Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
43 People Share How They Accidentally Conditioned Their Pets To Learn Unusual Skills Or Habits
Training an animal is hard work. You have to create a fun, interesting, and stimulating environment for it, constantly monitoring the animal for desirable and undesirable behaviors, reacting to each accordingly. You also have to arm yourself with patience. A lot of the time, the process can seem to be going in circles too. One step forward, two steps back... Or it can happen on a whim without you even noticing it!
"We're all unknowingly training our pets all day long," Samantha Bell, cat expert for Best Friends Animal Society, told Bored Panda. "Every time we interact with them, we're training them. The reason for this unintentional training is 'operant conditioning' - behavior leads to a reward which leads to a repeat of the behavior."
Here's an example of this unintentional training Samantha has experienced first-hand: her cat Yohan jumps on the counter while she prepares his food. Samantha never wants to stress him out, so she talks sweetly to him and gives him a little kiss on the head as she sets him on the ground. Since Yohan loves attention and head kisses, he sees them as a reward for jumping on the counter. So, Samantha accidentally trained Yohan to jump on the counter when she thought she was teaching him to get off it.
"And I'm a cat behavior expert. It happens to the best of us," she said.
Curious to find out more about this phenomenon, Redditor u/shoonpo submitted a question to r/AskReddit: "What have you accidentally conditioned your pet to do?" As of this article, the post has nearly 64,000 upvotes and 13,000 comments, many of which are fun stories like Samantha's!
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
I talk to myself constantly so my cat thinks it's normal to walk around making chatty noises all the time. If he's awake, he's talking. I think it's adorable but it drives my husband nuts, which has resulted in my husband yelling at him a lot (don't worry, the cat doesn't get upset). Now the cat thinks that's just how my husband talks, so whenever he sees him he yells at him really loudly in order to imitate him. My husband will walk in the room and my cat will stop whatever he's doing and just meow SO LOUDLY right in his face. It's absolutely hilarious, dude got exactly what he deserved.
u/shoonpo told Bored Panda that they came up with the idea for the post when they were... sitting on the toilet! "One of my cats has learned that he gets lots of pets and scratches when I go to the bathroom. He always gets so excited to go the bathroom because he knows it's guarantee scritches. I wondered if anybody else had also accidentally conditioned their pet like that and posted the question expecting a few cute pet stories," the Redditor said. But as you can see from the list, not only cats are fast learners!
According to Bell, any reward-motivated animal is the easiest to train, including dogs, cats, chickens, and even fish. "Their species doesn't matter as much as you'd think when it comes to training! The more they want treats or pets or attention or a certain toy, the easier they are to train. My two cats that are obsessed with treats are so easy to train that I can teach them a new behavior in a couple of 5-minute sessions. But my cat that is 'meh' about treats takes more time, work, and patience. Helpful training tip: I reserve treats for training time only. When they hear the treat bag crinkle, they know that they’re in training mode and are ready to learn. This gives more value to the reward which also helps with training."
RELATED:
#2
I take baths with my cat by letting her float in a plastic box. I keep the box in my closet. I only started doing this about a month ago, but now when I turn the bathwater on she runs to the closet and jumps in her box.
However, the expert said that some pets are just not that motivated and are difficult to train. "If you have a pet that does not seem to get excited about anything: attention, treats, food, pets, toys, you should have them checked out by your vet to make sure they're feeling ok."
Many of the behaviors on the list are harmless and fun, but unintentional training can lead to tricky situations as well. For example, imagine every time you get out a carrier, your cat hides because it means it's going to the vet. Maybe you don't even need to imagine this scenario, maybe you've already experienced it! Annoying, right? Plus, the animal is experiencing added stress. But there's usually a way out. "A common solution for [the previously mentioned problem] would be to leave the carrier out all the time and make it appealing to the cat with a cozy blanket, toys, and catnip inside of it," Bell explained. "Then you've eliminated the 'getting the carrier out' part that causes them to hide. Then you reward the cat every time they go in the carrier on their own."
