I know that there are people that believe that training your cat to do "stupid parlor tricks" is beneath their (the cat's, that is) dignity.

I'm here to tell you that training your cat can provide both exercise, fun, and mental stimulation. A few weeks ago I started clicker training Gizmo and Simba. It's something I'd read about and wanted to try, but just hadn't gotten around to yet.

I'm so sorry that I didn't start this long ago! Not only is it fun for me, it's fun for them, too. They walk around purring the entire time I'm training them. Sometimes they come in from outside and start twining themselves around my legs, and I just know that they want a session. You should see them run into the bedroom when I work with them in there — and how hard it can be to get them back out when it's the other's turn.

Clicker training makes them think, too. It's all based on positive reinforcement: they do what I ask them to do, then I click and treat them. If they don't do what I ask them to do, that's okay — they just don't get a treat. And they have to think about why they didn't get a treat. And you can actually see them thinking, sometimes.

I read, once, that circus cats tend to live longer than zoo cats — because circus cats have something to do.

If you have an overweight cat that won't play, clicker training may be a great way to get him to move. Simba likes to play, but he doesn't play as much as I'd like him too. But he loves to get treats, so he's extremely motivated when it comes to his training sessions. He would keep going and going and going, if I let him.

Is training beneath their dignity? If you have a cat, you know it will refuse to do anything it doesn't want to do. If my boys didn't enjoy the training, I doubt that they'd do it, no matter how many treats I offer them.

Clicker training can be a great way to modify bad behavior. One of the best ways to get rid of bad behavior is to replace it with good behavior. But just how do you do that?

One problem I have with Simba is that he likes to jump up on the island when I'm preparing food, even though he knows he's not allowed there. Recently, we've started to work on "sit". Now, when I preparing food, I'll have some treats handy. If he looks like he wants to jump up, we work on "sit". I throw out a treat, and when he comes back for more, I wait until he's just about to sit, then say "sit", click and treat. It's working like a charm.

Think all those treats will make your cat fat? So far it hasn't worked that way for Gizmo and Simba, even though there's no doubt that they're eating more treats than they were before. But they're also moving more than they were before, so I think it's an even trade-off.

If you want to learn more about clicker training, you can follow Gizmo and Simba's progress in the Clicker Journal. Or click on the banner below to get started with clicker training your own cats.

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