I am not an especially good trainer. There’s a reason I’ve always chosen breeds that are easy to live with and don’t need or want extensive training. I’ve used a clicker to teach basic behaviors like sit and down and to reinforce tricks the girls do naturally like roll over and sit up, but when it comes to using it to shape behaviors, I just don’t have the patience. I find that the girls are so excited that the clicker and the treats are out, I can’t get them to pay attention to actually producing new behaviors. They just offer all the things they already know, over and over. Every once in a while I try again, though, usually after I’ve written something training-related. “It can’t be that hard,” I think. “People train cats.”
This time I decided to work on teaching Harper and Twyla to touch a target stick. I’ve tried this before with no success, but this time Twyla was interested. She got the hang of it very quickly, and I decided to add a new element. I put a bowl on the floor, turned upside down, and used the target stick to get her to touch it with a paw. Bingo! We were on a roll. Then I got her to start lifting her paw to touch the target stick (which was a bird perch). Within half an hour, maybe less, I had taught her to “High Five.” It’s the first trick I’ve ever taught one of them that wasn’t a natural behavior, so I was pretty stoked.
We practiced a little more the next morning, and she still remembered it. Since then, she has been a waving fool. It used to be that she would come remind me that it was time for elevenses, but otherwise she was content to lie in her recliner or play with her Skinnneez toys. Not anymore. Now it’s train, train, train, all the time. She cries if I won’t get up and let her do some tricks–for treats, natch. It’s like having a little kid always saying, “Hey, look at me do this!” Every time I stand up, Twyla views it as an opportunity.
Harper is disgruntled now that her “sit pretty” trick has been superseded. She’s a little suspicious of the bird perch, but she’s good at spinning so we’re working on “chase your tail.” And I think I had better come up with some new things for Twyla to learn. I just wish I could teach her to transcribe interviews.
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