Hi, humans and non-humans, today we are training cats to press buttons!
Why?
I think it’s fun, that they don’s talk but now we have a way to communicate.
You’ve seen other videos a cat or a dog can press up to 50 buttons, and they are so
smart and impressive.
Then I look at Manju, well, I don’t need him to be that smart, as long as he is happy
I’m happy.
But sometimes I don’t exactly know what Manju wants, and buttons are so helpful for
me to know that and fulfill his needs.
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Let’s get it.
Here are a couple of things we need.
A button, I prefer these buttons that record our voice, so our pet can somehow distinguish
the buttons, and associate certain sounds with actions.
The downside of this is that it might be a little hard to press for cats who are new
to this.
If that’s the case, try these cat bells.
These are much easier to press, but because all it does is to make a ding sound, it might
be a little harder for cats to perform different actions using the same sound.
But these bells are still great if you only want your cat to do one thing, or plan to
use these as practice buttons and then switch to the other ones.
Of course, we need treats.
This training exercise will work the best if your cat is hungry.
When all of their needs are met, they just don’t care anymore.
If your cat only eats wet food, use a puree stick, a bowl of wet food also works.
I’ll show you more in a moment.
The first step is to familiarize them with the button and show them how the button works.
If you have a button that records your voice, do it now.
Let’s say I’m training Manju to press the button for food, I might use the word
“Food”.
Nouns work the best, for example, catnip, food, and toy.
Avoid words that describe feelings, such as happy, sad, satisfied, and frustrated.
These words are more abstract, and it’s very hard to present them with something to
describe that feeling.
But here I’m only training Manju to press buttons for food, he’s hungry so he needs
food, I could go with Food, but I think it’s so cute when it says hungry, so I’ll go
with hungry.
So now I’ll record my voice into the button.
No matter whether you button records or not, when you are ready, show them the button and
slowly familiarize them with the button itself.
Let them investigate it.
While they play with it, you press the button a couple of times, to let them know, okay,
this thing makes a sound somehow.
The next step here is to press the button while they perform the desired behavior to
build an association between the action and the sound.
So when Manju is eating, I place the button next to his food bowl.
And press.
Keep pressing for a while, so they hear the sound while doing the thing you want them
to do.
If you want them to say Toy, then press the button while you are playing with them with
the toy.
It applies to most of the activities.
After several rounds, we are ready for the next step.
In this step, we are trying to get them to touch the button.
When they are hungry and following you around for food, you want to have some food or treats
in hand, and we lead them to where the button is.
First, we can try putting the treat on top of the button so their nose would touch the
button.
Slowly, when they eat, we can gently place their paw on the button.
Then we place their paw on the button, then reward.
It’s a gradual process, at the end of this step your cat should be able to touch the
button, even without pressing it.
After several rounds of practice, now they know they will be rewarded if they touch the
button.
But our purpose is to have them press the button to make a sound.
So in this step, we are training them to perform the action of pressing.
When they touch the button, they no longer get a treat immediately.
Now you try gently lifting up your cat just a little bit and put them over the button,
when they land, make sure their paw hit the button.
Because their bodyweight will push the button, when the clicking sound goes off, reward them
immediately.
After being rewarded a couple of times, you shouldn’t need to lift your cat anymore,
and only reward when they successfully press the button.
Repeat this step as many times as you need, but don’t over force them to do it.
By the end of this step, they should be able to press the button knowing they will be rewarded
for this action.
Here are several tips to help you make this experience easier.
If your cat is very vocal or they stare at you for food, that’s no longer the case.
We make sure that they know the button is the way, and now it’s the only way to get
food, so other methods like meowing or staring does not work anymore.
That means only reward them when they press the button successfully.
During the training phase, when they press the button, you need immediately present treats
or whatever action you are training them for, to let them know that every single time they
press the button, you will give them something good, even they pressed the button accidentally.
This is to build a strong association between the button and the action.
I still remember the first time Manju pressed the button in the kitchen accidentally, and
I was in my office, I heard it, I went like “was that Manju?”
I dashed out and saw him right there, and gave him treats.
After that he knows, ah-hah, this is to call her over and give me treats, I like that.
And he started to do it more and more.
This is also a story where cats successfully train a human being, right?
I’m sure there are situations where you just don’t want them to press the button,
they just had a meal, or you have something else to do.
That means we are not going to leave the button out, because they might press it, and there
is no reward, that will weaken the association between the button and the action.
So I would typically take away the button when I’m out, or I have something else important
to do.
We still want to leave the button out for some time so they know you are available.
When they are successfully trained, and completely adapted to the button-word system, you don’t
have to present the reward every time anymore.
It’s also a good way to tell them, no it’s not time for food, or not time for playing
yet and try again later.
You want to find a balance that you don’t want them to do it all the time, but also
have them do it several times a day so they don’t forget.
Also, here is how it works with wet food.
When they press, bring the food bowl down, they take a couple of bites.
Then lift the bowl up so they can’t reach it anymore.
Bring it down when they press the button again.
We still do this right before Manju’s meal every time.
This is how we got Manju to press the button in 4 steps.
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cat owners like you.
We also have other cat training videos on our channel, please check them out if you
are interested.
We are Furry Diary, see you in our next video.
Bye!