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I had no idea how clicker training actually worked.
Apparently, it works the way slot machines work.
I wonder if cats would have gambling addictions if they could gamble?
Are cats obsessive?
Are they more obsessive than dogs?
Do we know?
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I taught my formerly feral cat, Wild Man, to heel with Karen Pryor's techniques. I didn't actually use a clicker, I shaped the behavior gradually using a dog brush as a reinforcer (this weird cat loved to be brushed).
He would follow me, on the left (I am left-handed and carried the brush on the left) and I would lean over and take swipes at him with the brush, which sent him into spasms of ecstasy. Instead of a "sit" when I stopped, like a dog does, Wild Man did a stunning Sphynx-like crouch at my left foot.
When we "heeled" he did a perfect "Golden wrap," as dog trainers say (Golden Retrievers notoriously "wrap" themselves partway around the trainer's leg and gaze up in rapt adoration).
We could go up and down the drive, do right and left and U-turns. It was a hoot.
I found the difference between training a cat and a dog is in considering their natural drives and reinforcers. You have to work with them in the case of cats. You get best results by shaping something interesting the cat already does into a real stunt. Wild Man always showed a tendency to follow me around, so I shaped that.
I have a cat now that herds dogs. I should shape that for TV!
You should absolutely take video of this
I'm thinking people have totally misunderstood cats....
What do you think about how closely cats "read" human body language?
I'm thinking perhaps they aren't close readers of humans? (Dogs are; I think horses are, too, but I'm not sure.)
Cats apparently haven't been domesticated particularly, which is puzzling in and of itself....
The fact that you could train a feral cat is fascinating.
All of the other domestic animals (I think) have been seriously altered genetically by the process of domestication.
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