Shoulder Cat Training: Teach Your Cat To Jump and Sit On Your Shoulder

Welcome to Cat School. In this cat training tutorial, you will see all the training I use to teach my cat to jump and sit on my shoulder, also called Shoulder Cat. Teaching your cat to sit on your shoulder is fun and active training and an excellent way to build your cat's confidence interacting with you. It's also a practical skill when leash walking your cat because they can safely ride on your shoulder while you walk.

Have fun shoulder-catting!
-Julie and Jones

Ready to enrich your cat's life and strengthen your bond?
Start your clicker training journey right meow!

▶ Get Your Training Tools:
Check out the Cat School toolkit, which includes all the clicker training tools you need to train your cat:

▶ Get Help With Your Training
*Purchase our training tools from Amazon or the website and join the membership for $0 for 30 days.

▶ Meet Your Teachers: I'm Julie Posluns. My goal is to help people enrich their cat's life with clicker training. I am an Associate Certified Applied Animal Behaviourist (ACAAB). I love to break complex behaviours into tiny achievable steps and show cat lovers how fun and rewarding it is to train their cats. My assistant teacher in the video is a black cat named Jones.

▶ Share Your Training

[Pebblycat_]

Following your tips my boy Wilbur got the idea of what he was supposed to do very quickly. He’s going to to be a backpack shoulder cat in no time 😍

[deel]

I find shouldering the cat for a walk is a nice addition, as otherwise he’s either in his sling or in his backpack. Super video!

[kateharvey]

We have 5 month old kitten twins who follow us every time we go into the kitchen. Especially when we cook. One of them just naturally transitioned into a shoulder kitten. He climbed onto my husband's shoulder while my husband was holding him because he wanted to see what I doing on the kitchen counter and now he sits there every time he gets picked up. He's to little to scarf but he sure does try. I think he'd sleep on someone's shoulder if he could.

[elodielaurent]

Thank you for the video. I am currently training Pirate to ride on the top of the backpack. Actually, he inspired me to do so because the top of the backpack is one his favorite spot to chill. I just decided to reinforce this behaviour with treats. Pirate is a quick learner so within a couple of day I was able to make him jump on top, stand up and walk on the house with Mr Pirate enjoying the world at 5’6’ altitude 😊! Now you inspired me to do the forearm training… will try tonight ! Thanks for the tips. 🐱

[nox.]

How do you keep your shoulder skin intact? Our Aragorn (looks like Jones' twin, big shadow kitty) taught himself this and will jump on our shoulders constantly, but man those claws!!

[WolfgangundBrünhilde]

helpful.

had a scare last night that allowed me to eval our clicker training for getting into their carrier in a fire emergency. brünhilde got in no problem but wolfgang, noticed my panicked movements and ran and hid. it took 15 minutes to get him crated and us all out of the house-a fail. they both were terrified by that time. would you consider doing a video on how you’d train Jones to get into carrier in response to hearing the fire alarm?

[mollyasmaa]

i just searched this up lol and u just posted it!

[loganl]

I love these videos for the entertainment just as much as the information.

[mianglero]

I'm new here, and I love your videos!!!!

[dragonslayerdark]

Very nice video! We take our kitty for longs walks together and she'll just hang on our shoulder and enjoy the view.

Since we sometimes go out for a long time, we were wondering, how can you train your kitty to poop/pee outside when you're on the go?

[dkagoxblacksmith]

Hi, I've been searching and searching the internet and I'm hoping you'll have the answer I'm looking for. My cat has been riding on my arms and shoulders without training for a long time but she has a slight balancing issue when we walk. Is there a shoulder/arm pad I can buy for her to stand on so we can show off a little better?

[KathrynTestBot]

We have a new kitten that for whatever reason started climbing up my back. Figured I could teach her to be a shoulder cat...

She seems receptive so far. Only real problem is if she jumps up and misses. 🤣 (Ow.)

[lovxlynaomi]

Thank you so much for this :) Also how do you go outside and walk with him, doesn’t he run away? Because my cat would just run away, do you have any tips on how not to make him run off?

[potato]

what backpack do you use? and are rocket ship backpacks or mesh better?

[Piinkypanter]

i rescued a fatty so i think i do the backpack version with him lol my other cat already does the free shoulders or the arm stand

[hardyharhar]

My Micky is a shoulder cat. She only weighs 7 pounds and she only likes my left shoulder. Me and Micky love eachother allot.

[mobstarhipstar]

I walk my cat on a leash outside. If ever he struggles bcuz there r loud kids playing or dogs barking close by, I carry him on my shoulders until eventually I've successfully trained and conditioned him to tolerate all that while walking on the leash.

[milapartment]

The biggest problem im facing right now is my cat often drops her treats, that causes her to go towards the ground to try to find the treat. How can I avoid this happening?

[bear_]

how do you get your cat to claw you less when they jump up onto you? my little one is great at jumping but jumps with all her claws out!

[lucydogcrew]

So i have a very picky cat he don't like freeze dried treats just party mix and when we put him in a carrier he tried to hurt himself what can I do?