Cat scratching training is an *aha* experience

Patience is key to getting your cat to scratch what you what it to and nothing else. In a way, achieving this is like trying to communicate something fairly complicated to a human who doesn't understand your language. However, by interacting with the cat and watching its behavior carefully you can train it to do many things. When it comes to scratching, it's a matter of having a quality scratching target first and then rewarding any scratching actions that occur. Often cats won't do much other than hook a claw into the post while trying to snag a toy such as the Antenna that comes with Natural Scratch. By rewarding this action with a treat the cat craves, soon the critter will have an aha experience and realize that the path to a food reward it craves is simple: Just scratch what you want it to scratch. Cool.