Today, I’m pleased to do a Blog Swap with fellow web writer, designer, and blogger Melanie McMinn, an American ex-pat living in New Zealand. Her beyond-beautiful blog The Frugal Kiwi offers great money-saving and DIY ideas on many fronts. So, when I came up with an at-home, free way to cool my laptop, I offered to guest post on her blog in exchange for a guest post here. So, I’m super excited to present Melanie’s insights into training cats to do tricks. The videos are darling!
Training Cat Tricks
Beg, shake hands and high-five are all common tricks for Fido. Easy enough to teach and fun for your dog to learn. But what if you don’t have a dog?
Chamille, the LaPerm, came to us as an ex-breeding queen.
When Sir Ed, the Devon Rex, joined the family, I tried training him as well.
Since Ed prefers causing havoc to eating treats, he’s proved to be a less promising cat to train than Chamille. However, he has trained US to play fetch with him — a common behavior for his breed. Ed’s favorite game is to drop an elastic pony tail holder on my foot and have me fire it down the hall for him. He’ll race after it at breakneck speed, grab it, and bring it back for more fun.
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I trained my cat when I was growing up – my huge tabby tomcat would shake, beg and wave. I never trained my current cats… I think I lost my eight-year-old wherewithall. 😉
Aw – I really enjoyed this sweet video. I’m allergic to kitties but find they adorable. Thanks for posting this!
what a great cat! never really tried to teach any cats anything, but when I was growing up, we had two cats who always ran to the front window the minute they heard my mother’s car turn the corner at the top of the hill above our house…fun to watch and a good memory
Thanks Roxanne! My darlings look fabulous. It is nice to see them, since I’m overseas at the moment and they are at the kitty spa.
Thanks to everyone for their enthusiasm for Melanie’s super-smart cats.
Pretty much animal animal can be trained using a clicker. That’s how they train dolphins, whales, and even zoo animals so that they are easier to care for and such.
How clever is this? Who knew?
Cats doing dog tricks, that’s great. I joke around that my dog is part cat (pom mix), but he still can’t do dog/cat tricks other than begging for food.
Who knew cats could do dog tricks?? These cats are much better at it than is my dog…when I try to play “fetch” with her, I am the one who ends up chasing the ball while she sits there and watches!
These videos are a scream! Loved them.
Wow! My family is terrible at training animals. They end up ruling the house. You and Melanie are incredible!
I didn’t know cats could be clicker trained!
This is truly amazing. I don’t have a dog or a cat but who knew? Maybe these animals need to be in the Guiness Book of World Records? Is there one for non-human mammals I wonder?!
I’m having all kinds of technical bugs this morning, trying to get both photos and both videos to show up. Each time I visit the site, I see something different. So, my apologies, if you see anything weird or missing today. I’ll continue trying to fix so that Melanie gets ALL the flash she deserves.
Just in case. Here is Chamille’s Photo.
Here is Ed’s Photo
And, here are links to their videos:
Chamille Video
Ed Video