Training of cat as the strengthening of connection between you and it
To train the cat? Is it possible? Of course, it is! It is really possible. Of course, don’t hope that you’ll get Lassie or something like it but if you teach your cat to some words it will be pleasant both for you and your pet.
Before you start training it is important to know that if you try to order your cat it will not have good results. More effectively is to offer to it doing something. At first offer it and then show why it is necessary to do, then you will be on the right way. But if you try to order it you’ll stay alone.
Why it is necessary to teach the cat to manner? Isn’t it humiliating? Let us answer these questions. Why? Because it’s funny both for you and for your cat. It will help to develop communication between you, make you single “team” and develop trust if to do it well. Besides, it will help you to develop mental abilities of the cat. These abilities are huge but, in practice, they are almost not used in relations with man. And, of course, the most important for us is to strengthen good connection between the man and the cat.
Now we come to the question if it isn’t humiliating? I don’t think so. And, if your friends don’t laugh on the cat, perhaps, it won’t think so too. But, I suppose, it depends on your own approach. If you think it is silly to teach the cats then don’t do this. You won’t be able to hide such opinion from the cat. And as soon as it understands it you may forget about teaching!
But if you think that it is the valuable task to strengthen understanding by each other, to build up the bridge of connection between two living beings then go on! I can promise you’ll be surprised when you find out the great number of hidden talents your four-legged friend has!
Use the voice correctly
Your voice is the most effective tool for teaching. This tool is very elastic but it is always accessible and simple in use. You should just know some regulations of correct use of the voice.
Be careful with the loud tone!
The normal cats have the excellent sense of hearing betters than our. But nevertheless we often conduct ourselves as if they were deaf. We can talk to them too loudly. This way people sometimes talk to the foreigners with hope that it will help them to understand each other. But it doesn’t help, and in communication with cats too loud voice causes problems. Cat feels nervous tension and it hardly could be taught to something. Talk to cat with usual voice - this is everything you need.
Control your language
Human language throws cats into confusion. Of course, it isn’t their mean of communication. The fact that they can understand this language may be explained only by their highly developed mental ability. Either your cat is clever or not, it can use all the assistance we offer to it. You will make its task easier if you speak clearly and use the simple words. Be consistent on 100% in finding words and then your cat will be almost on 100% consistent in its response to these words. For example, if you teach it to word “Sit!” you mustn’t say “Sit down!” because this may confuse your cat.
Say every word only once
Cats don’t know our language. They remember clearly the word you teach them too. So if you say “Sit! Sit! Sit!” and then make your cat sit it will think that this order sounds “Sit! Sit! Sit!” and when you say “Sit!” your cat won’t respond to it because it just can’t understand the word as like as “Be-e” is not the same as “B-B”.
Control your intonation
Though cats, perhaps, don’t really understand human language they clearly understand the intonation. Use your tone to get more advantages. The words you teach your cat must be pronounced with the neutral tone, not as a request or order. The simple statements are the best. We, like the polite human beings usually pronounce commands as questions. “Sit?” - we say. The better and more effective way is just to say “Sit!” Try to pronounce words with the same tone every time. Then it will be easier to your cat to understand what you want. Praise the cat with warm and higher tone than usually. For example, “Kitty, kitty!” These words work for thousands of cats for a long time.
Encourage of the cat
What makes the cat cooperate with you? It depends on some specialties of the cat. But in most cases the best motivation is one of the kinds of encourage and the most effective one is food.
Some people show negative reaction as to training based on the encourage with food. They say they don’t want to “bribe” the animal. Then I should say, I’vel got good news: any training or teachings are based on “bribe” system. This means “the positive encourage”. I could never understand why some people persistently refuse the training of their cats with the help of food but in spite of that they think that the weekly wages is a good thing. But the wages is the positive encourage too. Would you go to your office without wages?
The “bribe” in school is the marks. If you work hard you’ll get a good mark. Most of us enjoy such system. The alternative positive encourage is love. The warm praises can be enough for some cats and most dogs. But in spite of the situation during the teaching the positive encourage always takes place.
But we’ll work with the positive encourage by food. For the sake of God praise your cat as much as you can! If you praise the cat and at the same time give it encourage in the form of food, it will soon think the praises are as pleasant as the food is. Here is the clear and the very important conclusion: if you use food as the encourage the best time for teaching it is when it is hungry. It is quite enough to teach the cat for five minutes before meals. The lessons will be very effective in spite of the short period of time. The week of such 5-10 minutes lessons - and your cat will play the game “I say and you do” with pleasure.
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