#trick training
Raise your hand if you’re the best cat ever!
This might look familiar to you, because its an agility course I already posted Donut doing - in the posted version she was fetching a ball through it, but I also wanted to post this one to show you how excited she gets to do the weaving courses alone!
Trick tutorial on how to train a rat to weave: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bz4EXnFa78
Trick tutorial on training a rat agility: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5Q-vAIpNME
Egg’s turn to learn to fetch the mail - Egg tends to be more wary around new props than her cagemates, so I’m always super proud when she masters a new prop-based trick!
Trick tutorial for the “fetch the mail” trick: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgpMg56ENJM
Donut weaving in a semi-circle while carrying a ball! One trick comes naturally to her (weaves, aka her favorite trick!), the other is the result of lots of practice (carrying an item, aka the hardest trick for Donut but one she’s learned amazingly well with practice!)
I like combining tricks that the rats both love from the start with tricks they need to work more on, because then they start to enjoy the tricks they need to put more effort into due to associating them with their favorite tricks!
Trick tutorial on how to train a rat to weave: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bz4EXnFa78
Trick tutorial on training rats to fetch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNsALU4xbzo
Olive’s turn to work fetch while walking backwards on two rolling barrels in a row - and yes she is walking backwards on them, watch her feet closely and you’ll see she has to backup on each barrel in order to move it forwards!
Trick tutorial on training a rat to walk on a barrel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KVjImgn0-c
Trick tutorial on training rats to fetch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNsALU4xbzo
Sweet Donut doing some fun scent work with the mini chests - she has to sniff out and tip chest 4!
Trick tutorial on training a rat scent work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os7rOc7EOWI
So I’ve stopped training new tricks with Pickle because I don’t want to add any stress to her life right now, however I have some trick clips of her that I have yet to post from before, so I’m going to post those alongside updates.
As far as today’s update, its mainly good news - Pickle has responded really well to the metacam (although she HATES the taste lol), and is back to being 100% active and playful! Very happy to see her act this way, she really seems to be comfortable and doesn’t seem bugged by the tumor.
Another good thing is that Pickles ear infection has cleared up - the ear drops + antibiotics have done an amazing job, and while she’ll continue to be on them, I’m glad to see one issue resolved.
Then unfortunately we have some bad news, which is that the tumor is continuing to grow pretty quickly. In addition to that, it seems that she has an abscess on top of the tumor (common with these types of tumors :/ ), and I can see a scab forming on the lump. Once it opens up, we can flush it and treat it like a usual abscess, but in all likelihood it will never heal back up, because the growing tumor behind it will make that impossible.
Right now I’m just happy that Pickle is comfortable and active, and while I hate seeing this progress I’m glad to know that at least Pickle is continuing to do well and enjoy life <3
Handsome
Trick training with the boys
We’ve got a smart one here! It took Shanghai Kitty less than 15 minutes to learn her first trick… Smile for cookies!
Drogon knows a bunch of tricks and really loves trick training, but he definitely has his favorite ones!
A fun thing I like to do is allow him to lead the training session himself now and then - he’ll tell me which trick he wants to do, and then I ask him to do it and give him a reward when he does. It’s especially fun right after a session of training a new trick/behavior, if he’s been getting bored or a bit frustrated about not getting it right every time, - to just move on and let him decide for himself what to do, ensuring his satisfaction (and a treat) every time!
So here’s a video (sorry it’s in Swedish) of him asking me to ask him to do his two absolute favorite tricks over and over - “vinka” (meaning wave in Swedish, so it’s waving), and “dracarys” (which is the verbal cue Daenerys from Game of Thrones uses for her dragons to breathe fire…. I use it for a lil wing flap).
As you’ll see, the one time I ask him to do a trick that he didn’t request at first, he just ignores that and tells me he wants the other one. Big boy likes to be in charge!
Variation on “snorp”
