Stewie performing his tricks

Luring The Behaviors

So since Stewie was spending the day sleeping on my bed I decided to make him do some work. So I broke up some of his Wellness kitty treats, which woke him up. Then I got out my pen and charged the click a couple more times.

Then I put 4 treats in my hand and lured him into a sit 3 times. Each time he sat I clicked and gave him a treat. The 4th time I showed him I had food, then put it behind my back, when he sat I clicked and treated him (c/t). He sat relatively quickly too. I repeated several times without showing him I had food and he offered sits each time.

After several repetitions of sit I tried luring him to look at me. That didn't go over so well, he only gave me eye contact once. So we'll have to work on that some more.

Next I worked on hand targeting. I put my hand out, palm facing him, about 5 inches in front of his nose. He touched my fingers lightly and I c/t. After a couple repetitions I raised the criteria and required a harder touch to get his c/t. Instead he offered a lick, so I took it and we did several repetitions of him licking my hand when it was presented.

Later on we demo'd everything for Dad with food. And even later we demo'd for Mom not using food. I put my hand out and he touched it. And later I showed him I had a toy and he offered a sit and then was rewarded with a brand new squeaky mouse!

This has been quite fun and I can't wait to continue working with him!

Stupid Humans

The one who refers to me as "Shtook-ums" was taunting me with the pen again today. She would wave a piece of food in my face and when I would become impatient and sit there waiting for her to finish taunting me she would click the pen and then toss the food on the bed. How dare she thrown my food on the floor!

Next she insisted that I touch her hand to get my food. She wanted me to look at her, but I refused and she quickly gave up.

I find this degrading, though I'm not opposed to free food and these Wellness treats are quite tasty. I suppose I will humor her for a while longer.

Charging the Clicker

I had toyed with the idea of clicker training Stewie when he was younger. I got out my treats and clicker and started charging it. It didn't go very far. First off he was startled by the sound of the click, and secondly he wasn't very in to the treats. So I scrapped the idea for a while.

Lately he has been becoming more and more obstinate about sneaking out the door. We absolutely do not want him to be an outside cat, but it's a fight to try and keep him inside. So last night I decided to put a jar of treats next to the door and anytime we leave and he is in the kitchen we will toss a treat away from the door to distract him. He bought into this concept so fast it wasn't funny. I even lured him into a sit with one of the treats. So I started thinking, maybe I would try the clicker again.

So this morning I took a retractable pen and a handful of treats and started clicking the pen and offering Stewie a treat. After a few clicks he began looking at the pen and waiting for his treat!!!! So I'm thinking we're gonna be starting to teach him some things.

Casey

7 months

7 months

6 months