8-year-old Alexis, a cat owned by Anika Moritz (Austria), has broken the record for the most tricks performed by a cat in one minute.🐈
Following Anika’s clear instructions, Alexis achieved an unbelievable 26 tricks.
Anika has had Alexis since she was a little girl and Alexis was a kitten.
She started training Alexis when she was just 12 weeks old.
According to 20-year-old Anika, Alexis is trusting, loves to cuddle, but also appreciates her freedom.
Anika, who is self described as totally in love with cats, believes Alexis is her "once in a lifetime cat" and basically paw-fect! 🐾🐱
“We are doing tricks since she is a kitten and she loves trick time so much. I would say that it is our passion,” Anika said.
Through their training, Anika realised that Alexis was very good at following instructions.
“She learned so fast, that I knew, that she is a very special cat.”
Let's learn more about Alexis and cat training!
Why did you attempt this record?
I always wanted to show how amazing cats are. It was my aim back in 2017 to try to break this record.
Cats are small tigers, who love to interact with other cats and a human being. They also love being kept busy with playing, food puzzles or/and trick training.
How do you train a cat to do tricks?
I think, that you can train every cat, if you put much love, patience and understanding into the training.
You also should be able to read the cat's body language and learn the basics of positive animal training techniques.
Alexis is trained with positive reinforcement and a clicker and gets a treat and/or compliment after every single trick.
When did you discover that Alexis could potentially achieve this record?
In 2017 I heard of this amazing record and tried to perform some tricks within 60 seconds at home. At this time she was able to do 14 tricks in 1 minute.
In 2019 I remembered the record and tried it again. I was actually pretty shocked how good and fast Alexis was.
That was the time I thought that we could actually achieve this awesome record.
So we kept (and keep) training and tried to do even more tricks in 60 seconds.
How did you train Alexis for this record attempt?
I first wrote a list of tricks which Alexis loves to perform.
I record my trainings very often, so that I can improve my training skills. I know which tricks are faster than others.
The training was then mostly just trying to figure out which tricks match perfectly in order to save some time.
How difficult did you/Alexis find the training?
The most difficult part was that Alexis did not get any reward for 60 seconds.
Normally my cat gets a positive reward after every trick, because training should always be fun and worth it.
However, Alexis managed it well, because my attention and the interacting is a reward too and she knew that she would get a very special treat after the 60 seconds.
How do you feel about achieving the record title for the most tricks performed by a cat in one minute?
I am so happy that Alexis (and me) got the record for this!
Cats are intelligent little creatures who deserve to be treated well.
Training enriches the cat’s life and prevent behaviour problems.
Alexis and I continue to train trying to rebreak our own record, because we would like to accomplish the 30 tricks in one minute.
That’s a big challenge for sure, but Alexis loves the positive training so much and it’s a new goal to reach.
If you want some inspiration for what trick to try with your own cat, here are the records that Alexis achieved in 60 seconds:
- Go around the legs
- Weave through legs
- Go onto red carpet
- 180 degree turn to the left
- Sit
- Roll out red carpet
- High five right
- Wave with right paw
- Shake head
- High five left
- Left paw
- Wave left paw
- Touch nose with left paw
- Look left
- Look right
- Hands up
- Wave with hands up
- High ten
- Cross left paw while sitting
- Ring/touch bell with paw
- Touch target with nose
- Pull on string to open box
- Go back
- Stop
- Come
- Both paws up on arm