Teach Your Cat Some Tricks : Jumping Pole






Before teaching your cat to jump over a pole, you’ll need the right prop. In this case, the prop is a simple pole.

You can be innovative when finding the perfect pole for your cat. A wooden dowel of 1 to 2 inches in diameter will work. Hollow cardboard tubes used for wrapping paper are also great for this trick.

The first object I converted into a jumping pole was a cardboard tube that I wrapped with leopard-spotted paper for effect. It was perfect. Because you want to wow your audience, have a beginning to each trick. Starting the pole-jumping trick with your cat in a sitting position looks polished and formal. Start simple.

First, ask your cat to sit, then place the pole on the floor for your cat to walk over. As she walks over it, capture the behavior by clicking and immediately treating. If your cat doesn’t walk over the pole, tap the target on the other side of the pole.

By now your cat is well target-trained and will walk over the pole toward the target. Just as she completes her walk over the pole, click her and then treat her, tossing the treat on the correct side of the pole.




Don’t let her touch the target because the target is not the cue. The target is only for jump-starting her on the way to pole-jumping stardom and needs to be phased out after a couple of repetitions.




As your Hollywood cat is eating her treat, pick up the pole so that you can reset the behavior, causing her to walk over the pole again by placing it back on the floor after she’s eaten her treat.

You are ready for the next step after your cat successfully walks over the pole repeatedly whenever she is cued by your placing the pole in front of her. Don’t forget to click and then treat each time she walks across the pole.

The next step in teaching the pole jump is to hold the pole about half an inch above the floor. The pole is the visual cue for her to perform. Click and treat when she completes her walk over the slightly elevated pole. While she is eating her treat, remove the pole from her vision so that you can reset the behavior cycle.

If your cat doesn’t step over the elevated pole, place the pole on the floor and start from the beginning, using the 300 Peck Pigeon method . Continue to practice with her at the basic level of stepping over the pole, visually cutting her by positioning the pole in front of her.

Gradually raise the pole higher by very small increments after your cat successfully steps or jumps over the lower heights, clicking and then treating her after she’s completed the jump.


Eventually, the pole will be at a height where your cat can go under instead of over it. Don’t be discouraged if she does decide to take the low road.

After all, it’s easier to walk underneath an elevated pole than to jump over it. If that happens, don’t click and treat her. Instead, lower the pole down to a level that she has consistently been jumping over and then slowly increase the distance from the floor until she finally jumps consistently over the pole at the desired height.




Add the verbal cue jump only after your cat jumps over the elevated pole eight out of ten times. As you are visually cuing her by holding the pole in position, say “jump.” Make sure to click after she’s jumped over the pole and then treat her.

Teaching your cat to jump over a pole will probably take several small sessions over a period of days or even weeks.

It depends on your cat, your techniques, and your clicker-training schedule. Keep your cat’s limitations in mind.

Some cats are master jumpers, enjoying the high jump; others may be older, or their idea of the high jump is leaping up to the sofa to snuggle with their favorite person. Ask your cat to leap poles only at heights that are reasonable for her.

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