Or they understand that it’s the cats doing the training.
For example, my cat has me trained so that when she comes in at night I give her a treat. Sometimes she’ll demand to go back out again so she can come inside and get another treat. Works perfectly every time.
Idk about that, but I have trained my cat to shake, high five, nose kiss, sit, stand on hind legs, and scratch her post on command. I’m currently working on roll over and spin.
I trained my kitten to play fetch, but now that she’s a cat, she won’t do it lol
My cat used to love fetch as a kitten!
Then he grew up and started lazily staring at me instead of returning the toy.
They grow up so fast. 😢
100% we have a smart food-motivated cat and she’s lots of fun to train
Most cats are easy to bribe. They like (some) food, hunt, and scritches.
They are not pack animals and have zero pack animal behaviours. That makes them offensive for a particular mindset of people who want control. Beware of people who “don’t like cats”.
I grew up around dogs and when trying out the stuff I learned on cats, it worked about as well as we now might expect 😅. My theory was that I just didn’t get them, so I would pass up on interactions because nails.
Now I live with 2 cats of my own, and it’s super cozy. But there was quite the learning curve! It was fun to learn it all, though.
Anyway, wanting control is not just some weird kink/personality mishap when talking about it in context of dog ownership. Most of the time, either you are in control, or the dog is. Dogs in control are unsafe to be around, so you don’t really have a choice.
1000% agree on the last sentence. I’ve used that as a metric for years.
Someone doesn’t like the animal i like, must be nefarious lol
That makes them offensive for a particular mindset of people who want control.
Weird take. Most people who don’t like cats simply didn’t grow up around them and don’t know how to interact. It’s not because they’re obsessed with control. I mean, fine if you choose not to like non-cat people, but the control theory is just weird.
For me, I wasn’t really exposed to many cats growing up and the small handful I did meet were mostly aloof and didn’t want to interact with strangers. One cat literally just walked up to me and bit my hand out of nowhere. (I wasn’t even trying to interact with him, he was just known for being mean.) I also didn’t have dogs growing up, but interacting with them felt a lot more intuitive so I wasn’t as intimidated. I have since met some really sweet cats and I even have 2 kitties of my own now, but there’s definitely a learning curve.
My cat is dumb and good motivated and he’s fairly trainable.
He knows his name, the other cats name, our names, and responds to me when I call him over. He also recognizes “dinner” and bathroom time. He’ll do simple commands like up/down/off.
But if he’s not feeling it he will pretend he doesn’t hear while annoyedly flicking his tail.
Our other cat Is very smart but not food motivated. She does a lot of things if you tell her but only if she wants to. She doesn’t like being told what to do.
Is your cat a catgirl, perhaps?
Cats can be trained! I took it serious this time around and she’s learned how to stand up, shake, and high five. The trick is finding something they really, really like to eat since they won’t do it just to make your happy 😅
Edit: Also weird that cats are thought to be worse because they’re (sometimes) less subservient? Like, is that the only quality of a pet?
I don’t think doing tricks is what people have in mind when they say they want to train their pet
Also weird that cats are thought to be worse because they’re (sometimes) less subservient? Like, is that the only quality of a pet?
That’s an owner problem, not a cat problem. Cats are what they are. I think most people that dislike cats do so because they can’t treat them poorly and command them yet still get that subservience from them like dogs as you mentioned. They don’t want or like animals that tell them to fuck off.
One way I heard it said: Cats form their own opinions, cats require consent, cats come with boundaries. Beware of people who don’t “get” cats.
I don’t necessarily think every person who likes being in charge is automatically a bad person. Dogs are fine too. But it’s generally a warning sign if someone can’t cope with not being in charge.
I love this comment - cool insight fellow human.
That’s a better way to say it. Agreed.
Meanwhile, cat owners: This is my roommate, their existence heals me
i taught mine to high-five without food. He just loves being pet that much
I taught my cat to do it for treats. For weeks after, he would walk around the house high-fiving the furniture and look offended when a treat didn’t fall from the sky.
