It’s been about 10 days since we got the kitties and I have to say, they are doing really well. Trick has always been more affectionate, purring and enjoying being touched. But Treat is getting better. I am becoming a good secondary reinforcer, I think. He looks at me now and knows I’m the key to his food. We give them some food from the dish, but mostly we feed to them for training, just like we would with puppies. Their back & forth recalls in the living room are good and they are both responding well to their names. We are also working on having them come to us and hand touch so that when someone puts out a hand they move toward it. Here’s a short video of Judy working with Trick.
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September 1, 2009 at 10:20 pm
Debbie Davidson09
Hi, I’m glad I found you here on wordpress. Looks like this is a brand new blog. Congratulations!
I’m interested in animal behavior, and look foward to reading your posts. I’m on the clickcompobed site (hope I have the correct letters in the correct order!) and clicker training my dogs.
DebbieDavidson
http://debbiedavidson09.wordpress.com
September 3, 2009 at 7:45 pm
k9infocus
Hi Debbie! This is my first blog attempt so I am working on getting the hang of it. Hope you enjoy my ramblings about kitties and other assorted animal stuff!
September 5, 2009 at 8:01 pm
Julia Ecklar
If you want to start using the actual clicker with the kittens (instead of just a verbal marker), one of the things that I’ve found useful is to tape a box clicker to the handle of the spoon you’re using to feed the wet food. That way, you’ve got a free hand, but you can still click! 🙂
Looking forward to further posts!
September 6, 2009 at 5:54 pm
k9infocus
Thanks Julia. I know that I once saw someone training with a similar device. That would make things easier. We’ve been just letting them take bite or two right from the bowl, and that helps keep things much neater. The food tends to drop off the spoon and then they spend time cleaning it up, and waste training time. It’s these simple little things that are harder with kitties!