By Mikkel Becker

Do you click with your pet?

No, I'm not talking about getting along well, although I sure hope that you do. When I say "click," I mean a training technique that's easy and fun for all.

Clicker training is a no-force technique that works on animals of all sizes, ages and abilities. And that's also true of the people who would administer clicker training, since it doesn't require strength or much coordination on the part of the trainer.

A clicker is a small plastic box that fits in the palm of your hand. You press down on the metal strip inside the housing and quickly release it -- click-click!

The clicker itself doesn't have any magic powers. What it provides is timing -- it allows a trainer working with a pet who understands the game to let the animal know the behavior he's doing right now is the one that's being rewarded. And that means the behavior will be repeated. The clicking noise becomes a reward because in the early stages of training, the sound is linked to the delivery of something a pet wants, usually a tiny but yummy treat.

Does this sound familiar? Like from a psychology class, perhaps? It should ring a bell, because the underlying principal of clicker training is scientific and is called "operant conditioning" (Pavlov's drooling dogs, and all). But you can be excused if you don't want to know the ins and outs of the science and just want to cut to the chase.

After all, your pet is just as eager as you are to get to the good part, too.

You start by teaching your pet that a click means a treat. Pick a time when your pet isn't sleeping (though, not just after a meal) and is a little hungry (a couple of hours before a meal). Choose a relatively small, quiet place you can work without too many distractions, and prepare a pouch or bowl of tiny, yummy treats (diced hot dogs are popular, as are pieces of cheese or chicken). For the next few minutes, click and treat. One click, one treat. Again and again and again. Eventually your pet will show you he understands that the sound means food. For example, he may look immediately to the source of the treats after hearing the click.

When that happens, you're on to the next stage. But wait until your next session, because clicker training works best with a couple of short sessions -- less than 10 minutes -- every day.

When you're all set up again, sit quietly with your clicker and treats -- and wait. Your pet should start volunteering behaviors, everything from sitting to pawing to wandering in a circle. When your pet chooses one you like, click, treat and wait again. Your pet will initially be confused but should eventually offer the behavior again. Be patient! When that moment comes, click, treat and wait, again.

Say you clicked your pet a couple of times because he finally got bored and sat. Soon your pet will sit to test his theory that sitting means a click-treat. When that happens, click and "jackpot" him with a handful of treats. When the pattern is firmly established, you can then give it a name ("sit") and make the food reward more random to strengthen it (this is the principal that keeps you pulling a slot machine handle).

In future sessions you'll move on from the "sit" that your pet knows, waiting for more behaviors to click, treat and name, as you build your pet's repertoire of commands. More complicated behaviors are trained by "chaining" -- training in pieces and putting them together.

One more thing: Never punish your pet for not getting it right. Clicker training is all about the payoff, and once you get it mastered, there's no end to the things you can teach your pet to do.

(Pet Connection team member Mikkel Becker, Dr. Marty Becker's daughter, is a dog-trainer in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. She is a graduate of the San Francisco SPCA's prestigious dog-training academy.)

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Q&A

Indoor rabbits

make great pets

Q: My daughter is getting a rabbit, and she wants to keep it in a cage in her bedroom. She says it can use a litter box. My husband wants to build a hutch outside. What do you advise? -- via e-mail

A: I don't know how old your daughter is, but she has clearly done her homework. Rabbits bloom with proper care and gentle attention, providing endless amounts of quiet companionship punctuated by short periods of delightful silliness. 



As for litter boxes, score another one for your daughter. Rabbits usually aren't perfect about their use -- a pellet here and there will testify to that, but it's easily cleaned up -- but they can and do use a box for most of their messes. 



Shelters and rescue groups always have a great selection and should be the place to shop for a bunny. Better yet, get two: Rabbits love the company and can often be adopted in pairs, already bonded. 


Visit the site of the House Rabbit Society (Rabbit.org) for the best information on caring for these pets. Here's a cheat sheet to get you started:

-- Housing. Your rabbit will need a home base of a small pen or large cage with food, water, toys and a litter box. Use a plain cat box filled with a shallow layer of recycled paper or wood pellets for the box, covered with a layer of fresh grass hay. You don't scoop a rabbit box -- you change it completely, every day. Provide broken woven baskets, cardboard boxes and other items for play and chewing.

-- Nutrition. Fresh water needs to be available at all times. While commercial pellets are fine, it's just as easy and often less expensive to feed your rabbit yourself. Grass hay (cheaper by the bale if you have a dry space to store it) should always be available, complemented by an array of green vegetables, from broccoli to kale to mustard greens to carrots with their tops on.