That’s adorable ♥️
Having trained many types of animal to follow at least a few basic commands, my order from easiest to hardest:
Horse, dog, wolfdog, wolf, chicken, cat, duck, goat, pig
Most of the “difficult” ones aren’t stupid, quite the opposite. They’re smart enough to be stubborn and wonder why they should do what you say
People literally train their cats to shit in the toilet.
People that argue that point need to be forced to bare witness.
“You can’t train a cat!”
“No Chad, YOU can’t train a cat. Now come watch MY cat poop.”
“…we’re just going to wait for your cat to need to poop in the litterbox?”
“No. I told you. I’VE trained MY cat to shit on command…AND THEN FLUSH!”
I used to have a cat that I was able to train to use the toilet! It took less than 6 months to transition from the litterbox, and she was around 3 when we started so she was already very set in her ways.
It requires something this This Toilet Insert and a spare bathroom that doesn’t need to be used by anyone but the cat for the length of the training. (Even if you remove the insert to use the toilet, the cat will likely object to any smells that aren’t their own)
Yet, I am completely unable to get my dog to stop humping men… Only ever men. Suggestions welcomed.
Cats can be trained, just maybe not in the same ways. We’ve got a pair of new kittens that like jumping on the table. Kittens are not allowed on the table, so I push them off. To begin with, they really fought against being pushed off the table (understandable) and tried to stay on as long as possible. After a couple of weeks though, they just let themselves get pushed off. Our old cat (who the kittens are replacing) used to jump off as soon as I walked towards him or even verbally asked him to get down.
I’m also training the kittens to be parrot cats sitting on my shoulder. We’ll see how much I regret that when they’re fully grown…
I’ve had multiple cats, all trained in one degree or other. Getting a cat to do what you want is kind of hard. Getting them to do something they like to do on command is pretty easy. I had a cat that would play catch, usually with uninflated balloons. I’d try to make her do backflips for the catch. All my cats were trained to stay off the counters and tables (when we were around). But I also recognize that cats don’t see us as masters and authorities, so you bet they would go on the counters when we weren’t around, for instance.
We put foil on the counters and eventually the cats lost interest in going up there. It took a long time and we make sure there are never plates for them to lick so there’s nothing to entice them.
I still hear them jump down from the counters at night and know there’s nothing I can do about it.
It will be inconvenient, but there will be no regret.
(who the kittens are replacing)
…maybe don’t phrase it like that…
The old cat died (or at least, didn’t come back one morning) and the new kittens are replacing him. That’s just how it is. I’ve lived my whole life with usually two dogs and two cats, as well as anywhere between five and thirty poultry. I must’ve went through 100 animals by now, at least 15 of whom were close pets… You get used to it. He was getting old, so I like to think he went and curled up somewhere warm to die rather than anything else happening to him. We did the best we could when he was alive and he seemed to genuinely enjoy living with us, so what more could we ask for in a pet?
Our old cat (who the kittens are replacing) used to jump off as soon as I walked towards him or even verbally asked him to get down.
The question remains as to who trains whom 😉
If I were the old cat, I would prefer my service staff to talk to me instead of throwing me down.
I’m also training the kittens to be parrot cats sitting on my shoulder. We’ll see how much I regret that when they’re fully grown…
I’ve got a ~20lb Turkish Van that I trained to ride/sit on shoulders when he was a kitten. He wrecks my shirts now (and the skin underneath).
Cats can be trained, they just aren’t as willing to do it as dogs.
Dogs and cats are both fine. People who want to “train” a cat are misunderstanding the nature of the relationship, though. Do you train your friends to do what you want them to?
When it comes to communication, I absolutely do train them. Someone who always begs for money, doesn’t get very many responses from me, or very soon.
