First, make the click mean something precise
A clicker works because its sound is identical every time and lands in the exact second your cat does the right thing, bridging the gap before the treat arrives. Charge it before any target appears: click, immediately give a tiny treat, pause, repeat a dozen times across a couple of short sessions until your cat's ears and eyes snap toward you at the sound in clear expectation. Use treats small enough to eat in a second or two, because a large slow-to-eat reward slows the rhythm and blurs the connection. If your cat dislikes sharp sounds, a soft tongue click or a quiet marker word used with total consistency does the same job — consistency matters more than the device itself.
Introducing the stick: pay for looking, then touching
Hold the target stick — a chopstick, a purpose-made target with a ball end, anything safe and distinct — a few centimetres from your cat's nose. Cats investigate novelty with their nose almost automatically. Click the instant she touches the tip, or at first even leans toward it, and treat. Withdraw the stick between repetitions and present it again cleanly, so each touch is a fresh decision she gets paid for. If she bats it with a paw, accept and pay early on; nose touches can be shaped later by clicking only the clearest nose contacts. Keep the stick still rather than chasing her face with it, because a cat pursued by an object learns to avoid it, while a cat who chooses to approach learns a game she controls.
Building movement: from one touch to following a guide
Once touches are eager and immediate, move the stick a short step away before presenting it, so your cat takes a pace to reach it. Click and treat each arrival. Extend distance gradually, then add gentle direction changes, a step up onto a low platform, and brief pauses where she holds position at the target. Sessions should stay around two minutes and finish on an easy win; cats learn this skill in layers across days, not in one determined afternoon. If she loses interest mid-session, the rate of pay or the step size is wrong far more often than her attitude is — make the next repetition easier and more generously rewarded, or simply end and try again tomorrow.
What targeting unlocks in real life later
A cat who follows a target can be guided instead of grabbed, and that changes difficult moments everywhere. Lead her onto the scales at the vet without a scruffed lift. Walk her into an open carrier positioned days earlier as furniture, rather than chasing her around a bed on appointment morning. Guide her onto the scratch post at the moment furniture looks tempting, up to a perch away from a housemate dispute, or into a specific spot for eye drops and examinations where she must hold still. Targeting also gives an indoor cat a thinking job that burns mental energy productively, and it gives a nervous cat a predictable game she understands in frightening places.
Troubleshooting and getting help at the stuck step
Common stalls are specific: a cat who touches at home but not in a new room needs the charging and first steps repeated in that room, because cats learn locations as part of the lesson. A cat who watches but never touches may need the stick held closer, scented lightly with treat residue, or swapped for a more visible tip. A cat who touches then leaves needs smaller treats delivered faster. When a step resists your adjustments, describing exactly what your cat does at that step — distance, room, reward, reaction — gets far better advice than saying training is not working. That is where a follow-up question to KinsLe's Kimmy can help between sessions; she answers using the KinsLe Answers library, so the next session can start from a fresh idea rather than from scratch.