If you have a dog, you're probably familiar with crate training. The basic idea is to make your dog's carrier his "den", so it's a safe place to go to. Cats should be crate trained too.

If you haven't crate trained your cat, you're probably familiar with this scenario:

1. You need to take kitty to vet, so you get out the crate
2. Kitty vanishes
3. You manage to drag kitty out from under the bed (although now you need a blood transfusion)
4. When confronted with the crate, kitty grows ten legs, all determinedly wrapped around the crate, preventing kitty's insertion into crate

With Cleo and Puss, I never crate trained. They were indoor cats, and the only time they went into the crate (barring the move from Maryland to Vermont) was to go to the vet. Small wonder they hated their crates.

Then Cleo got ill, and because we went to the vet so often, we left the carrier out all the time. Cleo decided she really liked her carrier, and would often snooze there. Getting her out of it at the vet's was a completely different story. When Puss became ill too, and required regular vet visits, she still eye'd the crate with suspicion.

Most cats are easy to get into their crate once the vet exam is over; not Puss! She had to be stuffed back in growling bloody murder.

Creating a Safe Haven

With the boys, I decided things would be different. Our crates are always out. They have a nice soft mat in the bottom. When the boys were kittens, I would toss treats into the crate — and it worked.

The boys love their crate. They are often found singly or together snoozing away in the crate. They go in and out of the crate willingly.

It's not a bad idea to toss some toys in the crate when kitty isn't looking. The whole idea is to make sure that your cat wants to be in their crate, because it's only associated with good things.

Traveling in a Crate

Still, their crate training is not done. When we go to the vet, the boys howl and yowl the entire way there. Once we get there, Simba is fine, but Gizmo is terrified — we usually have to drag him out (we don't have a top opening crate).

We tried to get them used to the car when they were little. We took them on very short trips, gradually increasing the distance, raining treats on them before, during, and after. Still, they hate the car.

Now I think part of the problem was that we didn't break the crate/car travel training into small enough steps. That's part of what is called shaping in clicker training: you break a behavior you want to teach into teeny, tiny steps. Then you teach one step at a time until they're comfortable with it, then move on to the next step.

It's important to come up with a plan when you shape a behavior. This is something I'm still learning; I tend to make the steps too big. When the steps are too big, your cat doesn't understand what you want it to do, and everyone ends up frustrated.

With a plan, you know exactly what you will and will not treat. The more you shape behavior, the better you get at breaking behaviors down into small steps. At least, that's what they tell me.

The Crate-Travel-Training Plan

So here's my plan to get the boys relaxed in their crate and in the car:

1. Target boys into carrier
2. Close door, but do not lock it
3. Close door and lock
4. Have boys stay for a small amount of time in crate with door closed
5. Increase the amount of time the boys stay in the crate
6. Pick up boys in the crate
7. Put down boys in the crate
8. Walk small distance while carrying boys in the crate
9. Increase distance walked while carrying boys
10. After carrying boys small distance, put carrier down.
11. Carry boys small distance, put them down, pick them up.
12. Carry boys small distance, put down, pick up, then return to starting point.
13. Carry boys to door, put down, pick up, return to starting point.
14. Carry boys to door and go out the door.
15. Carry boys to door, go out, set boys down.
16. Carry boys to door, go out, put down, pick up, come inside and put down.
17. Go out the door, put down, pick up, come inside and put down.
18. Go out, put down, pick up, go back to starting point, put down.
19. Go out, walk small distance, return to starting point.
20. Go out, walk small distance, put down, pick up, return to starting point.
21. Do step #20, put go a further distance while carrying boys.
22. Do step #20, go the garage opening.
23. Do step #20, go to car.
24. Go to car, put down, open door, return to starting point.
25. Repeat step #25, but put boys inside of car.
26. Put boys inside of car, close door.
27. Put boys inside of car, close door, open driver's side door.
28. Repeat step #27, but get into car.
29. Get into car, and close my door.
30. Turn on engine.
31. Turn on engine, then radio.
32. Turn on directional signal.
33. Back out of garage.
34. Back out to end of driveway.
35. Go for very short drive.
36. Gradually increase drive.
37. Drive to vet.

Whew! Well, we've got almost a year to work on this. You may not need this many steps — it really depends on your cat's reaction to each step. Remember, you want to give treats during and after each step. Do not move on to the next step until your cat is comfortable with the last step.

You might be able to do steps 1-10 in one training session, or it could take weeks. Let your cat be your guide. Try to remember to end a training session before they get tired. Never scold them during a training session, and try to make sure you don't treat them if they're crying or meowing.

I'll let you know next year if the boys are better travelers or not.

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