Sorry been absent, mol, had a show this past weekend, then Cowboy brought home something from the show, so been dealing with vettys for the past few days. He is all better now.
First the teaching the kitties to load on command, then will address Lola's question, which is a little more involved, mol.
The reason you teach kitties to load on command, is you never know, when you might have an emergency, and need to load them, right now. The time you waste, trying to find them, or get them loaded, might mean the difference, in getting out in time, or not.
Case in point. The kittens first show, 5 hrs from home, their first show hotel. Had just gotten to the hotel, and unloaded them, they were 7 months old, exploring the room. Had not been there 5 min, when it happened.
The fire alarm went off. They ran under the bed.
Moment of panic!!
OK, think, I said to myself, gotta get them loaded and outta here. Then I remembered, they load on command.
I got out their carrier, opened the door, in they ran. Thank G, they were taught to load, I don't even want to think about, what could have happened, I would not have left them.
The key to teaching a kitty anything, is you have to make it a pleasant and positive experience, as in, whats in it for them? What does kitties like to do? They likes to eat.
You start feeding them their meals, in the carrier. If the kitty likes the carrier, you can skip this step, this is for kitties that don't like the carrier, and/or don't know about a carrier, its how we start 8 week old kittens.
Set the carrier on the floor, leave the door open, do this for a few days.
Then set the food bowl, at the entrance of the door, over a few days, gradually, move the bowl, farther in the carrier, always leaving the door open. When kitty will walk right in the carrier, eat, and walk out, progress to the next step.
Put the bowl in the carrier, when kitty walks in, shut the door. As soon as kitty is done eating, let kitty out.
Kitty soon learns, foodies is in the carrier, that is the pleasant experience, the kitty gets to get out, when he is done eating, that is the positive experience.
Gradually, every day, increase the time, the kitty stays in there, after finishing eating, like by 2-3 minutes, and work up to 30 min, then let kitty out, I had to go way beyond this, as I travel ballpark 6 hrs one way to shows.
Use a command word, which ever word you want to use, but it has to be the same each and every time, you have to be consistant. I use "foodies".
When its feeding time, ya want to get, out, of Bump's way, as soon as you open the door, mol, he will knock you down, to get into his carrier, mol.
You have created a positive and pleasant experience for the kitty, carrier means foodies. Mine eat in their carriers. The kitty knows there is foodies in there, and they know, they do get to come out. The kittens first show, and Bump's as a kitten, was 5 hrs one way. They slept the whole way.
Its teeny baby steps, not being in a hurry, and being patient.