Total Cat Mojo

by Jackson Galaxy

  There’s always a positive alternative, but using the spray bottle means your cat will fear you. There is nothing positive about your cat (or dog or spouse or kids, for that matter) fearing you. There is no upside. If you have to resort to fear, you are doing something counterproductive.

  Do Animals Know When They’ve Done Something Wrong?

  People often describe their companion animals as “knowing they have done something wrong.” So Dr. Alexandra Horowitz set out to determine if what humans perceived as a “guilty look” in dogs was actually related to being guilty, or if the “look” was just a response to the dog being scolded.

  In the study, dog guardians were instructed to show their dogs a treat and then command them not to eat it with a stern “No.” The guardian placed the treat on the floor out of their dogs’ reach and left the room.

  Then the experimenter either took the treat away or allowed the dogs to eat the treat. When the guardians returned to the room a few moments later, they were either misinformed or told the truth about whether their dogs ate the treat. If the guardians thought their dogs obeyed them, they greeted them in a friendly manner. If they thought the dogs disobeyed them, they scolded them.

  Guardians attributed behaviors like avoiding eye contact, rolling over, dropping the tail, and moving away from them as signs of “guilt.” But these behaviors were only dependent on whether the human scolded the dog, and not on whether the dog was actually “guilty” of eating the treat when the guardian told him not to.

  The experiment showed that dogs weren’t experiencing guilty feelings about eating that treat, but that they likely experienced fear and anxiety when scolded by their human. And if you see those “guilty-looking” behaviors in your cats, there’s no reason to think they’re experiencing anything different from those dogs.

  TRAINING/TEACHING 101—CAT MOJO–STYLE

  Think back for a second to when you were a student: Who was your all-time favorite teacher? What was it about that person that still sticks in your memory? Was it because he or she made learning fun? Because he or she invested in you and, at the same time, made you feel invested and passionate about the subject? Whatever the answer is, it probably isn’t because the teacher simply presented facts that you memorized and regurgitated for a passing grade. Your favorite teacher gave the subject an emotional anchor, a reason to care about it.

  As with any parental relationship, the one you have with your cats provides you with a constant opportunity for teaching. But what increases your student’s ability to learn (and retain) is the mindfulness you bring to each moment. As any good teacher will attest, you know you’re doing it right when you are available enough to learn while you teach. As we move forward, I would urge you to pause often in the process and appreciate that teaching or training your cat can be a two-way street; this is an opportunity to learn something about yourself in each moment.

  Early on in my work with cats, everything revolved around three things: hands-on experience, observation, and “book learning.” The problem with the latter was that there was not a ton of information out there, and even less in the way of peers I could learn from in the cat world. So I turned to my friend and my shelter’s head dog trainer Nana Will. Nana was not only great with dogs on an empathetic level, she was a walking encyclopedia when it came to the intricacies of animal behavior and the applications of operant conditioning.

  I was in a rhythm of following Nana around and soaking it all up as she worked with both shelter animals and her at-home clients. I was adopting what I could from her techniques, short of trying to make cats act like dogs. But one of my most valuable lessons from Nana came about in an unexpected way.

  We were going to the bank together to deposit our paychecks on the Tuesday after Memorial Day—which meant that the bank was absolutely bananas. Everybody there was in a bad mood because it was an unseasonably hot first day back to the grind after a long weekend, and the lines were out the door. The air was thick with collective postholiday bitchiness.

  We were standing in line and Nana was telling me about positive reinforcement training as it applied to her dog training. It just so happened that, right in front of us, was a four- or five-year-old girl standing with her mom. All at once, she started pitching a hissy fit of epic proportions, screaming for ice cream. It was a demand that, within moments, we were all aware of because all that came out of that little girl’s mouth, in every conceivable pitch, volume, and tempo, was, “I WANT ICE CREAM!!!” And when those four words didn’t work, she became a live-action dictionary definition of a temper tantrum: first, she pulled violently at her mom’s pant legs while continuing her ice cream demands; then, she dropped down on all fours, beating the floor and banging her head like a cartoon character; then she rolled over on her back, continuing to abuse the floor with the soles of her feet, and our ears with the escalating dog-whistle tone of her insistent screams. It was quite a spectacle, one that was exponentially increasing the level of the aforementioned collective postholiday grouchiness.

