How to Train Your Kitten to Sit

Member

By AJ Tyne
User-Submitted Article

Article Rating:

(9 Ratings)

Train Your Kitten to Sit

Most people believe you cannot teach a cat any tricks or commands. That's not true, altho you may need a different approach with cats and kittens. Sit is an easy command to teach your kitten.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Kitten
Delicious, tasty treat

Step 1

Choose your treats carefully. Keep it very small, very delicious, and more of a melt in your mouth texture so it will be gone quickly. Remember cats have small mouths and tend to chew their food very well, so don't make it a big bite that she will have to work on in order to finish. Tiny bits of tuna, cheese, egg will work, choose according to what your kitten really loves!
Step 2

Make sure you and your kitten have a quiet place to work. Distractions can come later, but a quiet, distraction free area is best for starting the lessons.
Step 3

Pick up one treat, and hold it in your fingers, but keep your fingers closed, so the kitten cannot get the treat. Hold your hand with the treat in it, close to the kitten's nose, and then move your hand up and back, over the kitten's head. As the kitten lifts his head to follow your hand with the treat, he will naturally fall into a sit position.
Step 4

Make sure you say the word sit, only ONCE, at the right time. You should say sit, just as the kitten is starting to sit. Timing is critical with all animal training. The kitten will connect the word sit with whatever is happening at the moment she hears you say sit. So you have to make sure you say sit just as she is starting to sit (NOT after she has finished the act of sitting).
Step 5

Repeat this exercise several times during each lesson. It should not take many times before your cat starts to connect the word sit to the action of sitting. At first, make a very strong connection between the delicious treat and sitting, by giving a treat every time. After a while, when the kitten is sitting when you say sit, without hesitation or confusion, you can start to tell her to sit at various times throughout the day, without offering any treat, just pet her and tell her good sit. But keep giving the treats at other times, so she will continue to hope for a treat and never know when she will get one. That random treating is what keeps the strongest connection and the strongest response to the command sit, once the behavior is learned.

Comments

thedogshrink said

Flag This Comment

on 2/4/2009 No, it's never too late and the cat (or dog) is never too old. Some things an older pet may even learn faster than a kitten or puppy, but other things may take longer with the older pet simply because they are in the habit of the way things are now...