Training a Cat to Give A Paw in Nine Days - start here

Pets of all species can benefit greatly from training. Not only does it give you more control, but it gives them some cognitive challenges, and can be very enjoyable for all, when done correctly.

Training requires a lot of patience and attention to detail, two talents I've never had. Over 9 consecutive days I ran 1-2 short (less than 10 minutes) training sessions with my cat, Athena, to train a 'present paw' behaviour. In this short video you can see Athena's improvements over time, and my own, as we go through the training. I make plenty of mistakes in this video, so feel free to use it for a teaching example! I've highlighted the obvious mistakes, but there are plenty I haven't pointed out.

Questions You Can Ask:
What type of reward schedule is being used?
Answer: Continuous reward, you might then later ask is this the best form of reward? Should the trainer move to a variable ratio reinforcement now the behaviour is learned?

In the earlier sessions, the paw was being lifted by the owner. Was this appropriate shaping?
Answer: No. Ideally, the behaviour should have been rewarded on spontaneous paw-lifts.

What are the next steps?
Answer: Variable reward ratios and encouraging more exaggerated paw lift.