What kinds of tasks can cats learn? Almost anything - as long as they are physically capable and they are motivated. Each animal can learn to do what it was ¡°designed,¡± by nature and evolution, to do. For example, cats are agile creatures that can learn to jump onto high surfaces. No matter how appealing the reward, however, dogs cannot jump that high, even though they may be capable of learning (wanting) to. A cat may be strongly motivated to jump onto kitchen counters when food is occasionally found there. Dogs, on the other hand, are more likely than cats to lie down before their higher-ranking owners (cats are certainly social animals, but they do not form highly structured dominance hierarchies as dogs do) and can therefore be trained easily to lie down on command. If you are determined to teach your cat to lie down on command, it can be done - but the reward better be exceptional, from a feline point of view.
To teach an animal any task, the specific behavior must be reinforced (or rewarded). Cats will usually work for food if the food is attractive. Experiment with your own cat to find an appealing food reward. It is most efficient to teach your cat an association between the food and a quick sound such as a clicker. Using a clicker eliminates the need for perfect timing of the food reward. Once such an association is learned, the clicker (or bell, or other sound) can be used to quickly reinforce a desired behavior while the cat is then slowly offered, and accepts, the food reward. A simple rule of training is that newly learned tasks are rewarded each time the task is performed correctly, and then, once learned, rewarded only randomly. There is no need to have food constantly available - as long as it is periodically offered to her, your star performer will continue to do what you¡¯ve asked.
So what kinds of behaviors or tasks might you teach your cat? The first thing that comes to mind is use of a litter box for elimination. Luckily, urinating and defecating in ¡°diggable¡± material comes naturally to most cats and, therefore, does not need to be trained. However, cats with the unfortunate habit of urinating or defecating outside the litter box may benefit from behavior modification, or training, to use the litter box instead. If your cat is habitually eliminating outside the litter box, try bringing her gently to the box once or twice daily and, if she then eliminates inside it, rewarding her for her efforts. At the same time, restrict her from the undesired bathroom area or cover it temporarily with thick vinyl. If the inappropriate urination or defecation continues, ask your veterinarian for assistance with this sometimes complicated behavior problem.
Cats that spend part of their time outside - and twice as much time trying to get someone to open the door for them - might appreciate learning the ¡°trick¡± of signaling at the door. Being smart animals, they often learn independently that meowing or scratching at the door will bring their human running to let them in or out. In this case, the opened door might be considered the desirable reward. Try hanging a small but loud bell (try a parrot toy bell) on a string on the door, at your cat¡¯s eye level. Enlist the help of all family members to ignore the meowing, scratching and other efforts to get your attention. Eventually, your cat will touch that bell and make it ring - at which point you might leap up to open the door. If this is repeated several times, your cat will soon learn to ring that bell deliberately.
Cats are also quick to learn ¡°tricks¡± such as fetching a toy, jumping through a hoop or simply sitting on command. Training can be useful, however, for reasons other than simple fun. Even young children enjoy having a ¡°vocabulary¡± with their feline pets, and such purposeful activity is better for the cat than simply being carried from place to place. Playfully aggressive cats or those who exhibit status-related irritable behavior also benefit from learning ¡°tricks¡± - again, it provides a way to interact with humans that distracts the cat from her conflicted social behavior. Cats learn quickly, for example, that their humans will accept only appropriate (e.g., sitting) behavior at certain times. Humans learn quickly, as well, that reward-based training results in much less irritability or play-biting than prolonged petting might. Is learning tricks, in general, a fun pastime for your cat? Think of it this way: there is little likelihood that she would humor you if it weren¡¯t.