-- Health care. Get your rabbit spayed or neutered. In addition to keeping your rabbit from reproducing, you'll have a better pet. Unaltered rabbits can have behavior problems such as aggression and urine spraying. Your rabbit also will need a wellness check, just as a cat or dog would, and a good rabbit vet will help you catch little health problems before they become big ones. -- Gina Spadafori

THE BUZZ

Cornell vet makes

students dummy up

-- To teach veterinary students to handle emergency situations without harming a pet in critical condition, the first-ever sophisticated critical care dog dummy with a software program has been developed by a veterinarian at Cornell University. Speakers and actuators within the dummy send out heart and lung signals, and a pulse can actually be felt. A balloon-like structure with air mimics breathing. The system monitors blood oxygen monitoring, blood pressure and EKG as well. Dr. Dan Fletcher, a professor at the Cornell veterinary school who teaches emergency medicine, noticed that students would freeze when first handling a critically ill pet. The dog dummy responds like a living, breathing critical pet, providing an environment in which students can learn, as well as make and learn from mistakes.

-- The average cost for a veterinary visit in 2009 was $203, according to the American Pet Products Association.

-- Of the more than 150 dog breeds recognized by the American Kennel Club, 13 commonly get ear crops, 48 have docked tails, and 11 have both cropping and docking. Ear crops seem more likely to disappear as a common practice sooner, as fewer pet owners choose to have their puppies' ears sliced into an upright posture, and fewer veterinarians will perform the procedure. The American Veterinary Medical Association opposes ear cropping and tail docking when done solely for cosmetic purposes and has encouraged the elimination of these procedures from breed standards.-- Dr. Marty Becker and Mikkel Becker

ABOUT PET CONNECTION

Pet Connection is produced by a team of pet-care experts headed by "Good Morning America" and "The Dr. Oz Show" veterinarian Dr. Marty Becker and award-winning journalist Gina Spadafori. The two are also the authors of many best-selling pet-care books. Dr. Becker can also be found at Facebook.com/DrMartyBecker or on Twitter at DrMartyBecker.

We're still sorting through our New Year's resolutions, most of which seem to involve our pets (walk them more, brush their teeth more often). As we swing into the new year for real, we thought we'd share some information from two of our favorites of the books we've written together, "BowWow" and "MeowWow" (both from HCI).

Don't bite the man who names you: A handful of breeds were named for people. Louis Dobermann, a German tax collector in the mid-19th century, developed the elegant and protective breed that bears his name. Another is the Parson Russell terrier –- more commonly known as the Jack Russell -- named after the Rev. John Russell, a Victorian-era clergyman with a fondness for hunting terriers.

The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel was named after King Charles II, although centuries after his death. There's also the Gordon setter, named after the Duke of Gordon.

An All-American Cat: The Maine Coon cat is an American original. This hardy, long-haired breed was developed as an all-purpose, all-weather New England farm cat and companion. The markings for which the breed is best known -- a distinctively marked tabby -- leaves the cat with a fluffy tail that somewhat resembles the tail of a raccoon.

Despite the persistent idea that the large cat came about because of mating with raccoons ... well, hate to ruin a good story, but it's just not true. Nor is the idea of that the cat developed from matings with North American bobcats. Maine Coon cats are all cat, and a lot of cat, for all that.

White can be a fright: Not all white cats are deaf, but it's certainly not uncommon. White cats with blue eyes are more likely to be deaf than white cats with eyes of any other color. As protected indoor cats, however, a deaf cat can still be a wonderful pet.

Just say "Aaaaahhhh!": All dogs have pink tongues, with two notable exceptions: the Chow Chow and the Chinese Shar Pei -- breeds with tongues variously described as purple, black or blue-black. Both breeds originated in China, and Shar Pei (the name in Chinese refers to "shark skin") was in the 1970s described as the rarest breed in the world -- a distinction lost long ago as the breed has become more popular.

Cats who chitter-chatter: Chattering is an involuntary reaction of a cat who sees something she wants very badly -- a fluttering bird or a feline enemy -- but can't get to for some reason, such as being on one side of the window when the bird or other cat is visible on the other.

If the keyed-up cat could pop her knuckles or chew gum to let out that extra energy, she would. By the way, a cat that's wound up is probably best left alone. A little redirected aggression could leave you with some nasty claw tracks on your arm! Sometimes when it comes to cats, it's best to keep your distance.

Beware ... watch out ... don't enter: The phrase "Beware of dog" is so old that its Latin equivalent -- cave canem -- has been found on signs in Roman ruins. The word "watch dog" isn't quite as old, but it has been around a long, long time. The first known mention of it? By Shakepeare, in "The Tempest."

