Who said dogs could be trained only? As a pet, your cat could also be trained to be an obedient servant to your commands. It’s true though that dogs and cats have different mentalities and their training techniques too, differ.
However, with a little love and patience, you could have a remarkably rained and well behaved cat to show off to friends and outsiders because cats are also extremely intelligent animals and respond well to training. Here’s how to go about it.
Punishing simply doesn’t work
Cats just don’t learn from discipline. Worse still punishing them leads to enhanced your stress, health, and behavioral problems. It’s basically positive reinforcement and patience that are the main keys to successfully train a cat. Smacking them, spanking them, hitting them with a broom does not make any sense and accomplishes nothing.
If you want block them with a broom from going inside and outside is one thing but hitting them with it is wrong, a slight sin, and is illogical.
Clickers & treats
In order to train your cat to respond to your call, use a clicker that makes a distinct and audible noise which it is able to hear. Offer the cat its favorite food as a treat if it follows the lick. Use the clicker to bring him closer to you and then give him the treat. Otherwise, he’ll be confused as to why it’s suddenly being rewarded. Rather, when it obeys your command following the click and then gets rewarded, he’s more likely to catch on faster.
Response to vocal calls
Cats can respond to vocal cues and follow your way. This has been observed by the ASPCA to prevent the animal from dashing out unexpectedly. Begin the procedure by making distinct vocal noises just before feeding it by calling out its name aloud or loudly clicking your tongue.
Do it every time during meals and the pet will learn to associate that particular noise with something welcome and positive like food in this case, eventually heading towards you every time he hears the sound.
Once he gets the hang of this, keep encouraging it beyond normal feeding hours also. From shorter distances, utter the sound or use the clicker. As the cat comes to you, reward it with a treat. Over time, keep calling the cat from slightly longer distances. The recommended training session is twice daily spanning 5 minutes or less (don’t overdue it, we know animals do not want to be overworked just like people do not), with the behavior being repeated up to twenty times.
Training to sit & Hi 5
Teaching a cat to sit is easy. As the cat makes an attempt to rest its haunches, say “Sit” loudly and then praise him with a treat or pat. As a kitten, you may gently push its hind legs down while saying “Sit” at the same time. Repeated attempts could help him get used to the command and relate with it.
Alternately, for a Hi 5, a hand signal where the hand is vertically held as in a stop sign will encourage your cat to raise its paw also. Start by encouraging tiny paw movements by giving him a treat every time he makes an effort to move his paw off the ground. Raise your hand higher for him to give you a full Hi 5. Now you have a partner!