#3
I would playfully grab (not hard, really light) my dog's snout whenever we're playing. He somehow figured out it's my favorite thing to do when ever he comes over to me. So now, everytime he senses that I'm upset or sees that I'm crying, he would come up to me and gently put his snout in my hand.
#4
Our cat had impacted anal glands for awhile. We had to bribe him with treats for him to let us look to make sure he was doing alright. Now when he wants a treat he comes up and sticks his butt in our face.
"If you've done something similar, don't worry because you can train the opposite behavior and they'll eventually forget about the unwanted behavior," Bell reassured. "Now when Yohan jumps on the counter, I casually set him on the ground without sweet talk, attention, or kisses. And then reward him when he stays on the ground. When it comes to cats: Ignore the behavior you don’t want and reward the behavior you want to see more of. Remember that punishment does not work with cats. It only causes stress and distrust and leads to even more unwanted behaviors."
#5
When I was little I would constantly carry around one of my cats, Feist. Since my hands were full with her I would use one of her outstretched paws to turn on lights whenever we entered a room.
Now the little bastard switches them on and off for fun.
#6
Somewhere along the way, my dog learned ‘get your toy’ means to pick up his nearest toy. I didn’t purposely train him to do it, but it’s good for when he’s about to leave one of them outside and I want him to bring it in. If there’s no toy around and I say this he’ll grab the nearest soft thing, usually some piece of clothing laying around. One time he tried to pick up the cat.
All the attention u/shoonpo received over their post simply blew them away. In fact, they finally understood what 'RIP my inbox' really means! "It just made me super excited to see that so many people resonated with the question," the Redditor explained. "I absolutely loved reading and responding to the answers for the first couple hours after I posted. I went to bed shortly after and woke up to a gazillion notifications. It really was just so wonderful seeing how happy it made so many people though. I wished I could have interacted more, but I am definitely really grateful that I interacted the first couple hours."
But if you want to willingly condition your pet to do something, go to Best Friends and check out their amazing articles on pet training!
#7
My dad has our pets trained pretty well. Since our Labradoodle was a puppy, he would tell him: "It's time for all the puppies in all the world to go to bed." His bed time has always been 9pm. Now we just say "all the puppies" and he goes downstairs and into his kennel. If we forget, he puts himself to bed. :)
My dad works from home and will take a break to let the animals out into the backyard. He says "time for recess!" And they all come running, cats included!
Last but not least, when my dad plays the piano, the dog sits next to him and "sings". It's the world's most obnoxious bark/yowl combo. My dad has a way with animals.
#8
I picked my kitten up a few times to kill some spiders up high for me. So now whenever I pick her up she looks up at the ceiling and looks for spiders.
#9
My cat meows twice (like “bless you”) when I sneeze and I say “thank you” back. She stared doing that on her own.
I stopped saying thank you a few times and now she won’t stop yelling at me until she knows I’m okay.
#10
My dog barks at any animal on the TV so I always told him whether he could actually take the animal or not and he's learnt that if I tell him that a polar bear will f**k him up then he shouldn't bark at it, but if there's a rabbit then he's got a shot of winning so he can keep going.
Now he barks then looks at me for approval to find out his odds before continuing.
#11
My cats love blanket caves or anything along those lines. One day I was wearing a pretty long dress and as a joke I covered one of my cats with my skirt. She sat right down and started purring like a motor. Now, anytime I have a long skirt on and crouch down to their level, she will dash under my skirt, make herself comfortable, and start purring. I worry about the day that she comes across another person in a skirt and dashes in like some pervy creep.
#12
My niece loves to FaceTime my mom to talk to her dog. When the dog was a puppy, my mom used to pull her onto her lap when she would get FaceTimed.
Now the dog is 80 lbs and will jump in your lap if your phone or tablet starts making the default FaceTime ring.
