in this tutorial you will learn how to teach your cat to go to their bed or
their mat
so why teach your cat this behavior cats are intelligent animals learning and
working with their handlers enhances their life the mat can be a foundation
behavior for other behaviors like teaching your cat to go in their carrier
when they need to be transported as well the mat can be useful for solving
problem behaviors such as stealing food off the table or door dashing before you
get started you'll need a clicker some soft treats that your cat loves and a
mat or a bed that they can easily go on and off
in this step you're gonna pair the clicker with the treat start by tossing
a treat away from you click and then treat it when your cat comes back to you
your cat is learning two things that they get a treat when they return to you
and that one click equals one treat
in this step you're going to place the mat directly in the cat's path so they
are encouraged to touch the mat as they approach you click and feed the cat on
the mat and then toss another Treat away to reset and repeat the exercise
up until now we've been tossing the treat directly in front of us if we
picture the mat like a clock we've been throwing the treat towards 12 o'clock
setting the cat up to hit the mat on the way back now we are going to make it a
bit more challenging start by tossing the treat to one o'clock and 2 o'clock
and then on the other side of the mat to 10 o'clock and 11 o'clock here I've
worked up to 3 o'clock and Jones has to make a choice to come to me or return to
the mat if he misses the mat don't reward those but go back and make it
easier by the direction of your tosses
it is a good idea to add a verbal cue or a hand signal so that your cat learns
that they only get the reward when you ask them to go on the mat to teach this
say your verbal cue go to bed just as your cat is moving towards the mat you
would teach the hand signal the same way point at the mat just as the cat is
moving towards there your goal is that you can point to the mat and your cat
gets up from where they are and responds to the cue because I only bring the mat
out when I need to use it as a training tool just seeing the mat is a cue for my
cat that it's time to go and lie down on there you may want to do the same thing
and then put the mat away when you are not using it for training final stage of
the training is to encourage your cat to stay on their mat click and treat while
you walk around the room building slowly with distance and eventually some easy
distractions with a few more training sessions you can teach your cat that
regardless of the activities going on in the house staying on their mat is what
will get them the rewards
if your cat lies down on the mat at any point in the training be sure to
reinforce that you may even want to jackpot them by scattering a bunch of
treats on the ground as an extra bonus we really do want to encourage the cat
to lie down on their mat and stay there for a while thanks for watching I hope
you enjoyed the tutorial