For the first Training Session of my cats I had to “charge the clicker” which basically meant I’d click and give a treat (reinforcement).  After doing this about 4 times my cats caught on.  So that was the end of that.

Next I held out the spoon (target) with the domed side facing Mezzy.  The first thing she did was smell it.  As soon as her nose touched the spoon I clicked (bridge) and then gave Mezzy her treat.  Since it is still cold here I usually wear a sweatshirt with the hand pockets in front.  This works great since I can take a snack size baggie of the reinforcement and keep it in the front pocket.  Its still easily accessible but out of sight of my cat since she’ll fixate on the bag if it is in the open.  The purpose of the click/bridge is so the cat knows the exact behavior they were doing and being rewarded for.  Your cat will most likely not have her nose touching the target by the time you get out the treat which is why accurate bridging is important.

After Mezzy targeted well for a few times I tried holding the target further away from her to the side so she had to walk to get to it.  At first she was hesitant and looked at me but then walked over and touched the target.  *click* treat  This is now considered a follow since she is following the target to its new location.

I keep my training session at around 5 or so minutes in order to ensure this doesn’t become boring to her.  You want to leave them wanting more.  Over 4 days I would do mainly targets with one or two follows to get her more use to follow.  All of these follows were done with me sitting down and holding the target out to the side.  Later on I’ll try getting up and moving to a new location with Mezzy hopefully following the target and moving with me.