#13
Somehow we taught our dog the concept of trading. When we eat something she really wants she will go get one of her bones or toys, and if we carelessly take them from her she will casually try to take what we are eating, as if we shook on an exchange.
#14
My ex had a parakeet with the most personality I have ever met in a bird.
The birb used to mimick the sound that 'beeboop' sound that an android maked when you plug it in the a charger, and knew that meant it was time for bed.
So, whenever the bird was tired, it would make that noise, because that meant it was time to sleep. It mimicked it so perfectly that I found myself checking my phone whenever it was naptime for the birdy.
I miss you Pistachio!
#15
I had a dog when I was younger. When I put my shoes on, I would often pet him (he used to hang out in the coat room). He learned to bring shoes to me in exchange for head pats.
#16
Bring me dirty laundry.
One day my cat brought me a sock and it was so cute so I petted him and praised him. That started a cycle of it and now he’s constantly bringing dirty laundry to me.
#17
I conditioned my cats to use the scratching post with treats and pets and lots of "good boy, good boy."
For the last 7 years, whenever I have to tell my one cat to stop chewing on something or anything like that, he goes to that post and scratches furiously looking at me like "but I'm a good boy!!"
#18
My dog knew he would always get some ice to chew when I went to the fridge so any time he heard the ice machine on the fridge start he would come running in. Once he became deaf he would feel the vibrations in the floor from it and knew it was ice time!
E Menendez 3 years ago (edited)
Did not realize that was an icicle he was chewing on at first. It is a little on the "suggestive" side of a different kind of toy. 😳
#19
My wife and I have pretty set sleep schedules during the week. If we stay up later on the weekend or w/e, our dog gets VERY huffy/offended and will sigh passive-aggressively at us until we go upstairs to bed.
Oh, and if one of his bowls is empty he licks it (also passive-aggressively) and then makes direct eye contact.
Doggo Froggo 3 years ago
One of my dogs throws her bowl around if she's hungry or thirsty and it is empty. If the water is not fresh enough, she will pour it out and then throw the bowl. Same goes for food. The bowls are also metal so they make an incredible racket.
#20
My cat will open the tray to my Xbox when he thinks I’ve been playing too long. Even if I just started
#21
One time, my cat spotted a spider on my wall, since he was staring so obviously I was able to notice too. Grateful, I gave him treats and cuddles. He did it again a week later, same thing. Then one time he looks around frantically and I jump up to go check but I don’t see a spider. He looks at me expectantly. After a few times like this I realized he learned that looking around intensely at stuff means treats, love and attention.
It’s now been 4 years and he will still look at me then pointedly look around the apartment, then back at me, expecting a reward. Has it resulted in him spotting the occasional bug? Yes, especially since over the years I’ve learned the slight difference between his real expression and the fake “I want treats” one. Still, even if I know it’s all a lie, it throws me off and sometimes I give in and look anyway. Maybe I’m imagining it but he always looks so satisfied afterwards, the fluffy jerk.
#22
My tortoise stands on my foot when he is hungry.
#23
My dogs know the sound of the drawer the cheese is kept in the fridge. They could be asleep in a completely different area, but if you open the cheese drawer they come running and sit like good boys for their cheese. They are herding dogs and will also herd the cat away if she won't stop meowing at me when I'm busy or if she tries to scratch anything.
#24
Get wet food at 4:00 am every day. I wake up early during the week and feed him wet food right away. Of course he doesn’t care that it’s the weekend. His internal alarm clock is down to minute with precision. And because he’s a cat, and an asshole, if we don’t get up and get his food, he howls loudly through the house, opens shutters, walks on our faces, nudges our noses with his nose....he’s so relentless it’s not even funny. But we love him.
#25
After my roomate got a cat, my dog answers to “Kitty Kitty Kitty” cause he wants love and/or treats
#26
Every time I open the veggies draw in the fridge my guinea pigs begin to squeal with excitement, thinking it is food time even if I just fed them...lll
#27
Every morning when I wake up I rub my dog's belly. Now whenever I say good morning she will lay on her back for belly scratches.
