The Trainable Cat Audiobook By John Bradshaw, Sarah Ellise cover art

The Trainable Cat

A Practical Guide to Making Life Happier for You and Your Cat

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The Trainable Cat

By: John Bradshaw, Sarah Ellise
Narrated by: Paul Ansdell
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Dog owners know that dogs can be trained, but the idea of training rarely crosses cat owners' minds. But as best-selling anthrozoologist John Bradshaw and cat expert Sarah Ellis show, not only can cats be trained, but they absolutely should be to ensure a happy and healthy relationship between pet and owner. Once we comprehend cats' emotions and needs, we can train them to overcome their natural fears and anxieties. Full of training tips and exercises for nearly every scenario - from introducing your cat to a new baby to teaching cats to live alongside dogs to helping cats deal with visits to the vet - The Trainable Cat is an essential manual for cat owners everywhere.

©2016 John Bradshaw and Sarah Ellis (P)2016 Dreamscape Media, LLC Animals Biological Sciences Outdoors & Nature Personal Development Pets & Animal Care Science Cats
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A great resource on how to understand your cat and “speak” to them. This book is not about teaching your cat tricks but about communicating what behaviors are desirable to you - behaviors that will improve the life of your cat companion and keep them safe.

My only wish is that they delved a bit more into “clicker training.” The authors mention it when discussing marking a behavior but conclude that it is more advanced than they want to get for beginners.

A necessary read (or listening) if you have a cat or are planning on getting

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This book literally changed the life of my cats and one in particular, very dramatically. In this book, you will learn about operant conditioning and counter-conditioning. Our newest cat came to our home on a temporary basis that became permanent. Unfortunately, she hates all of the other cats so has been relegated to an upstairs bedroom for several years. After reading this book I realized I could dramatically improve her life and so began the quest to get her to come downstairs and relax with us. So far progress has been amazing and with more time the reintroduction to the other cats will begin. Wonderful book!

Audible: Please correct the author's name, it's Sarah Ellis, not Sarah Ellise.

Excellent Book for Training Cats to be Happier

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Be aware that much of the information is somewhat tangential, however this offers a really practical and extensive guide on how to train your cat (carrier, dog/cat/baby training, cat door training, grooming, etc). I wish they offered slightly more on leash/harness training; however, if you pay attention, you'll realize that many of the techniques outlined follow a small number of common methods, as does most positive reinforcement. What I found most useful was the esoteric information on cat behavior towards types of reinforcement and to what kind of training they respond best. In addition, they give very good advice on how to move training along. I think some pictures would have been useful as well, for example, where to find the facial glands on a cat's anatomy, just to make sure I was retrieving facial scent from the correct area, but I was easily able to google cat anatomy to help. I think it's good to note that even though this a very good guide, patience is really the key to success in this endeavor.

The performance is easily one of the best parts of this audiobook, although I think it would have been great to have a British or Scottish woman's voice, seeing as how many of the personal anecdotes are from Sarah Ellis (who has a lovely voice). Anyway, love this book. Wish I could bring myself to spend the money to get the printed copy. Check out Sarah Ellis' training videos on youtube for extras.

Interesting and diverting guide to cat training

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This book had some good ideas but needed at least a PDF. It kept referring back to information in other chapters which is hard with an audio book. A hard copy would also let you skip chapters you had no interest in.

I think this would be better in hard copy

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To start, I really enjoyed and have successfully used much of the information in this book.

I was disappointed, however, in some of the topics not covered. Two of the major issues I'd hoped to find help with were either not covered or covered in such a cursory way that it was not helpful. I purchased the book hoping for help discouraging scratching behaviors and counter/surface-surfing.

This was definitely a worthwhile read, but don't purchase expecting solutions to either of those specific issues.

So close, but missing some big things.

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I've read 3 books on cat care, including this one and I find this one to be the best of the three! Absolutely essential if you are thinking about getting a cat.

Essential Book if you own a Cat!

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great content and sensible categories discussed during all of the chapters. love the British accent

clear talking

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Not only boring and not worth buying, but content seems like gobilty-goop. He seems to have reasons for anything about cat behavior that enters his head and makes it up as he goes along.

Not worth buying

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