Training & Skateboarding Update

Well, the idea behind my training for the month of April was fun, and went pretty well the first week. Unfortunately, being that I am dealing with four distinct cat personalities, things got complicated. Everyone (except Dexter), decided all the treats I was using were not motivating enough to continue ‘work’ on a daily basis multiple times a day. I shopped around for countless flavors of commercial natural treats, tried more human foods, and fed raw food for treats.

But alas, everyone turned up their noses eventually (except Dexter). The amount I was asking from them versus the reward value of the treats became too unbalanced.

I tried alternative rewards, petting for Bayou, and toys for Asia…both with some success. Training sessions became shorter and less productive each day. In the end, we have made progress in A LOT of areas, but the progress has really been made in less formal sessions. A few minutes of work here, clicker training on occasion, and sometimes just general positive interaction. All of my detailed plans and schedules were eventually tossed out with the cat litter so to speak.

In the end, if its not fun for everyone involved, we do not do it!

Cat motivation is an art form….seriously. I have more thoughts on that, but I will save it for another post.

I will continue to share updates on our progress in various areas. For now, I wanted to show where we are at on one fun trick we focused on this month.

Riding a skateboard.

Bayou & Asia made the most progress on this. They love riding in things around the house, so a skateboard was not a far stretch and why I chose this one. Asia mostly struggled with the fact she wants to chase the wheels….but she has improved on that over time. Dexter and Cosmo are getting more comfortable, and I can move the board ‘a bit’ with them on it.

Link to video clip.

Everyone was trained with positive rewards and shaping with a clicker.