by Janet Farricelli CPDT-KA

Created on: November 01, 2008   Last Updated: February 27, 2011

Most people think that training is mostly something exclusively belonging to the canine world. As an unfortunate consequence, most people will not even give training a cat a thought. You may have previously tried to teach your cat a few tricks but then you may have ultimately given up as soon as your cat gave you that stare like as saying "Dude, you got something seriously wrong here, I ain't no dog"!

Well, you may be delighted to learn that cats can be trainable and can even learn some cute tricks. It  just takes a slightly different approach to train cats but it can be ultimately accomplished. Cats are very intelligent creatures, they may turn a deaf ear to your commands but it is very likely because they simply do not want to do what you are asking them to do rather than not being able to understand your request.

It is true though that some cats are more trainable than others. As a general rule cats with a high food drive are more eager to learn. These are those cats that would do almost anything at the sight of food! Take advantage of these specimens, and if your cat is not very food oriented try to find a treat that will make him want  to do anything in order to have it. 

Tricks You Can Easily Teach Your Cat

•Teach Your Cat to Fetch

 Some cats are natural fetchers. Toss a toy, say "fetch" and the cat will very likely grab it. Now call your cat to you. When the cat comes to you take the toy and give a treat. The trick is to give a treat every time the cat fetches and ignore every time that cat does nothing.

• Teach Your Cat To give paw

Have your cat sit down. Show a treat and say "Paw". Lift the cat's paw and give treat. Do this several times. Then try to just slightly touch the paw. If the cat lifts the paw give treat. Keep trying until the cat will automatically give the paw.

• Teach Your Cat To stand up.

Put a treat above the cat's head and let the cat stand up. Say 'Stand Up' and once your cat is on two feet give the treat.

As seen, cats can be trained. So next time that snob dog owner comes around telling you that cats are not trainable, brag about your cat and show the tricks he has been able to accomplish. Worse case scenario, should you cat fail to learn anything at all, tell the dog owner that your cat has been trained to a level of trainability that rarely no dog has ever accomplished; litter box training!

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