  The cherry on top of this crap sundae, driving everyone to the brink, including me, was that the little hellion’s mom was just ignoring her. I was getting really angry, and was about to say something. Nana grabbed my arm and said, “No, just watch.” Finally, after the girl had exhausted her arsenal of vocal and physical acrobatics (and herself), she looked to her mom and wordlessly got up off the floor. There was a roughly five-second pause, and then the mom turned to her and said, “So, what are we going to have for lunch today?”

  It couldn’t have been more perfect. Nana felt my body relax and let go of my arm, knowing I got it. With a smile that was perfectly Zen in the face of the preceding chaos, she said, “See, that’s how it works. We either reward the noise or we reward the silence. Everyone learns the same way.”

  Nana’s first lesson was something I will never forget—it has remained at the heart of my teaching some twenty years later: Everyone from dogs and cats to chickens, possum, donkeys, turtles . . . and humans. All of us. Whether rewarded for our noise, or rewarded for our silence, we all learn the same way.

  THE TOTAL CAT MOJO TEACHING TOOLS

  The basics of how I “train” are centered on a short list of techniques (for lack of a better word). There’s Trust Gaining, Clicker Training, the No/Yes Technique, and the Challenge Line, all with an undercurrent of positive reinforcement. Trust Gaining, is, of course, what we’ve been talking about all along. Let’s take a peek at the others:

  Clicker Training

  When I initially approached my dog-trainer friend Nana to pick her brain about her work with clicker training, she straight up told me that she had next to no experience applying these techniques to cats. I was absolutely fine with that; I never had any desire to get a cat to be a dog. I just wanted every tool I could find; afterward, we could figure out how to use that tool to build the house of Cat Mojo.

  Clicker training is based on the ideas of operant conditioning put forth by B. F. Skinner. In the 1940s, two of his students, Marian and Keller Breland, took these ideas and ran with them, training animal actors in their “IQ Zoo.”

  What made their training methods so effective? Using a sound to inform animals that they had done a desired behavior. They happened to use a small “noisemaker” that emits . . . wait for it . . . a clicking sound for their training. The Brelands trained thousands of animals using these methods: chickens played baseball, pigs saved money in piggy banks, and pigeons were trained to guide missiles (I wish I was kidding).

  The idea didn’t really take off until the early 1990s, when Karen Pryor started offering classes to help people train their dogs using a clicker. Today, it is the method for training animals in a humane and effective way.

  So how does clicker training work? Let’s break it down.

  You teach your cat that the sound of the clicker immediately leads to a delicious treat. They call this “charging” the clicker. Do this se
veral times to help your cat learn this association. Click—treat. Click—treat.

  Now you add the behavior. You activate the clicker whenever your cat does a behavior you like. This can be a behavior that you “capture” (catch them in the act of doing) or that you “shape” or “lure.” When they do the behavior: click—treat.

  It’s that simple: behavior—click—treat. The clicker is not a command, and it’s not a remote control. It is a bridge to the treat and a response to a behavior you like. Because those behaviors are reinforced, your cat will do them more in the future.

  So what do I use clicker training for? I haven’t really changed much since I first started learning about it—meaning, it’s a tool, and wherever the tool fits, I use it. For instance, I use clicker training in a shelter setting where I often just teach simple tricks like sitting, waiting, and high fives. In the shelter, this work helps cats feel a little Mojo in a strange environment, and can even encourage them to come out to the front of the cage to greet potential adopters. It keeps their minds and bodies busy, and it provides a structured activity for staff and volunteers. This promotes a stronger bond, and the end result is also a much more adoptable cat.

