Clicker Training for Cats (Karen Pryor Clicker Books)

I bought this book to help me understand how to train my very active Bengal. He needed to learn some manners, and we both needed a "common language" so we could communicate with each other. This book was specifically recommended to me by a cat behavior specialist in Seattle.The book is an easy read, as it is not overly long or complicated. The techniques are simple to understand and are explained in clear terms.The clicker training techniques were originally used to train marine mammals, like dolphins! I have seen the amazing things trained dolphins can do when trained, so I thought surely my cats can benefit from this technique as well.The book suggests that you begin with a very simple little trick, which actually comes naturally to your cat. Once your cat figures out that by performing the trick he has trained YOU to give him a treat, the rest is a piece of cake! My cat enjoyed the training and it provided some nice bonding time for us. It was exciting to be able to clearly communicate with my cat and know he understood exactly what I was saying.My Bengal can now (on command)"sit," "get down," "jump up," and walks on a leash. The training only took a few minutes a day, and in less than a week the communication between me and my cat had improved significantly.I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to understand their cat, change or improve their cats' behavior, or anyone who wants a fun way to create a bond with their pet.

I read about clicker training and decided to give it a try. Pryor's book is easy to follow and you can achieve results very quickly. It's a great tool for bonding with your cat. My cat Donut was a feral kitten who never properly socialized to humans, although she was gently and lovingly raised. Pryor explains how clicker training can make your cat calmer and more responsive, and since I've been working with her, I can attest. She has a bad attitude, generally, but she seems to be getting nicer over time. People just do not believe what she can do, as everybody always thinks cats cannot be trained. Clicker train--it works!Here's what my cat can do: Comes when called by name, comes with a "rap-rap" signal, sits, "targets" to a pointer or to my finger, lays down, rolls over, stays, rises up and pats my hand with an "up-up-up" command, gives me "five", can chase a thrown object and touch it with a paw when given the command "touch," and can discriminate among sizes of objects and touch the one thrown rather than a closer one, touch a little bag of treats when she wants one, and I'm teaching her to hop through a hoop. All of this using clicker training! She loves for me to put her through her paces and I enjoy working with her, too. Get this book.Amaze your friends, and let them think you have a genius cat.

I think this book has gotten a bit of an unfair bad rap because of some of the reviews. I almost didn't buy it because of them.True, the book spends the first half dozen pages or so trying to do a "hard sell" on the concept of clicker training. That is boring and completely unnecessary because we're already reading the book (duh), so it is just wasted space. But the meat of the book is good.Within the first 20 pages of the book, she very carefully and precisely teaches you a step-by-step approach to teaching a cat the "targeting" behavior through clicker training, which is the first thing most trainers teach. She goes really slowly step-by-step for everything from when to do it, how to do it, what treats to use to reward your cat, how often to do it etc.Then, since training additional things is only a variation of that training, she summarizes what is necessary to teach additional things. This is a common tactic for training books. Give the theory, give one very complete step-by-step example, and rely on the readers ability to generalize that to other situations. So I really don't understand the criticism that she only tells anecdotes about her cats, and how the book is useless etc. I think for such people, most books would be useless, since this is a very common approach to learning. Anyone with a high school level reading level ought to be able to comprehend this book and attempt to put the lessons into practice.To be fair, I can't evaluate how successful these methods are yet since I have just read the book and haven't put them into practice, but after reading the book I feel like I understand the concept and the necessary steps to perform, and have confidence that I can attempt to train my cats in these behaviors. It seems pretty straight forward and I look forward to spending many hours in this most worthy pursuit.

I am a recent convert to Clicker Training by way of a local trainer that is working with me and my 9 year old Karelian Bear Dog - a rescue I've had for 2.5 years.We are working on helping Bear (dog) become comfortable around other dogs. I also had to get him comfortable around a new kitten. Clicker training is helping both: quickly and positively. I was amazed at how well it worked with Bear and Auggie (new kitten).I was looking at Karen Pryor books and bought this one thinking that between this book and my trainer - who recommended Karen Pryor books - I would have good info for both dog and cat. This is working for me and my two.Excellent book - laid out well, easy and fun to read, easy to take things one step at a time. My house is more peaceful, more fun and Bear, Auggie and I are all happy together. 5 STARS!!