I agree positive reinforcement is certainly good, we use that for scratching couch and such, but there’s no real substitute action for getting onto the kitchen counter and eating plastic, nor is there one for biting someone. There does have to be a level of mild punishment for certain actions, especially ones that can harm themselves or others.
I feel you, I had to chase them around with it for a while. Consistency got there, it was an uphill battle for a bit. Nowdays I can just shake the water bottle and they general start behaving.
I used to use canned air, but they eventually stopped caring.
The room where I spend most of my time and they get up to most of their shenanigans is pretty long across so, unless I used a super soaker, I’m not sure I could hit them with water.
I have occasionally thrown something soft - like a pillow, I have no desire to issue actual corporal punishment - in their direction. That’s gotten mixed results.
Canned air is good for the noise, but yeah they do tend to realise after a bit if there are no actual consequences.
I had a period initially when training them where I had to more or less chase them around the house to get a squirt in. It sucks, but they need the consistent punishment to reinforce the idea that certain behaviours are associated with punishment.
I feel you on not wanting to use punishment, unfortunately they aren’t receptive to harsh language by default, they are really only built to respond to physical stimulus. Not using unneeded force is good obviously, the most I do are light taps on the nose if they bite someone too hard, that’s really rare nowadays thankfully. Everything else is the squirt bottle if they don’t respond to verbal signals.
Though I’m not an expert, just speaking from 1.5 demons worth of cats. Grain of salt etc. Eldest used to bite my stomach during important meetings during lockdown, sharing the apartment with her during that time was a real lesson in training cats.
Have you tried a squirt bottle? If you follow up the ignored words with a damp coat they start being more reasonable pretty quick.
I used to be pro squirt bottle, but I read something on lemmy once about how it’s actually damaging to your relationship with your cat.
I don’t have that exact article, but here’s one I just snagged off Google. https://www.fearfreehappyhomes.com/squelch-the-squirt-why-spraying-water-doesnt-work-to-train-your-cat/
Positive reinforcement is the best method for correcting bad behavior in pets. It’s tough because it doesn’t stop the bad behavior now.
I agree positive reinforcement is certainly good, we use that for scratching couch and such, but there’s no real substitute action for getting onto the kitchen counter and eating plastic, nor is there one for biting someone. There does have to be a level of mild punishment for certain actions, especially ones that can harm themselves or others.
Squirt bottles taught my car exactly how far they would squirt and he would stand just out of range.
I feel you, I had to chase them around with it for a while. Consistency got there, it was an uphill battle for a bit. Nowdays I can just shake the water bottle and they general start behaving.
I used to use canned air, but they eventually stopped caring.
The room where I spend most of my time and they get up to most of their shenanigans is pretty long across so, unless I used a super soaker, I’m not sure I could hit them with water.
I have occasionally thrown something soft - like a pillow, I have no desire to issue actual corporal punishment - in their direction. That’s gotten mixed results.
Canned air is good for the noise, but yeah they do tend to realise after a bit if there are no actual consequences.
I had a period initially when training them where I had to more or less chase them around the house to get a squirt in. It sucks, but they need the consistent punishment to reinforce the idea that certain behaviours are associated with punishment.
I feel you on not wanting to use punishment, unfortunately they aren’t receptive to harsh language by default, they are really only built to respond to physical stimulus. Not using unneeded force is good obviously, the most I do are light taps on the nose if they bite someone too hard, that’s really rare nowadays thankfully. Everything else is the squirt bottle if they don’t respond to verbal signals.
Though I’m not an expert, just speaking from 1.5 demons worth of cats. Grain of salt etc. Eldest used to bite my stomach during important meetings during lockdown, sharing the apartment with her during that time was a real lesson in training cats.