In my daily life, I can see how Operant Conditioning works. One of my cats named Jefferson at home that we recently adopted learned to patiently sit on command for his food. My mom and I decided that since my sister taught her cat to do all sorts of things, why not try it on our cat? So, whenever it was feeding time, we gave Jefferson his favorite food either when he sat by mistake or because we forced him to sit. Then, we immediately gave him the food after he completed the action. In this situation, the food is a positive reinforcement because Jefferson is receiving a desirable item that he particularly enjoys. He associates the command for ‘sit’ to receiving his reward, or reinforcement. Now, he responds to the word ‘sit’ immediately and sits for his food every time. He is so conditioned now that even before I say the word, he is already sitting for the food without any other instruction. In addition, Jefferson now sits for all sorts of other things such as treats and toys, even though he wasn’t conditioned to do this. This is called generalization and is common with animals which are taught tricks. Based upon articles I have found, there are many tricks cats can learn just as well as dogs can. Cats are also demotivated, which means that the thing you want them to do must be highly probable for them to achieve or else they won’t engage in the activity. The key is to provide steps that gradually lead to the outcome you want. If you want to eventually make the cat do something without the reward, it’s important to gradually take the treat away. This prevents extinction, which is when the response to the stimuli ceases. Some people have even taught their cats to use chopsticks attached to their paw and even “walking” on parallel bars. A common trick used today is to train their cat to use the toilet instead of a litter box. First, the litter box is set near the toilet. Then it is gradually raised until it’s actually positioned in the toilet. Then the litter box is removed and the cat continues to use the toilet. This can be reinforced with treats or food and can be accomplished eventually without the litter box. No matter the type of animal, there are all sorts of tricks pets can learn as long as the proper steps are used.
http://messybeast.com/intelligence2.htm#tricks