#28
My cat knows my bathroom schedule. When I have to pee after getting home from work, she’ll dart into the bathroom and wait for me to put her on the counter. Then I turn on the tap and she drinks the water. I have no memory of how this started.
#29
One of my cats has a favorite toy that he brings me sometimes, and when he does I praise him for his catch. Now either I’ve trained him into thinking he has to bring it to me to receive affection or he’s trained me into recognizing when it’s OK to give him affection. Or a little bit of both and it’s just a little nice communication tool
#30
My one dog sleeps under a blanket. I know he pretty much only gets a decent sleep that way, so every time he's laying down I cover him with one.
So whenever he wants to have a nap, or it's time to go to sleep at night, he jumps up onto the couch, or bed, or really wherever I am, and just sits there starring at me, until I grab a blanket and drape it over top of him - to which he then lays down and falls asleep.
The funny part is that he'll often sit there in that position waiting for minutes on end. Sometimes he's not even facing me when he does it which is the funniest. He'll get up on the bed, put his ass in my face, sit, and just wait. He knows he doesn't even feign loving me to get what he wants, he just knows it's going to happen so why put up a facade? He's become very entitled about it.
2) Whenever I bring my dogs in from a walk or from the back yard, I give them a treat, which I keep in the kitchen. So whenever we come in, they run to the kitchen and get in the sitting position ('sit' is always the first command in a string of commands that I use when giving them treats). If I forget, they'll sit there for however long it takes for me to circle back around and give them a treat - sometimes this takes 5-10 minutes if I'm distracted; but they'll just sit there waiting.
They have trained me well.
Laura Carney 3 years ago
We had a Doberman who wouldn't sleep without a blanket. When it was bedtime (for her anyway) if she didn't have a blanket on her, she would look at me and whine. If whining didn't work, it turned in to barking. As soon as the blanket went over her, she would settle down and sleep. It was great, I miss her.
#31
my cat drinks out of a glass on my nightstand rather than a bowl. a couple of years ago, she was having some pretty serious dental issues (all fixed now), and was being reluctant to eat and drink. she had always wanted to drink out of the water cup i had for myself, and at that point i just wanted her to drink anything, so i let her.
that was my mistake and now she refuses to drink out of a bowl on the ground, and will only drink out of cups. she has a permanent cup on my nightstand, to this day. oh well, at least it's easier for me to monitor her water intake.
#32
When my dog was a puppy my dad used to give her the last bite of his breakfast sandwich every morning so she learned to sit next to whoever was at the head of the table eating at 8 am every morning. Sadly my father passed from brain cancer a few years ago so I feel bad to see her sit there and wait for the sandwich that isn’t coming
#33
My kitten will aggressively headbutt my face every night before bed, for top of head kisses before she goes to sleep.
#34
"Stop eating your face."
He has floppy jowls that sometimes get stuck in his teeth. I used to just casually say "dude stop eating your face" when it happened. On the occasions that he just happened to lick his teeth and spring it loose, I would give him a pat on the head and call him a good boy. Never any intentional training but now that he's an old man he's 100% responsive when I tell him. He'll clear his teeth out and present himself for his congratulatory head pats.
#35
The budgie had a broken leg in a little splint. He would climb to the roof of his cage with just his beak and good leg, then let go of his beak and hang by one leg then just stare at me. He knew I would stick my hand in and he could just fall off into my hand. He only did this when I was around because I was the only one who would stick my hand in.
#36
My cat knows to come over for the last bits of my yoghurt every night. She can tell from another room by the sound my spoon makes how much there is left ie when it’s worth it to run on to me.
Our dog never learned any commands except to come back from outside when you mimicked loud eating sounds.
#37
I used to work from home which included talking on the phone a lot. My dog would always bark when I was starting to talk to someone so I’d give her a treat to shut up, this turned into her following me around and barking anytime I put my headset on.
