Clicker Training Video: Cat Learning to Operate Light Switch
Monday August 27, 2007
Richard Norton raises Bengal Cats in Norway, and is extremely inventive in training his cats. This is the second clicker-training video from him and stars Zimba, learning how to operate a light switch through operative conditioning with the "click-treat" method of clicker training. Zimba learned the basics of clicker training at an early age, and now is working with varieties of skills. A great deal of patience is required on the part of the trainer, as much of this click-treat training can be repetitive. It is best to start with a hungry cat, as the motivation in this lesson is a morsel of food. This particular training session was done in 5-minute increments over three days, for a total of 28 minutes. The results are well worth the time, as shown by Zimba's progress during this lesson.
Comments
Thank you for sharing Richard Norton’s video. I watched it and was thrilled to see the progress! So much for all those people who say cats are not smart, are too stubborn, or can’t be trained!
That’s a great demonstration of “shaping”. It may look slow, but as pointed out, that’s a total of 28 minutes and I doubt anyone could train that behavior more efficiently any other way. If this cat were savvy with a paw target it would be even faster.
I loved the cat’s body language too! Bengals are certainly one of my favourite breeds.