We'll share more tidbits in the months ahead. We're both chronic savers of interesting pet facts, and we have files of our best clippings for future books.

Q&A

'Learn to earn'

teaches manners

Q: I have a golden retriever who's almost 2 years old. She's a loving dog, but she's just too hyper. I know big dogs take time to mature, but she's so big and strong that I'm afraid she's going to knock one of us down. She doesn't mean to be bad, but she just doesn't think. We can't afford professional training right now. Can you help? -- via e-mail

A: Yes, retrievers are often slow to mature, but you don't have to put up with bad manners in the meantime. More exercise is a must -- a tired dog is a good dog -- but you also need to lay the foundation for good behavior by showing your dog with every interaction that she has to earn what she wants.

This "learning by earning" starts with the basics of dog obedience -- sit and stay. Chances are your dog already knows these commands. If not, check out a class (group classes aren't expensive), a book or a video (try the library for free) to help you to teach her. Once your dog understands and performs these behaviors more or less on command, you're going to use them to reinforce your authority, gently but persistently.

Ask your dog to sit before you put her leash on for a walk; to sit before you pet her (which will also keep her from jumping up) or before you throw a toy for her to fetch; to sit and stay when her bowl is placed before her, and hold that position until released; to sit and stay before the door is opened; to sit and stay before being let out of the car into the park, and so on.

Be patient. Your dog will soon catch on as long as you're consistent in insisting on her good behavior before good things come her way.

No sit, no reward, no discussion.

The real beauty is what's happening deep down. Without raising your voice, jerking a leash, spanking or otherwise roughly handling your dog, you've made it clear to her that there are household rules that must be followed. And that's going to make everything else about living with and training your dog easier. -- Gina Spadafori

THE BUZZ

Pet population

trends to canine

-- Cats or dogs? Forty-three million American families owned at least one dog in 2007, the latest year statistics were available, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association. That accounted for 37.2 percent of American households. About 37.5 million families owned at least one cat in the same year, or 32.4 percent of households.

-- Dogs with arthritis can increase their mobility by performing certain exercises. Australian researchers found that walking uphill and climbing over small obstacles can help dogs develop increased flexibility.

-- Locusts and cockroaches hold chemicals in their brains with anti-microbial properties that are strong enough to kill up to 90 percent of drug-resistant bacteria without harming human cells. The insects' brains likely have developed their anti-microbial compounds as a way to survive in the dirty, infectious conditions in which they live. Scientists hope the findings can be used to create new antibiotics to attack severe infections in humans.

-- A genetic test is available to indicate whether a racehorse would do best at short-, medium- or long-distance racing. Research teams have isolated the myostatin gene -- a crucial indicator of athletic ability in Thoroughbred horses. Japanese researchers further found that the characteristics of the area surrounding the myostatin gene are also linked to athletic ability, which further suggests what racing followers have known all along -- that racing performance and athletic ability are hereditary traits. -- Dr. Marty Becker and Mikkel Becker

ABOUT PET CONNECTION

Pet Connection is produced by a team of pet-care experts headed by "Good Morning America" and "The Dr. Oz Show" veterinarian Dr. Marty Becker and award-winning journalist Gina Spadafori. The two are also the authors of many best-selling pet-care books. Dr. Becker can also be found at Facebook.com/DrMartyBecker or on Twitter at DrMartyBecker.

Some people are born into cat-loving families, while others have cats thrust upon them. And then, of course, there are those who independently make the decision to take up life with a cat.

Cat lovers are members of an exceptional club. A relationship with a cat can be joyful, entertaining and sometimes frustrating, but in the end, it's always rewarding. Life with a cat is special, if you know what to expect.

Cats are so connected to myths and misconceptions that it's no wonder they are often misunderstood. I want to help you separate fact from fiction.

First and foremost, cats are not small dogs. When you are reading about different cat breeds or looking at the personality descriptions of cats at a shelter, you may come across some that are described as "doglike." It's true that some cats, like dogs, will follow you around, play fetch or go for walks on-leash. But that is where the resemblance ends. Cats differ from dogs in many ways, but here are some of the most important:

-- Their nutritional needs are different. Cats are what biologists call "obligate carnivores." That means they must have meat in their diet to survive. Lots of meat. While dogs can exist on a diet that contains large amounts of grains, cats need meat protein to be at the top of their game. Meat contains a nutrient called taurine that is essential for heart and eye health and normal cell, muscle and skeletal function. Cats can't synthesize taurine on their own, so they must get it from their diet. Cats also have other nutritional requirements that vary from those of dogs, such as the type of vitamin A they can use. That's why you should never feed your cat the same food you give your dog.

