Clicker training

[wilbar]

I haven't been a member of this site for long & I had a quick search for clicker training but couldn't immediately find anything. I just wondered if any of you use a clicker to train your cats? If so, how has it worked for you? Have you had any problems & what did you do to overcome them?

The reason for asking is that I work as a feline behaviourist in my spare time, under vet referral, & I've often found that clicker training can be very helpful with some cats & with some behavioural problems, so I wondered what everyone else's experiences have been.

[angieh]

How very interesting wilbar. I didn't know clicker training with cats was even possible. You can tell from those words that I have never tried it.

I would be very interested in any further information you would care to share about it though.

[wilbar]

Happy to share anything on general cat behaviour.

Most people associate clicker training with dogs but it can be done with just about any animal that can hear the "click". All the clicker is, is a small plastic box with a metal tab that makes a distinctive noise when pressed. You teach the cat that when it hears this click, something good is about to happen and you do this by clicking & giving the cat something it likes ~ usually very small pieces of highly palatable food, but it can be done using anything else the cat finds rewarding, e.g. a stroke, or scratch round the head. You do this for several times, maybe twice a day, so the cat starts to learn that the click predicts that a tasty titbit is coming. So when it hears the click, it starts to look for the treat, then it starts to work ou how to make the click happen. So you may get offered all sorts of behaviours to make the click happen, e.g. sit & think, climb up at you, jump on the chair etc etc. Then you start clicking for the behaviour you want ~ e.g. the cat sits, click & give treat.

Clickers were originally devised for use in training marine mammals, but have been used on many other species including horses, chickens, pigs etc. It's just a way of helping the animal learn a bit faster because the distinctive click is unlikely to be a sound the animal hears at any other time. So effectively it is training using positive reinforcement which is a kind way to train animals, enriches their lives & promotes the bond between owner & animal.

The best way to start clicker training with cats is to tap into the sort of behaviours they are biologically predisposed to perform. So it would be relatively easy to train a cat to climb a tree, but not so easy to train a dog or a horse.

Cats naturally eat several small (mouse-sized?) meals a day, so they can quickly fill up on treats & not be motivated to keep "earning" them, so clicker training is best done for only a few minutes, in several short sessions a day, preferably when the cat is hungry.

I've trained cats do jump over a stick, to retrieve small objects, to rub on my hand, to go round a small agility course, to walk in a harness, to recall from the garden, to accept being groomed ~ all manner of things really. The whole training process can be invaluable for enriching the lives of indoor cats, or kennelled cats.

Sorry the post is getting a bit long! I would recommend looking at Karen Pryor's website for more info ~ she's written books & articles on clicker training for cats, & I'm happy to answer any specific questions if I can.

[angieh]

Thanks so much for that - harness training would have been useful for my cat when he was much younger and not allowed out on his own! He didn't much care for the harness and after a while just lay down!!!

The recall training is also a very useful thing to teach a cat. Pip (same cat as above!) tends to be very good if he's in hearing distance. I started off giving a few treats and strokes and always praise. Never used a clicker though.

[wilbar]

Using treats & praise to encourage wanted behaviours to increase is really the same thing ~ all positive reinforcement. But the reason for using a clicker is that it more acurately marks the exact behaviour you want. If you try to teach a "sit" just using verbal praise & treats, the chances are the cat will have sat down, got up again, rubbed round your leg & washed behind its ears, all before we've managed to say "good boy/girl" & give them the treat! How will the cat learn what it is that earned him/her the treat? But if the cat knows that the click is the signal that they've done the right behaviour, then it makes it so much easier for us & them. Someone described it as taking a photo of the wanted behaviour which made sense to me.

Harness training is no easy task for lots of cat owners as you are trying to teach a cat something that doesn't come naturally at all & no cat likes to feel confined & unable to use the flight/fight mechanism to avoid danger. But if the cat is already used to the clicker to train easy things, then it makes training harder things a bit easier.

[angieh]

That "taking a photo" explanation does make a lot of sense!

[dandysmom]

Thanks for that very clear explanation! I've heard of clicker training and believe one of our members has used it; never tried myself. I have harness trained 5 cats however.

[calismum]

Having recently welcomed two kittens to our home I wondered about clicker training them. I had been given a book about a year ago (cat training in 10 mins) which talks about clicker training amongst other things. I did go as far as buying one but haven't started using it as yet. Your post made interesting reading and has inspired me to dig out the book. Do you think at 15 weeks they are old enough to do some simple training.

[angieh]

If you decide to go ahead CM, please let us know how things go. It sounds so interesting. Did you use clicker training for Cali???

[calismum]

Originally Posted by angieh

If you decide to go ahead CM, please let us know how things go. It sounds so interesting. Did you use clicker training for Cali???

I'll let you know. Was going to try and teach them to sit as a start. Just not sure if they are too young as they are into everything and their attention span is somewhere less than a nanosecond!

Cali is totally motivated by food so I used little liver treats for her. She is a very clever girl - has her kennel club gold award and has been placed in a few obedience comps in her younger years.