  Outside the shelter, I don’t spend as much time on things like that. Don’t get me wrong—training behaviors for fun has value for human and cat. For instance, I love setting up cat agility courses that help bring out the Mojito in every cat, and clicker training can be invaluable for this. Agility courses for cats differ from those for dogs because we get to use the vertical space as well. Seeing a cat who has never explored the “world of up” get to the point where they walk a Cat Superhighway as if they were on the ground? Man, that’s good stuff—and instant Mojo!

  On the other hand, teaching your cat to sit in a cat tree instead of on the kitchen table during dinnertime is useful and solves problems for both of you: the cat wants a vantage point, and you want the cat not to be on your table, pawing at your forkful of food. This can be an excellent application of clicker training.

  Also, clicker training can help build much confidence when it comes to encouraging cats to accept things like: getting in and out of a carrier and accepting that carrier as a friendly place; having their nails trimmed; taking medication without struggling; even meeting new family members. These are the most common, and most helpful, applications when it comes to clicker training and your relationship with your cat. And that’s the key word: helpful.

  If you didn’t know by now, I’m a huge fan of the Raw Cat. Logically, then, I’m not such a huge fan of using clicker training for tricks that I consider humiliating. The role assumed by the human and the role assigned to the cat in the process of clicker training is one that requires a great deal of trust on the part of the cat—and a great deal of empathetic diligence on the part of the human. So the question we need to ask when starting a course of training is whether this is helpful to my cat, to his Mojo, and to our relationship.

  We need to realize that there is power we wield here, and it can be abused easily. Is clicker training ideal for teaching a cat who really wants to go outside that a harness is the way to go and shouldn’t be a source of fear? Of course. But should we train our cats to better accept wearing a hot dog costume so we can blast it out on social media? Based on everything in this book about enabling and fostering Mojo, I sure hope we are in step when it comes to answering that question.

  Of course, this is a pretty cursory breakdown when it comes to the ins and outs of clicker training. As simple as this method is, it still deserves a much deeper dive. If you want to learn to clicker train, there are plenty of great resources out there for you in the form of videos, websites, and books. I would recommend anything written by Karen Pryor as a good starting point.

  The Jackpot! Effect

  If I haven’t made it clear by now, allow me to recap:

  Cats, not being dogs, are not motivated by the thought of pleasing you. Cats, by and large, are most definitely motivated by food. The more they like a particular food, the more receptive they are to your influence and persuasion. Hence, whether you want to call it targeted food motivation or bribery, when it comes to working with your cat, food is not just any old tool; it’s your best friend.

  When it comes to “training” your cat, the single most crucial element, at least in my experience, is finding that food—the one that goes beyond simple motivation to the mystical world of your cat yelling “JACKPOT!”

  Some behaviors or actions—like, say, a “sit” or a “high five”—can be accomplished by offering any ordinary treat. But when it comes to creating a positive association with something that your cat is challenged by? Then you better have your Jackpot! close at hand.

  Knowing how monumental the Jackpot! is, we arrive at our first potential roadblock: the perceived finickiness of cats. Though it may feel like trying to find a needle in a haystack (or not—some cats are like four-legged vacuum cleaners!), the Jackpot! is there somewhere. Here are some recommendations for finding it:

  The clean slate makes for a clean plate: There’s no reason to even attempt a Jackpot!-finding mission if your cat is full. Make sure she is hungry. This speaks even more eloquently to my desire that you feed your cat meals rather than leave out food to graze on 24/7. As long as you continue to free feed, Jackpot! is just not going to happen.

  Flavor first: If you were to present unprocessed meat and/or fish in their most natural form (meaning not in treat or cat food form), your cat will naturally gravitate toward at least one. So start there. Is it salmon, beef, or chicken? Just keep presenting until you get “that look,” the widened eyes and hyperactive nose that say, “Hey, what is that?”

