I am getting a chocolate british short hair from a breeder in the next few weeks.

Here he is http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/9086/chocco.jpg

I've always had cats, of the mog variety, but have never ever thought about treaching them tricks!

After reading online about the BSH breed, I am told (apparently) that they are very easy to teach tricks to, such as sit, paw, walking with a leash etc.
Its supposed to be quite easy to teach if you do it from an early age.

This is all online, so it could be completely wrong, so I'm asking you guys if you have ever, or know some one that does teach a cat tricks?
If so, what type of tricks?

Sounds fascinating if its possible

Our first cat used to play fetch with one of those little catnip mice.She'd play for hours

Yes, i've taught lots of cats to do "tricks". It's quite easy provided that you take account of the following:

Let your new cat settle in for a few weeks first, so you can get to know each other before you launch into training.

You need to find something that will motivate your cat to try certain behaviours, so I strongly suggest that when you get your new cat, you try some hand feeding with very small, highly palatable treats that he/she doesn't get at any other time.

Once your cat is used to getting these treats from your hand, then you need to introduce it to a clicker. This is a small device that makes a click when you press it, a unique sound that your cat is unlikely to hear at any other time. Before you start using it on your cat, get a good book on clicker training & familiarise yourself with the technique & how to use it. Karen Pryor's book on Clicker Training Cats is very good ~ available from Sunshine Books Inc via Amazon. There's also a video to show you how to do it.

Then you start to click just before you give a treat so the cat starts to associate the sound of the clicker with getting a treat.

Once you have done that then you need to "shape" the behaviours you want by getting small approximations towards the final behaviour, e.g. "sit", "follow me", "high 5s", jump over a stick, etc. Karen Pryor's book shows you how to do this.

Training sessions should only be for a few minutes at a time as cats quickly get full up with treats & will no longer be motivated to keep trying, so just 3 or 4 minutes twice a day is enough.

At the risk of stating the obvious, cats are not little dogs so will not be motivated to try the same behaviours as dogs. You need to think about behaviours that cats are biologically pre-disposed to perform, e.g. swatting something with a paw, climbing & jumping.

Don't use toys in training sessions ~ toys are used for predatory practice & whole different neurological processes come into play that are not conducive to learning something new. Keep training sessions calm & quiet.

Set up training sessions so that the cat can be successful ~ unless they can do something to earn a reward, they will not be motivated to keep trying. So keep it simple to start with.

To train your cat this way, you really need to know about associative learning & I can't stress highly enough that you need to do some research & reading into clicker training BEFORE you start. Once you master the art, then the sky's your limit!

Very good luck with it ~ it's a wonderful way to provide fantastic mental stimulation for your cat & build a great positive bond with your cat.

If you get stuck or want to know more, please feel free to PM me.

I taught my siamese cat to come to his name, "sit", "paw", give the "other paw", jump through a hoop and "fetch". Just used food lure and encouragement and if necessarily or appropriate, gently showed the cat what I wanted, rewarding closer approximations of the final required behaviour e.g lifted paw said "paw" and rewarded paw in my hand, gradually just touched paw so he lifted it himself with that cue then only rewarded when he put his paw gently on my hand by himself when I said "paw".
I didn't reward any overly keen rough "paw" with claws out though
With the hoop got him to walk through by holding food treat on the other side, with bottom of hoop on the ground then gradually raised it continuing with "hup" as he went over it, until it was a jump.
With "fetch" throwing the toy again was part of the reward.
You need a "that's right" signal but I prefer to use my voice rather than a clicker and I use "good". You can modulate it with your voice but a click is a click.
As with all methods there are advantages and disadvantages with clickers but whatever method you use correct timing is vitally important.
If your timing isn't right without a clicker it isn't going to magically become right with one.

I used to have a British Blue, and he loved showing off. If you threw a ball he would catch it and bring it back to you before the dog had chance to turn around. We used to run a pub, so had a large beer garden, and he used to do a "One Man and His Dog" routine - if you held a long piece of grass up (Long as his claws were very sharp!)he would jump up and over 5 picnic benches, trot up and through the childrens playframe, and then back accross the other 5 picnic benchs. The customers used to take it in turns!

They'll do most things if you start early enough and with lots of treats and encouragement and babywaby speak (lol).

I had my two sitting for treats as early as 10 weeks old. By 12 weeks old they knew not to jump up for the treats and over time they learnt to retract their claws when playing with me, they're very gentle.

They also roll over on command (no treats involved in this one, they just seem to love doing it).

Fetch is another easy one - no treats again, they just love bringing their favourite toys for me to throw and will respond to Fetch, Readysteadygo and Bring it.

Another one which is easy to teach when they're babies (because they're so clingy) is to jump up on to your shoulder (if you want them to do that of course).

Cats are very bright little buttons and love to play, you'll be surprised how much you can teach them at a young age.

I have two very chatty cats (which can be annoying sometimes) but they've learned that if I say Shh they should be quiet..funny.

Oh I cant wait now. Thank you for your replies. I've been watching lots of cure youtube clips on cat tricks and it seems to be the scent of the treat they definately follow.

The only problem I can see is I have another two cats who are quite old, and I dont want them getting jealous with watching me train the little kitten, so I'll take him into another room when I do that.

Roll on two weeks

He is gorgeous!! You must be really excited! My cat plays fetch and can turn on the tap for a drink! She taught herself both of these, but I did teach her to roll over, sit and give kisses.