Clicker Training for Clever Cats - Learning can be fun!

 

 

There is a learning method that no mammal – not even humans! – can ignore: classical conditioning. It is the basis for clicker training, and the way it works is in fact incredibly simple. Take the following example: imagine you have been out on a very hot day. You are sweating, completely over-heated and you have an incredible thirst. Just as you walk through the front door you hear someone in the kitchen opening a bottle of pop with a refreshing fizz! I can vividly picture your eager anticipation of a large, thirst-quenching gulp as you rush into the kitchen. Why? Because you know the noise that a bottle of pop makes when it’s being opened, and in your mind this is ‘conditioned’ with the terms: ‘drink – cool – refreshing – thirst-quenching’. Had you never heard this fizzing sound before, it would have no meaning for you. Or in other words, the fizzing noise of the bottle of pop would be a neutral stimulus for you.

With this process in mind, we are ready to begin classically conditioning our cat – to use the expert expression. If you make a click in front of your cat at home, using a clicker from the pet shop, this will be a neutral sound for the cat without any relevance or meaning. In order for the click (the neutral stimulus) to assume a meaning for the cat, and to become the subject of positive associations for him, we have only to observe one small basic rule: timing!

Timing

The cat gets a treat immediately after the click. The ‘immediately after’ is the most important part of the whole affair. The treat must not be given at exactly the same time as the clicking sound, because then no association would take place. The cat will only concentrate on the treat, and the clicking sound will make no impact. If, on the other hand, the period of time elapsing between the clicking sound and the giving of the treat is too long, you will also fail to achieve a conditioning effect, because the animal cannot make a connection between the click and the treat.

Ideally, there should be a time span of between one fifth of a second and half a second maximum between the click and the treat.

 

 

The reward for good work can consist of a cuddle or a loving nose-butt as well.

 

So you take the new clicker in your hand, put a few treats easy to reach nearby, and call your cat towards you. Only click once each time, and give him the treat within half a second. Repeat this a few times. And whether you believe it, or not, you are well on your way to classically conditioning your cat! It is possible that the cat will just run away after a few treats. That doesn’t matter at all! Remember, for each training session:

This is the correct sequence:

Repeat this initial exercise two to three times a day for a maximum of two to five minutes on each occasion. Within a short period of time you will notice that your cat has made a connection between the click and the treat. The more frequently you click at the start, the stronger the cat will be conditioned to believe that the click will be followed by something positive. We will talk later about the reasons why you should not use the clicker to coax or call your cat to come towards you. But in order to make this first success more apparent to you, you can carry out the following test, but please only do it this once! After two days’ initial work with the clicker, and while your cat is nearby and awake, just click on the clicker once. You will find that your cute little kitty will come eagerly running towards you in anticipation of a treat. Congratulations! You have already taken the most important step!

Classical conditioning

You have just grasped the principle behind one of the most important commonly effective learning methods, whose discovery we owe to the Russian scientist Ivan Petrovitsch Pavlov (1849–1936); this is classical conditioning, the basic characteristics of which can be summed up as follows:

 

With the use of correct timing, the animal cannot evade the effects of conditioning, because the reaction that follows is not guided or affected by the individual’s own free will, but rather it is subject to physiological processes. This means that the animal cannot influence this process by its behaviour. This way an originally neutral stimulus (the click) becomes associated with a positive stimulus (food/play/cuddle), and takes on the same meaning.

 

An example of this process is that every cat who loves his moist food will react to the noise that’s made by opening the aluminium tray or tin. Unintentionally, a classical conditioning has already taken place here. The ‘natural reward’ – in this case the food – is called the ‘primary reinforcer’. The sound of the tin being opened is called the ‘secondary reinforcer’. That’s why in the context of working with a clicker we talk about the deployment of a ‘secondary reinforcer’. The anticipation of food or treats is reinforced or, in other words, announced by the clicker.

 

 

 

Left: Next to the treat this is one of the nicest affirmations.

Right: Playing as a reward! With the speedy ‘Cat-dancer’.

The clicker works for all cats

Deaf, blind, fat, thin, fussy eaters, young or old, indoor or outdoor cats – clicker training works for every cat. I can well imagine that some readers will be tempted to put the book to one side now, saying: ‘My cat wouldn’t lift a finger for a treat.’ Please continue reading all the same! Because the primary reinforcer which we need in order to subsequently reinforce it with the clicker doesn’t necessarily have to be food-related. It could be anything which represents a genuine, direct reward for the cat. It could just as easily consist of a playing session with the cat’s favourite toy, but also a cuddle and tender words for the little moggy, ever in need of love and attention. What’s important here is this: make the beloved toy disappear afterwards, so it doesn’t lose its charm. And precede every cuddling session with a small clicker exercise to make it clear to the cat that the cuddle is a reward.

 

 

 

Left: Isn’t this a lot of fun!

Right: Of course, at the end of the game the cat has to win!

 

To keep things simple in this context I will just talk about treats or rewards. But even if you have a cat who prefers to be rewarded with food, there may sometimes be situations where a rumbustious playing session would represent the bigger reward. Whatever emphasises the effect of the clicker, whatever the cat likes best at this point in time, is suitable as a primary reinforcer.

Now there will be those amongst you who will voice concerns regarding kitty’s potential weight gain from all those tasty treats, as a result of working with the clicker.

 

 

 

‘Lift the right paw’

 

 

‘Lift the left paw’

 

 

‘Gimme five’ Anima is the ‘paw specialist’, and is losing 40 grams per week due to the various exercises. By doing this she has lost a half a kilogram already.

 

I would like to share a few thoughts with you in this regard. I often wonder where the idea has originated that cats should always hav unlimited access to their food? Many fussy eaters would have far better appetite levels if they weren’t constantly overwhelmed on a daily basis by overly abundant offers of food. By keeping to fixed feeding times, freeroaming cats can be trained to develop a marvellous home-coming rhythm. (Of course a cat won’t return home punctually always and every day, just more often!) And many cats who have constant access to food day and night on a self-serve basis pay dearly for this luxury with diseases of the urinary tract. The cat’s bloodstream needs the occasional break between meals to return to its resting metabolism. During the intake of food, cats’ urine is more alkaline. Now it is very important to have acid urine, because the acidity helps dissolve bladder and kidney stones. In a cat who has free access to something to nibble at all times, the urine never turns acidic, but remains alkaline, potentially promoting urinary tract diseases.

We tend to forget that our cats still carry the inheritance of the African wild cat in their genes. As ambush hunters, they are used to sitting in front of a mousehole for hours on end, until the time has come to pounce. So why should it not be possible for a cat in a domestic situation to wait until meal time? Feral cats only know one logic: a full stomach has to be earned beforehand.

So why do we condemn our cats to idleness? Have your cat ‘sing for his dinner’, and you will enhance your relationship with him. One prerequisite for the clicker training is of course to...