For example, I like to train mine to accept me providing scritches (petting) with my feet and for them to be equally comfortable with using foot as hand
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I. Want. Your. Cat. To teach mine how to be movie-level adorable.
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Wow, thank you for this awesome write-up! You didn’t need to go so out of your way to teach a stranger, but I appreciate the heck out of it.
I never would have thought this could work with cats, or any kind of behavioral conditioning for that matter. It’s the exact thing I would expect from a dog-training regimen. Regardless, I’ll give it a shot. I think I’ll see great results from the one who used to be right behind my heels wherever I would go at home. She still adores all attention, but she’s a little more independent now 😊
Thanks again for the tips! You’ll have a share of the credit for any future snoot boops.
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Fetch: grab the toy if they play with it and it ends up close by, use verbal reinforcement
Names: the cats recognize everyone’s name in the hous thanks to reinforcement learning
Locations: the cats know where I’m going and can beat me there because I tell them where I’m going, sounds like reinforcement learning again?
Activities: set phrases like “let’s go”, “come on”, “let’s get some food”, “jump up”, etc, all by reinforcement training.
Paw-touching: slowly touch more and more often, for longer, until nail clipping is a breeze. Hmm… Might be reinforcement training again.
To end bad behaviors, hiss, it’s a built-in “no” for cats.
Oh and I forgot, a big one, I engage the cats if they show interest in my task.
When cooking they can smell safe things, if I’m working on tech i have a very large screw and bolt for them to play with/try out instead of my small ones.
Cats are social and want to be included, if you give them the option to do “parallel play” I think it will improve what people see as problem behaviors that are really just begging to be included.
The cat I had when I was a kid would occasionally use the toilet. Just for peeing.
When he was done he’d paw the handle. He wasn’t strong enough to actually flush it, but he tried.
Hand signals over verbal signals. They listen better and it freaks your friends out when you rub your finger together and all your cats show up.
As a kid, my mother taught ours to sit, shake, lie down, roll over, and to dance/stand (stand on 2 feet). It took a lot of training to get him to do it but it was sorta worth it. 🤷
We didn’t so much teach this trick, as he learned it on his own, but we got an automatic feeder for him to help us with his diet. It feeds him 6x per day, and since we’re no longer the ones giving him food, he has stopped begging us for food at all hours.
In any case, a few months ago, we noticed him in the dining room, staring at the grandfather clock. Then the clock chimed, and he ran over to the feeder and stared at it until a few seconds later, when it dispensed the food. He doesn’t do this, except around feeding time.
So, it’s just pavlovian: he’s learned to associate the clock chime with the feeder, and has a general idea when feeding time is based on how hungry he is. Still, it’s a neat party trick to tell guests we have a cat who can read a clock and tell time.
Ignore me.
Wake me up.Knock my shit over.
Fit in the box.My cat has mastered all these tricks.
I feel like people are crazy pussy-cat-whipped. I would never allow my cats to do the typical cat complaints, and I’m super good to them.
My cat goes out to get coffee and breakfast on the weekends. I think that’s a little bit cooler than all of you guys’ tricks
My cat recognizes the tea kettle whistle as time to get off my lap. “Up” and “Down” mean the same thing (you need to get down so I can get up).
She’s not the brightest, but a warning that she needs to move means I get clawed less.
Mine knows: touch, spin, high 5, up (stands on his back legs), lie down
I leash/harness train mine. It’s nice to be able to mostly walk them around outside like dogs. Also I train them to ride on my shoulders for transportation. That way when they get too lazy to walk back to the house or I need to carry them around for any other reason I can just plop them on my shoulders and they will ride there, keeping my hands free. My neighbors probably think I’m crazy.
u/VegaLyrae’s suggestions are all excellent.
My cat has learned the opposite; when I put my foot out she grabs it and tries to fuck me up with rabbit kicks lol she doesn’t use claws though so it’s okay.
I’m pretty sure that’s the default kitty behaviour
Well she is a standard issue, sounds about right then
