How to Train Your Cat
This helpful article was written by Joey at Class Act Cats. Joey is Certified Cat Behavior Consultant. Joey works with myriad cat parents. His approach takes into account your cat's and your family's needs. If your cat isn't behaving their classiest, you have enough stress as is. Joey will work with you to come up with a plan together that meets your needs and lifestyle. He provides ongoing support too!
Cats have a reputation for being untrainable. When I tell people that I train cats professionally, I get a lot of weird looks or disbelief. It’s understandable that people would be skeptical given how deeply this myth is built into our culture, but the reality is that cats are actually pretty trainable if you know what you’re doing. Some cats are a bit more of a challenge than others, but you can usually train at least a few basic behaviors.
Training your cat has a variety of benefits including addressing unwanted behaviors, preventing boredom, and impressing your friends at a party. It can also help if you’re planning on getting your cat photographed professionally. Earlier this year, I had the honor of working with Lisa to take photos of my sweet dude, Zoloft. As you can see, they turned out pretty dang amazing.
Granted, Zoloft is a fantastic model in my unbiased opinion so she did have an easy job. Still, photographing even the most beautiful cats can be a bit of a challenge to photograph. Some good news, however, is that with some preparation you can train your cat to do some basic behaviors that can help make your photoshoot a breeze!
Training Basics
Contrary to their reputation for being untrainable, cats are actually very responsive to training if done correctly. The key is finding something the cat is willing to work for. Often this is treats, but not every cat will like every type of treat. You may need to try a few varieties of treat in order to figure out what really motivates your cat. In the end, the most important thing is that you’re choosing something your cat likes.
For cats that aren’t super food or treat motived, things like play, petting, or even brushing can work as well instead of treats. The key is making sure it’s something your cat loves. If they don’t like being brushed, it’s going to have the opposite effect of helping with training.
I like using a method called marker training where you teach the cat that a particular signal, such a click from a clicker or a word, is always followed by the treat (or whatever you’re using for your cat if you’re using something else. For ease of this post, I’m going to use the term treats but the concept applies to other reinforcers). I usually use a clicker as it’s easy to reproduce the same sound and quickly make the noise.
Make sure you begin training in a quiet, low distraction environment so you and your cat can focus on training. Ideally it should be somewhere they are familiar with. Teach your cat what the marker means by clicking then administering the treat very quickly. Repeat this a few times.
Even if you make a mistake, you ALWAYS have to give the cat a treat. It needs to be consistent and predictable so they know that the click means a treat is coming. Keep training sessions short at first and then you can increase the length gradually as your cat gets used to it.
When your cat is ready to learn a behavior, you’ll want to mark the behavior you want at the exact moment it happens and then give a treat. However, you may also need to break down the behavior into smaller steps in order to get to the final behavior. Start by marking the first step of the behavior and then as your cat begins doing that part of the behavior more often, increase your criteria for what they need to do to earn the reward.
Can you do this without marking the behavior? Absolutely! I find it’s a bit harder to get timing correct, but there may be a few situations where you find not marking the behavior works better.
Think this sounds like a lot of work? Your cat will likely catch on quicker than you’d think, though keep in mind cats may need a few sessions to catch on. Cats also do better with short training sessions at first so you’ll only want to train for 1-3 minutes at a time. Some cats can go for longer as they get used to training, but that really depends on the individual cat. It doesn’t need to be a huge time commitment!
Training Behaviors for a Photoshoot
Now that you’ve got the basics down, what are some simple behaviors that you can train your cat for their close up? One of the easiest behaviors to teach is called targeting. Basically, you teach your cat to touch their cute little nose to a target stick, a pen, or even your finger. You start out by presenting the target stick to them and marking when your cat sniffs or moves their head toward the target stick. Once they get that, increase your criteria to them touching their nose to the target stick.
Pretty simple, right? This behavior can be used to get your cat’s attention or to look in a particular direction. It can also be used to lead your cat to a particular location. Plus, it’s pretty easy to practice your training skills!
Another easy and useful behavior is sit. First, let’s talk about what a lot of people do wrong with this behavior: you don’t want to start out saying “sit” to your cat and hoping they will sit. In fact, usually you don’t want to add in a cue until your cat really has the behavior down. Your cat doesn’t understand human speech and they’ll just be confused or frustrated. You will as well!
A better option is using a method called capturing. Basically, you wait for your cat to naturally do the behavior and mark right as your cat’s butt hits the ground. Give them the treat in such a way that they have to stand up to get it so then they have another opportunity to sit and get another reward for doing so again. Don’t toss it halfway across the room, but just a bit out of reach will give them another opportunity for a reward!
Once they’re sitting reliably, you can add in the cue by saying it just before they complete sit (before you mark the behavior) and then gradually move it so you use it right as they start the behavior. This pairs the behavior with the cue so they always have an association with the cue and behavior. Eventually, you can try soliciting the behavior using the cue, though make sure your cat really is ready. You want to do many, many repeats of the behavior first or you’ll find your results are less than ideal.
When your cat has the behavior down and they really get the cue, you’ll want to start training them in a more distracting environment. You may want to turn on a TV at a low volume in the background or play some gentle music. Consider having someone else there so they’re used to having multiple humans around. Start with the distractions being pretty easy and low intensity and then gradually increase them if your cat is making progress. Ideally, you’d want to get your cat used to noises and having other people around so they have the best likelihood of the training being successful during your photoshoot.
If Training Doesn’t Work
Of course, some cats may not respond as well to training as others. That doesn’t mean they can’t be trained as often the problem lies in how the training is being done. If you find your cat is having difficulty with training, consider if the reward they’re getting may be reinforcing enough for them to want to work at it. Try a different treat, a different flavor of treat, or even a non-food reward.
Consider as well if you may be going to fast. Even if it doesn’t seem like it to you, it may be too fast for your cat. Go slower and make smaller steps between criteria for training. If your cat is too distracted, consider changing the environment to reduce distractions. They may also need to go slower when adding in distractions so consider making them less intense.
If all else fails, you may want to consider calling in a professional cat trainer. We’ll be able to help you figure out where the problem lies and what to do about doing it. Sometimes it’s easy to miss the clues your cat is giving you and we’ll see it pretty quickly. We can help you begin to make progress with your cat and get you moving in the right direction!
Regardless of if you train your cat prior to your session with Lisa or not, you’re going to have great results. Training should be fun and a way to bond with your cat so if you give it a try and it doesn’t work, don’t feel like you won’t end up with a special way to remember your cat for the rest of your life. The cats and cat parents of Minneapolis and St. Paul are so lucky to have such a talented pet photographer to capture amazing shots of their feline friends!
