Accent

Training your cats?

"As easy as herding cats" takes on new meaning at the Midtown home of Sue and Steve Gilsdorf. Their three male tabbies jump through a hoop, give high-fives and stand on their hind legs to offer kisses. One even walks on a basketball, rolling it across the living room floor. And though Sue hasn't actually tried to herd the trio, she knows how to proceed. "Clicker training," she says. That's how she taught her pets myriad tricks and transformed the two older felines - Ratuie and Taveets - from "rowdy boys" to well-behaved cats. Based partly on operant conditioning principles, this approach requires the trainer to obtain, mark and reward desired behavior. For example, to teach a cat to sit on cue, the trainer waits for the cat to sit, immediately makes a clicking sound and gives the animal a tiny food treat. When the cat associates the click with food, it begins to sit more often. The trainer then says "sit" or gives another signal as a cue before the cat repeats the behavior. Next, the click and reward take place only when the animal sits after the cue. The cat soon learns to wait for this cue before sitting. Professional trainers use the clicker - a small tin noisemaker - because its sound is short and sharp, and it identifies exactly what behavior earns the reward. "But the sound can be anything distinct," Sue explains, such as "Yes" or a tongue click on the roof of the mouth. Once the cat learns the behavior, the click becomes unnecessary. Sue started clicker training four years ago, shortly after bringing home 3-year-olds Ratuie and Taveets from the Humane Society of Southern Arizona. The tabbies terrorized the Gilsdorfs' old female cat, Acacia, who has since died - of natural causes. In addition to attacking Acacia, Ratuie ripped furniture, swung from drapes and bit Steve's and Sue's hands when stroked. The couple finally met with an animal behaviorist, who mentioned clicker training, in use for at least 20 years with a variety of animals. Her initial reaction: "You can't train a cat." But she changed her mind after finding a cat-clicker group on the Web. By following the training principles and consulting the group, Sue resolved Ratuie's problems. Instead of saying "No" or using a water sprayer, she trained him to pursue alternative behaviors, such as going to a mat on the bed rather than hogging Acacia's food. The two enemies also learned to nose-kiss each other. Three years ago, Tazee joined the family when he was 4 months old. By watching Ratuie and Taveets, he learned to give high-fives and jump hurdles without training. Sue, an emergency room nurse at University Medical Center, spends 20 minutes daily working with the cats. This schedule allowed Taveets and Ratuie to master high-fives in two weeks and Tazee to maneuver the basketball in three months. She feeds them twice daily, rather than on demand, to ensure an interest in food treats during training. The Gilsdorfs note that some folks believe teaching tricks to cats is unnatural or should be limited to circus animals. But Sue finds that training increases her rapport with the pets and offers them needed stimulation. "They'd be couch potatoes if I didn't do this," she says.