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Discipline when teaching your cat to do tricks doesn't work or help them to learn. Techniques like spraying or frightening your cat might make them cease a particular action but will not make them do something you want. Punishment will only make the cat frightened of you or of your teaching session, which is why when it comes to training your pets, it is important to give positive reinforcement only.
Instead of focusing on what you do not want, concentrate your training on what you do want your cat to do and then reward them!
How to Train Your Cat to Sit
Sitting is one of the easier tricks to teach your cat as they either sit or stand naturally when you are feeding them snacks, so it is really easy for them to catch on.
There are several ways to teach your cat how to sit, but before we get started, there are a few things you will require:
- A calm environment free of interruptions
- A few treats that your cat loves with minimal chewing
Steps:
1. Sit on the ground with a treat in your hand.
2. Take the treat and let their gaze follow your hand. Lift the treat slowly above their head, a few centimeters back towards your cat’s tail. This is where they will glance up and follow the treat. They are likely to go into a sitting position on their own.
3. You want to associate a command and a gesture with each trick. Snap your finger, then point down, and say “sit”. Give them the treat when they do. Follow by a praise for encouragement. We use “good girl” or “good boy”.
4. Repeat several times until they associate the action with the command.
5. If they are not really getting it, you can gently tap their butt down a little to encourage them to sit while saying “sit”, and as soon as they do give them their treat and praise them!
6. Be patient, teaching cats to do tricks is a lot harder than dogs but once you start it becomes a lot easier. Don’t get discouraged if your cat is uninterested or confused, they simply haven’t learned how to learn yet. It will all change with consistency, patience, and of course, treats!
7. Do not train them for more than 10-15 minutes at a time especially at the start, and always end with a good note, otherwise training time can lead to discouragement for future trainings.
8. Be consistent. Once they have done it a few times, make sure to do this trick every single day!
9. Do not teach a new trick until they have fully grasp one trick as this will likely confuse them.
10. Do not make them do tricks for their dinner, it will simply not work as they are “expecting” their dinner and tricks will just frustrate them. Instead, do it before dinner time with treats but do not prepare their dinner until after your training session is complete.
Always have fun, good luck!
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