If you are a cat owner, you must have given up on obedience training at some point in your life. Maybe you thought cat training was similar to a dog’s and you have tried unsuccessfully to train your cat to do a simple task or to recognize your voice but ended up frustrated. You see, teaching cats obedience is vastly different from dog training.
Cats are not obedient by nature and they don’t correlate your words to the action you want them to do. You have to be patient and determined with cats and you have to understand how their thoughts work. If the cat is not in the mood to obey your command or what you’re asking him to do is not in his nature, meting punishment on him will not change anything. Your cat will simply zone out on you and go where he can avoid you. To make cat obedience training a success for you and your cat, here are some tips to try.
The first thing to keep in mind about cat obedience training is that more weight is given to rewarding positive behavior rather than to punishing bad behavior.
- Cats want affection and attention from their owners and speaking to him in a soothing voice and patting him when he does something you approve of is part of cat obedience training.
- Praise him when he gets into the litter box and refrain from scolding him when he doesn’t. Cats also love treats. Always keep some on hand and give him one when he gets into the harness without any resistance. This will make him associate the act with the treat and soon, he will get into the harness without any trouble as he anticipates his treat. Repeat this type of cat obedience training with everything else.
- Reward him for doing what you want but don’t punish him if he doesn’t.
- Stretch your patience and dig your feet in with determination. It won’t be long before you see the effectiveness of your training and you are the proud owner of an obedient pet cat.
In your training program, review the behaviors you are teaching your cat to do. The behaviors you have in mind might be activities that cats don’t consider normal or natural for them. Unlike for dogs, fetching a ball and returning it to you or jumping through hoops are not typical cat behavior and your cat can be obstinate and refuse to do them. Instead of thinking that your cat obedience training is not successful and blaming yourself, stop and think about your cat’s nature. Unreasonable commands are not part of cat obedience training.
Teach him to stay away from houseplants or keep out of high shelves, not to catch a Frisbee or to roll over. Knowing what and how to teach your cat is one way of turning him into the obedient pet he ought to be.
Martin Stamp has just finished a Guide to Training Cats.
Martin is a writer for Helpful Advice Online.
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