January 23, 2006
Cats at Play and Training
Cats at Play
When cats play, they are naturally involved in hunting activities. For this reason, it is important to play with your cat in a way that does not promote aggressive behaviors toward you, his person. Use of the fishing pole type toys seem to be best.
Sometimes, cats can become aggressive for other reasons. Neglect, abuse and possessiveness.
Neglect can be addressed by paying more attention to you cat. Usually, if you neglect your cat, she will just "fade" into the background. She may stop eating and will herself to die. This is serious! If your cat becomes aggressive because of neglect, she is fighting for your attention. Usually, daily attention to your cat will stop the aggressive behaviors in this instance.
Abuse is a serious situation. If a cat becomes aggressive because of abuse, the cat will need to be re-tamed. Often, the only reason a cat will become aggressive from abuse is because the cat doesn't see a way out of the abuse and the person responds to the aggressive behaviors in a way that lets the cat know his feelings are known. It may also be a cry for help from the cat. If the people around the cat don't respond to the behavior and continue to abuse it, the cat will become lethargic, stop eating and will itself to die. If the cat sees an escape, it will take it.
Possessiveness can only be changed by giving the cat something that belongs to it that is more important to it than the thing it is protecting. If this is you, your cat needs to be retrained.
TRAINING
First Lesson:
The first thing you need to do is get your cat's attention. A clicker is a good item to use for this. It is small, portable and can be hidden from view. Mouth noises are fine at first, but when you cat figures out that you are making the noises, it will ignore you.After you have the cat's attention, say his name. Use a friendly tone, but use authority. No fear or question should be in your voice. You want the cat to associate his name with the tone and word. Give a gesture that you want the cat to come to you and say "come here" in an inviting tone. If the cat responds as you expect, give a scratch behind the ears or a treat. Release the cat to go about his activities and repeat this within 15 minutes.
Eventually your cat will come to you when you say his name and "come here" together. Continue to use the clicker every time.
This same training can be used to get your cat to get off the counter or chair. However, you will need to wait for you cat to be on those items before you can use this method. This is why it is slower going to train your cat to get down. From a distance, you can ease your cat into getting down by using the clicker, saying the cat's name, say "Down" and use a water pistol filled with water, and squirt the cat around the face, neck or shoulders. The cat will immediately get down, and can be treated or otherwise praised for the behavior of getting down.
Another good thing to train your cat for is "freeze." You want your cat to freeze in position whenever you say "freeze." This can be a life saving command. If you see your cat getting into something it shouldn't, use your clicker for attention, say "freeze," go pick up your cat and praise it. You want the cat to get the idea that it does not move unless you pick it up.
That's all the training for today. I'll give you more next time.
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