Best Tricks To Teach Your Cat That Will Be Helpful Outside

A few weeks ago, we wrote a post on what to train your cat to make things easier in the future. One of the things we mentioned were some “tricks”, such as sit, stay, and come. This can help prevent door dashing or help you catch your cat if it ever gets out. But we wanted to talk about some other helpful tricks too. There are quite a few, but here are our suggestions for the best tricks to teach your cat.

Training Outside:

Before we jump into the tricks, we just want to mention that these tricks should be taught inside at first. Once your cat has mastered the trick inside, start working on it outside. Just because your cat listens and responds to your commands inside, does not mean they will outside. When outside, there are much more distractions. Do not get frustrated if they seem to have “forgotten” the trick when you practice outside. If they still respond when inside, be patient and continue to practice it every time you are outside. It will take time, but like any training with cats, time and patience are key!

Best Tricks To Teach Your Cat

Stay/Sit

Teaching your cat to stay is helpful both inside and outside. For inside, you can get them to stay when opening any doors, to prevent them from door dashing. When outside, this can come in handy if you see people, wildlife, or other pets on the trails. If your cat understands and listens to stay, it can make walking easier too. If you need to stop and get something out of your bag, you can have your cat stay and not pull you in another direction.

Like stay, sit is a great way to get your cat to stay put in one spot. And for a bonus, it can help them stay still for you to snap a cute photo!

Come

Come is a very important trick to know. Again, this can be helpful inside if you need your cat to come to you for any reason or are looking for them. But outside, it can quite literally be a life saver. If you see any wildlife or off leash dogs coming after your cat, call them to come to you and get them into their backpack. With a shorter leash, you may be able to get to them quickly, but if you have a longer leash, you may need them to meet you halfway for the quickest response.

This trick may not come easy outside though. With so many distractions, they may not want to come to you. Work on this in quiet areas for short distances first, then work your way up. It is also important to remember that in a stressful or scary situation, your cat may completely forget what this means or freeze in fear. It is always important to be aware of your surroundings and be able to get to your cat quickly outside.

Jump onto your shoulder or onto backpack

Sometimes, if your cat maybe climbs up in a tree or somewhere high, they need a landing spot. Having them jump onto your shoulder or the backpack can be a great way to do this. And it may save you from having to climb some trees too! But teaching your cat to jump up is a great way to quickly get them on an elevated surface if something such as an off-leash dog is coming your way.

Go into backpack

Teaching your cat that the backpack is a safe spot is super helpful. If they ever get scared when outside, they will look to the backpack as a way to feel protected. Check out our article on how to get your cat to love their backpack here. This works great when you leave the backpack on the ground while exploring a certain area. But also, if you are wearing it, to kneel down ad let your cat jump in too.

Along with the backpack, teaching them to go into their carrier and feel safe there is great too. This can help in the future for veterinary trips and make car rides much safer.

Sit Pretty

This one is called many different things – up, sit up, meerkat – you name it! For this, your cat sits up on their hind legs, with their front legs in front of their chest. This trick is not specifically useful in terms of safety, but if you are taking photos of your cat, it can make some cute photos!

Conclusion

Safety is very important when we take our cats outside. Using these tricks can help you feel more at ease, knowing your cat will respond. Training these tricks outside takes time and patience but is worth it. You will get peace of mind that you can trust your cat to respond in certain situations. We all want safe and happy adventures with our cats, and that may take time. Let us know what your best tricks to teach your cat are over on Instagram. Happy Hiking!