After talking to a kitty behaviour specialist, I'm working on training Chet, my bellicose boy cat, to respond to me rather than always expect to be responded to. He's a bit of a bitey boy, even though he loves people and enjoys cuddling. The cat lady thinks he's trying to be the top cat in the household, so she's got me clicker/treat training him to come to me when he's called.
So far we've had mixed results. Chet has always known his name; he'll look up if we mention him in casual conversation. He only responds to "Here, Chet!" about half the time, though. The other half of the time he just stares at me like, "You think I'm moving, you're crazy, lady."
However, our other cat, who doesn't really know her name, has quickly learned that "Here, Chet!" means "Mommy's giving out treats!" So she now comes when I call for him, even though I never give her a treat unless he's actually come and has eaten his treat first. (I want him to respond to me, not to the other cat getting a treat.) My husband laughed at me last night when I was calling, "Here, Chet! Here, Chet!" in vain, while Abby ran enthusiastically over to me and waited for her treat.
Darn cats.
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Ahh, Abby...
ReplyDeleteWell, on the other hand, she is capable of learning! This is good, and impressive for Abby!
Haha, clicker training cats. I didn't know you could do that. If my boys didn't mind me, I'd just pin 'em. Only took a couple of times of pinning or scruffing (gently) to get them to listen to me, but then, I got them when they were still kind of young.
Strange aside, horse training techniques work on cats, at least some of them. Apparently also some people use clicker training with horses, though I think I wouldn't.