I don’t work for that company anymore, but I kept the headset on a shelf. Now when she wants treats she’ll go over to it and bark at it and then look at me.
#38
Our dog puts himself to bed when we turn the Xbox off
#39
If he hears me on the phone with my sister it’s automatically time for a walk. We usually chat when I take him out and he is now very aware of that.
Also outside clothes and putting on makeup means I’m going out probably without him. If I take my backpack- I won’t be back until after work (he’s happy that hasn’t happened in awhile)
Kathryn Baylis 3 years ago (edited)
He’s learned all your signals. That’s what our companion animals do—-they tune into us and memorize our habits and signals, to hell them intuit our needs. In other words, we’re their declared major, and our home is their college—-and their goal is to graduate at the top of the class!
#40
Upon hearing the Windows 7 sonata log-off sound, she jumps up and starts running around the room since I always locked my computer before leaving. And when I'm leaving, that usually means she's going to daycare (i.e. my Mom's house).
It's been 3 or so years since I switched to Windows 10, but just playing the sound on YouTube still gets a reaction out of her.
#42
My pup knows "skooch" means for him to get on his side of the bed.
After my ex husband left, ex's side of the bed became dog"s side of the bed. Dog knows "off" and would jump off the bed when I said "skooch," too, and then ask to be let back up on the bed. Eventually he figured out that "skooch" isn't the dame as "off"- he doesn't have to get put of the bed, just out of my side of it.
#43
I know somebody whose dog runs when he points his ass at it. Apperently he blasted it once with a heinous fart and it remembers.
What do you think ?
Mark Fuller 3 years ago
For whatever obscure reason, when our attention seeking cat started falling on his back, legs in the air, we decided it looked like he was impersonating a dead dog. So now whenever we say, "dead dog, dead dog!" he comes running and then... splat on his back with legs in the air, looking for a tummy tickle.
Lord Mysticlaw 3 years ago
The really impressive thing is what they condition us to do. If I'm asleep and my dog whines, I lift the edge of the duvet so she can get in. I basically do it in my sleep by now, she doesn't even have to wake me properly.
KombatBunni 3 years ago
My bird will imitate the sound of my iPhone whenever I call my partner. One day I called while birdo was sitting on my shoulder, so it was easier to do it that way and now whenever I pick up the phone he’ll start to make the noise. He also knows he has to get close to the phone in order to “talk” to the other person so if he’s on my shoulder and I’m calling he’ll immediately move up. It’s adorable but sometimes inconvenient. He also won’t eat sometimes until I do, and if I’m late with lunch or dinner I get told off. By a wee cockatiel!
Bird Mom 3 years ago
Birds are amazing. My cockatiel STEALS food. Have lost many a cereal to his beak.
Load More Replies... Mark Fuller 3 years ago
For whatever obscure reason, when our attention seeking cat started falling on his back, legs in the air, we decided it looked like he was impersonating a dead dog. So now whenever we say, "dead dog, dead dog!" he comes running and then... splat on his back with legs in the air, looking for a tummy tickle.
Lord Mysticlaw 3 years ago
The really impressive thing is what they condition us to do. If I'm asleep and my dog whines, I lift the edge of the duvet so she can get in. I basically do it in my sleep by now, she doesn't even have to wake me properly.
KombatBunni 3 years ago
My bird will imitate the sound of my iPhone whenever I call my partner. One day I called while birdo was sitting on my shoulder, so it was easier to do it that way and now whenever I pick up the phone he’ll start to make the noise. He also knows he has to get close to the phone in order to “talk” to the other person so if he’s on my shoulder and I’m calling he’ll immediately move up. It’s adorable but sometimes inconvenient. He also won’t eat sometimes until I do, and if I’m late with lunch or dinner I get told off. By a wee cockatiel!
Bird Mom 3 years ago
Birds are amazing. My cockatiel STEALS food. Have lost many a cereal to his beak.
Load More Replies...
Related on Bored Panda
