained to jump into my hand when I held it out to him. Of course, he also bit my arm whenever he did it. That was the orneriest cat I ever knew, and a mousing fool.
 
My cat actually does fetch but only with certain toys and only when he feels like playing (in fact, he'll even initiate by carrying one of said toys over to me and dropping it). The only thing is that I didn't teach him this; he's just done it since kittenhood.
 
My wife is a cat freak. (She says she's a cat "Fancier", whatever that is). We've had our two cats for 15 years. She tried to train them after watching some Russian cat show. She started trying to get them to walk through a hoop. They just walked around the thing...Even she gave up. Good luck:)
 
^^Yeah, good luck training them to do any kind of trick other than coming running when they hear the pantry door open or the can opener. ;):D
 
Joel - I believe the correct term is "diva". I'm not sure if you could actually call it training but if it learned "the game' as play as a kitten I think most people would watch the cat do it as an adult and call it trained.
 
I managed to sometimes get the cats to go down to the basement to hurl instead of on the living room floor. The cat will start doing the dry heaves, then get up and run down stairs to puke, but sometimes he doesn't make it and there is a nice cold wet pile of goo on the stairs to step in if one does't watch ones step.
 
The Logical One said:
Don't think you can train it to do anything, because cats do whatever they want to do. You can however "trick" it to do something such as, jumping through a hoop. Just use one of those dangling toys, and dangle it on the other side of the hoop. Have the hoop just high enough off the ground so that the cat can't go under it.

There's still a very good chance the cat will just go around the hoop to get to the toy. Cats are still very fun to play with (throw a ball and it will run after it), but they certainly won't bring it back to you like a dog would. Just know that cats are lazy and defiant by nature.
Click to expand...

i had a cat that would fetch. never trained her, she just did it. came about with crumpling up paper into a ball and tossing them into the trashcan. she would watch and one day went and took the paperball out of the trash and brought it back. started tossing the paperball anywhere and she would bring it back and drop it at my feet or if i was sitting in my lap. she would also come when i called her name or snapped my fingers. also never trained, just did on her own. no rewards given, no encouragement needed when training a dog. that was a super smart cat though. she's long dead now though.
 
My wife trained 2 cats to roll over and we've cats that came like dogs when ya called 'em cats that would fetch, the secret is to find somethin' they do naturally and exploit it, if your cat's a climber, teach/encourage them to climb ladders, some cats like to play catch with a ball or box, we had 2 kittens that always would play fight and wrestle so we trained them so when ever they heard a bell go ding they would pounce on each other and start wrestlin'. :)

It can be done, just requires way more patience than trainin' a dog to do tricks does.
 
Just like dogs, positive reinforcement is the key. That and about 2,147,293.4 lbs of patience.
 
T. Erdelyi said:
It can be done, just requires way more patience than trainin' a dog to do tricks does.
Click to expand...

This is because dogs fundamentally want to do things. They want to be with and be accepted by people. If jumping through a hoop makes their person happy, then they want to do it. And they'll come to enjoy it too because dogs have a concept of fun and of play.
 
Our house cat ha no immunizations that outside cats do, so we only let him out in the wintertime too look around and smell a bit. He almost always stays in the carport, but a few times we found him on our neighbors porch, which is around the house and 40 feet away. I want to teach him to come whenever a whistle is blown, but only a boatswain I buy so he doesn't run away. I read about it somewhere, and it said it would be good in an emergency, such as a fire.
 
It also depends on the kind of breed of cat too.

Maine Coons are known for being more "dog-like" than some others.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top