Someone who uses the wrong communication method, doesn’t get a response very quickly. I have a special arrangement with someone where we’ve agreed to use Slack for all sorts of random asynchronous communication and Signal for urgent stuff that requires an answer very quickly. We’ve made a verbal agreement about this, but some times they still violates the agreement by using Signal for non-urgent stuff. That’s when I ignore that message for a while. If my phone keeps on beeping, I silence Signal notifications for the rest of the day.
So far, training people has worked out pretty well.
You don’t Pavlov condition all your friends?
If my friend had a habit of jumping on the kitchen counter and chasing after my ankles, then yes, I would train them to stop that.
Oh I get it, you’re one of those people with boring friends.
You don’t?
Eh. I’m more of a fan of hypnosis. Give them a trigger word, and then program them rather than train them. Make their trigger word something that wouldn’t come up in a natural conversation, and when they hear it, they drop to their knees, give you a blowjob, give you all their cash, and don’t remember any of it.
Oh, by the way…Bêtise!!!
Rabbits can also be trained fyi. I think the biggest limitation on what a rabbit can do is definitely it’s body, not it’s brain
Can they be house trained?
The ones in my yard are fairly clever, learning quickly if people are a threat and memorizing the garden layouts.
One in my yard is really dumb and kept trying to make a den in a potted plant. I had to keep chasing him away and then put rocks over his hole. He kept coming back and digging it out again though.
Yep, they can be litter trained. Not sure if coating things in an apple spray (something rabbits find gross) counts as training them not to chew stuff. Rabbits are pretty clean and are suitable as house pets.
I’ve seen YT videos of one playing basket ball and learning to signal for food and such. Mine used to push a ball back and fourth between me and them. Saw someone else also train a rabbit to high-five them. It’s also possible to be able to call them (although you might need to use a more arbitrary sound than a name, like squeal a certain tone or a whistle.)
I believe that they can be trained to use a litter tray, as for not gnawing on things I’m not so sure.
Same with Guinea pigs. They have a reputation for being dumb because they do often have a vacant expression, however I’ve taught mine several tricks like spinning, standing up and offering a paw.
They can also learn from each other. I adopted one into a herd that liked to lie down with her legs in a different position to my others, and within hours they had all watched her do it and started to try it out themselves.
The biggest barrier is that they don’t understand human speech at all (they can kind of learn to understand your tone of voice but that’s about it) however they are very good at picking up body language and gestures with your hands.
Even invertebrates can be trained. The principles of behaviourism are conserved.
I love training animals. Dogs, cats, horses, ducks. It’s so rewarding because almost all animals you bond with want to please. Ducks are kinda hit or miss in regards to pleasing, but they can all respond to the phrase “go to bed” if you teach it to them.
Where did you get your stats?
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I don’t think one is better than the other, they’re just different and it depends on what you want out of an animal. I have a dog and two cats and they’re very well behaved, but I like my dog better. I like to go jogging and having her with me when I go is more fun. But dogs are also much less independent and require a lot of care, and cats in general are more into being cuddled than dogs are in my experience. Less active more introverted people seem to prefer cats, and that makes total sense to me.
<angry upvote>
lets pretend cats are not the reason the number of birds and birdspecies decline everywhere.
lets pretend all the dog owners that correctly point out cats train humans and not vice versa have poorly trained dogs.
dogs are still soooo much better as they have a much much bigger variety. cats? pffff…orange,void, snowball and trashmix. thats it. dogs on the other hand: all colors, sizes, skillsets…you can find a dog for everything.
I see we have imported the weird hatred of outside cats from Reddit
I mean, it is a very valid point. Outdoor cats are horrible for the environment, but also live far shorter, more violent and miserable lives. This is coming from someone who really likes cats. They should be indoors.
On the other hand… dogs stink, are relentlessly needy, and have to have violence trained out of them.
Tbh cats are way easier to train than dogs. Dogs are capable of outsmarting you. Cats have a brain the size of a walnut and just want the food. Your biggest problem with a cat is them not comprehending the command.
