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CNN Live At Daybreak
Latest Way to Train Your Cat
Aired May 12, 2003 - 05:51 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: For pet owners, a clicker is much more than a remote control for the TV. Our Jeanne Moos looks at the latest way to train your cat and maybe even your kid.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It sure seems to click with animals. You can teach a dog to lie down or a stubborn mule to take a few steps or a hippo to get on a scale. The technique surfaced years ago to train dolphins, though a whistle works better than clicker underwater. Lately the clicker has become the cat's meow.
Little cats, big cats, the trick is to click and then to treat. Click at the exact moment when the animal does what you want it to do.
KAREN PRYER, BEHAVIORAL BIOLOGIST: And not a half a second later, right now so the animal can go oh, that, that, you mean that?
MOOS: Behavioral biologist Karen Pryer is the queen of clicking, giving lectures like this one at the Wildlife Conservation Society and publishing guides.
PRYER: Clicker training kit for cats.
MOOS: It comes with two clickers and some treats. We tested the technique on James Kohl's (ph) unsuspecting cat Smooth. The easiest behavior to start with is getting the cat to touch a target, in this case a wooden spoon. Each touch gets a click and treat. Fifteen minutes later, Smooth graduated.
JAMES KOHL: OK, so what are we doing now, we're putting him in the closet?
MOOS (on camera): So, no, no, no, we're putting you in the closet.
KOHL: Oh.
MOOS (voice-over): James hides and yells, "Come!"
KOHL: Come. Come.
MOOS: When Smooth finally finds him, he gets a click and a treat. What does the click do?
PRYER: It's sort of the same thing that keeps people playing those slot machines in Las Vegas. It's so much fun to hit it, yes I've got it.
MOOS: At the Dallas Zoo and at Disney's Wild Kingdom, they've clicker trained the tigers to back up and give their tails. The tail is a good place to draw blood or inject medicine. At clickertraining.com you can even watch a fuzzy tape of a goldfish being trained to go through a hoop.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good fish.
MOOS: The next frontier, clicker training kids. After clicker training her horse, gymnastics instructor Teresa McKean (ph) figured why not try it on her students training near Charlotte, North Carolina? Such techniques as clicking when form is perfect has helped the kids master their skills far faster.
TERESA MCKEAN: Oh, beautiful. Look at that.
MOOS: But even clicker training won't convince your cat to answer your cell phone.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Amazing.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired May 12, 2003 - 05:51 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: For pet owners, a clicker is much more than a remote control for the TV. Our Jeanne Moos looks at the latest way to train your cat and maybe even your kid.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It sure seems to click with animals. You can teach a dog to lie down or a stubborn mule to take a few steps or a hippo to get on a scale. The technique surfaced years ago to train dolphins, though a whistle works better than clicker underwater. Lately the clicker has become the cat's meow.
Little cats, big cats, the trick is to click and then to treat. Click at the exact moment when the animal does what you want it to do.
KAREN PRYER, BEHAVIORAL BIOLOGIST: And not a half a second later, right now so the animal can go oh, that, that, you mean that?
MOOS: Behavioral biologist Karen Pryer is the queen of clicking, giving lectures like this one at the Wildlife Conservation Society and publishing guides.
PRYER: Clicker training kit for cats.
MOOS: It comes with two clickers and some treats. We tested the technique on James Kohl's (ph) unsuspecting cat Smooth. The easiest behavior to start with is getting the cat to touch a target, in this case a wooden spoon. Each touch gets a click and treat. Fifteen minutes later, Smooth graduated.
JAMES KOHL: OK, so what are we doing now, we're putting him in the closet?
MOOS (on camera): So, no, no, no, we're putting you in the closet.
KOHL: Oh.
MOOS (voice-over): James hides and yells, "Come!"
KOHL: Come. Come.
MOOS: When Smooth finally finds him, he gets a click and a treat. What does the click do?
PRYER: It's sort of the same thing that keeps people playing those slot machines in Las Vegas. It's so much fun to hit it, yes I've got it.
MOOS: At the Dallas Zoo and at Disney's Wild Kingdom, they've clicker trained the tigers to back up and give their tails. The tail is a good place to draw blood or inject medicine. At clickertraining.com you can even watch a fuzzy tape of a goldfish being trained to go through a hoop.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good fish.
MOOS: The next frontier, clicker training kids. After clicker training her horse, gymnastics instructor Teresa McKean (ph) figured why not try it on her students training near Charlotte, North Carolina? Such techniques as clicking when form is perfect has helped the kids master their skills far faster.
TERESA MCKEAN: Oh, beautiful. Look at that.
MOOS: But even clicker training won't convince your cat to answer your cell phone.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Amazing.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
