[Cookie and Mischief]

Hi! I've seen a video long ago of several rats doing multiple amazing tricks, and I thought it would be cool to train my ratty a trick or two. But how do I keep my rats focused and motivated? They are always running around, sniffing everything, even though she has been there a million times. Plus, I can't find a treat that is good for her and keeps her motivated. And what are some good starting tricks, and how do I train her it?

THanks so much!

 

[LilCritter]

I usually start with coming at their name. Then I teach them to come and stay on my shoulder whenever I take them out of the cage. It makes it easy to take them to the vet and whatnot. I started working on getting them to stand up. A good thing to start with is something that they do naturally, and then teaching them to do it on command.
Clicker training is a great method to use to train a rat to do tricks (or any animals, really).

 

[Reedrat]

I imagine you go about it the same as a dog, get their attention with an amazing treat, lure them into the behavior then reward and signal (click) at the exact moment they are successful. For complicated behaviors you brake it down into very small pieces, then when the have nailed the small behaviors put them together (for things like fetch: chase an object, pick it up, return)I train & have certified my dogs for search and rescue and can tell you one of the single most powerful training tools is your timing of reward. Especially if you are going to use a clicker or a cue word.