Training Cats

I used to have a cat, Pouncer, who loved Pounce Treats. (He was named before I discovered the treats.) Pouncer would see the little can, about the size of a small can of tomato paste, or I’d rattle the can, and he’d go nuts. One day I thought that perhaps I could train him to do something…like sitting up and begging! Yeah, that was a good idea! It took less than a week. I’d hold a treat up, he’d raise his paw and I’d praise him lavishly and reward him. At the end of the week he was sitting up just the way a dog does, with the little paws cutely flopped over at the ‘wrist’. I could show him the can of treats and he’d sit up and beg. I could say “sit!” and he’d beg.

It is not in the nature of a cat to beg. Cats are deciders. If they have to resort to asking, they’ll usually meow, or weave in and out of legs. But begging is unbecoming to a cat, as is any form of subservience. I vowed I’d never to that again to my cat.

Now, I have another cat, who for years has been unmoved by anything other than her regular food and the water in the can of tuna I just opened. Sheba is a Bengal and an indoor cat. I won’t risk losing her to a speeding car, so she stays in. It’s not her choice, and whenever possible she’ll sneak out the garage when I open the door to get the car in or out. She refuses to come when I call her, and she either stays in my neighbor’s bushes or leads me on a merry chase from the front yard to the back yard, evading me the while and chuckling under her breath.

Sometimes she’s gone around the corner of the street. I’ll go after her, calling the while: Sheba! Sheba! Soon she’ll answer me with a chastising tone, eventually show herself, and then she’ll more or less follow me home. But it’s her decision and it’s in her time. I began to wish there were a way to incentivize Sheba to come when she’s called. Certainly training a cat to “come” is different from training a cat to “beg”, I told myself.

A week or so ago I bought a little bag of tuna-flavored cat treats that are supposedly good for dental health and “fresh breath” (a real oxymoron for cats, if ever there was one!). Sheba loved them! So I began: “Come here, Sheba. Come here, Sheba.” Hold out the treat, make her come closer, give her the treat in my hand, praise her lavishly when she takes the bait…I mean, treat. Sure didn’t take long for her to learn: “Come here, Sheba” brings her from wherever she is. She got outside last week as I was ready to leave for work. I opened the door, said the magic words, and she bounded into the house. Now I have two more things to do. I need to call her and give her only praise, randomly, so that she never knows when there will be a treat and when there won’t. Yeah, I took psychology 101. Keep ‘em guessing, and they’ll continue to respond to the stimulus.

And then, who knows, maybe I’ll teach her to beg.

More to come...