Their physiology is different. Cats metabolize drugs differently than dogs or people. It's very dangerous to give a cat the same drug that you or I or the dog next door might take, even if it's for the same type of problem. Take pain, for instance. I've seen clients kill their cats by going to the medicine chest and giving their cats aspirin or acetaminophen. The same holds true for parasite treatments: Never apply a flea or tick treatment or shampoo made for dogs to your cat. Always call your veterinarian first and ask if a particular medication is safe for your cat and at what dose.

The way cats express pain is different. Well, it's not really different. It's almost nonexistent. It's much easier to notice pain in a dog because we tend to interact with dogs directly. We take them on walks and we see whether they're limping, for instance, or moving more slowly. With cats, it's much more difficult to see the changes in mobility that signal injury or arthritis. Cats know instinctively that displaying pain puts them at risk from other predators, so they do their best to mask it. That works to their disadvantage when it comes to veterinary care. The signs that a cat is in pain are so subtle that most people miss them unless they are keen observers of their cats.

Cats need to see the veterinarian. It's a mystery to me why people are so much less likely to provide veterinary care to their cats than to their dogs. Cats are the most popular pets in America, yet veterinarians are seeing a decline in veterinary visits for cats. That's a shame, because cats need and deserve great veterinary care to ensure that they live long, happy, healthy lives. They might be intelligent and independent creatures, but they can't doctor themselves -- at least not yet. Providing your cat with regular veterinary care is a good investment, and it's one of the responsibilities you owe your cat when you bring him into your life.

Q&A

Pilling the cat

not working out

Q: Our cat has been put on a drug that she'll have to take for the rest of her life. Given the luck I've had so far with "pilling" her, I have to admit that if her life depends on this medication, she won't be with us very long. What is the best way to pill a cat? -- via e-mail

A: One of the biggest problems veterinarians have in helping pets get better is, well, pet owners who aren't able to give medication as prescribed. You're in good company, since this problem is very, very common.

Here are some strategies to make the pill-popping easier for you and your cat:

Pop and treat. Have your veterinarian demonstrate. Always start with a positive attitude and end with a treat and praise. You can find "pill guns" through pet retailers that help with getting the pill quickly in the right place.

Stealth. Perhaps the most popular method is to hide the pill in something cats love, although most cats figure this out soon enough and start eating around the pill. Try Greenies Pill Pockets -- treats that are designed for pill-popping. They're yummy little bits with pockets for hiding the treats.

Presto-chango. For pets who just won't tolerate pills (or people who just hate giving them), ask your veterinarian about using a compounding pharmacy. These businesses take all manner of medications and turn them into edible treats in pet-friendly flavors.

New technologies. Ask your veterinarian for the latest options. The medication you're using may be available in an easier-to-use format, such as transdermal.

No matter what, always give pet medications exactly as prescribed. If none of these strategies work for you, keep talking to your veterinarian until you find out what does work -- there may be other options that don't involve lifetime medication. Don't give up. Your veterinarian wants your pet to stay healthy just as much as you do and will work with you on your pet's behalf. -- Dr. Marty Becker

THE BUZZ

Dogs have benefits

for autistic kids

-- Children with autism showed a reduction in their levels of the stress hormone cortisol when a service dog was introduced to the family. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Montreal, measured cortisol rates before, during and after a service dog was introduced, with positive results. Parents also reported a decrease in disruptive behaviors, such as tantrums, when a dog was present. Previous work has shown that service dogs help autistic children interact with others and acclimate to routines.

-- "Cat Scratch Fever" is probably best known as a hit for rocker Ted Nugent. But the disease, which is really called Cat Scratch Disease (CSD), can be pretty serious, and cats aren't the only animals able to transmit the bacterial infection. Transmitted via a scratch from an animal with fecal material on its claws, CSD is linked to heart valve disease and may have a link to neurologic and arthritic disease. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there are about 22,000 cases reported a year, but there may be many more, since cases with mild symptoms are likely never diagnosed.

-- The Guinness World Records for 2011 note many amazing animals' achievements, including a long jump of 9 feet, 6 inches set by Yabo, a rabbit, and the popping of 100 balloons by a dog. Anastasia, a Jack Russell terrier, set the latter mark on the set of the TV show "Live with Regis and Kelly." -- Dr. Marty Becker and Mikkel Becker

ABOUT PET CONNECTION

Pet Connection is produced by a team of pet-care experts headed by "Good Morning America" and "The Dr. Oz Show" veterinarian Dr. Marty Becker and award-winning journalist Gina Spadafori. The two are also the authors of many best-selling pet-care books. Dr. Becker can also be found at Facebook.com/DrMartyBecker or on Twitter at DrMartyBecker.