  Texture time: Just as important to many cats is the feel of the food. For example, if you know, based on the flavor test, that salmon gets that initial Jackpot! interest, the next step is to figure out texture—and there are many to be had. Cat food comes in pâté, chunks, smaller chunks, strips, more gravy, less gravy . . . you get the drift. As for the “crunchy” texture that seems to motivate so many cats—I’m not a fan of feeding dry food . . . at least not for meals. If your cat sees her “crunchies” as Jackpot!, use it! Instead of a meal, you can now use individual pieces as Jackpot! treats.

  The table scrap myth: I don’t know who came up with the idea that cats shouldn’t eat “human food.” Maybe it comes from the seasonings, such as added salt, onions, garlic, and other spices that are prevalent in human food and might be unsafe for your cat. That said, if your cat shows a proclivity to meat or fish marketed toward humans, we can’t let that stand in the way of “JACKPOT!” So, as long as the aforementioned seasonings are not present, try cold cuts or other meats generally reserved for humans. Remember that you’re not feeding these Jackpot! treats—they are offered in a restricted and measured rather than free-for-all kind of way.

  Speak to the Raw Cat: While there are many reasons to stay away from grains when feeding cats, it’s just as important to avoid grains when trying to find small treat-sized portions, since those extra ingredients will quickly fill up your cat, and that means the end of motivation. This is why I like freeze-dried meat treats so much. They are everything a cat needs and nothing they don’t; they approximate the crunchy texture for dry-food addicts, and as treats, they can be broken down into small pieces, which will keep the treat alluring for a longer period.

  Once you find the Jackpot!, keep it Jackpot!. Your mindfulness and restraint when it comes to how much and how often you dole out treats is absolutely critical. Treats should be viewed as special, high-value delicacies that are only brought out at select times. Too often I see well-meaning folks impulsively shower their cats with treats because their cat is cute, or because they feel guilty for being gone all day, or just because. This behavior is problematic because treat time loses its magic, and you lose one of the only opportunities you have to influence your cat.

  The No/Yes Technique

 
It feels like the vast majority of my introductory phone calls with my clients (and even conversations with strangers who stop me on the street) revolve around their desire to say “No!” to their cats. In other words, “Jackson, how do I get my cat to stop . . .” or “How do I tell my cat that [fill in the blank] is wrong?” If the question is being phrased that way, I already have a sense of exactly how behind the eight ball you are, and I can tell you, this is the beginning of that road to ruin. Rather than slapping a Band-Aid on a shark bite, getting an action to stop means stripping away the initial motivation of that action. This alone is ineffective because behind every action is the hope for payoff; so behind every “no,” there must be a “yes.”

  One of the best ways to describe the No/Yes Technique is to once again reference the parent-child dynamic. Let’s say you are regularly scrubbing your walls clean because you have a three-year-old who is constantly drawing on them. Now you can punish, yell, send her to her room, and take away her crayons . . . or you can buy her an easel. And if you buy her an easel, you’re bringing out the best in this child and making sure her natural impulses aren’t met with frustration. You can screw the cap down extra hard on the toothpaste tube, but if you apply pressure, the toothpaste will just come out the other way. You are not saying “no” to her impulse to draw. You are saying “no” to her initial choice of how and where she does it based on your needs and the rules you set in your home. You are providing her with another means of expressing this irresistible impulse. It’s a “no” followed by a “yes,” and the strength of both directives are critical to this equation.

  Now let’s return to one of the most common cat questions: “How do I keep my cat from getting on my kitchen counters?” Of course, there are very straightforward ways of saying “no” in that circumstance. The key is a consistent aversive. For instance, there are motion-activated air canisters that do the job well. If that canister is placed on the countertop, every time your cat jumps up, the sensor is tripped and a harmless but startling puff of air comes out in the direction of the cat. You could also use a few placemats with double-sided tape on them. Again, every time the cat jumps up, his game plan is thwarted because he lands squarely on a texture that is simply unpleasant. There it is, your “No!”