views the best pictures
Let me make it clear what my personal opinion is. It is not so much a question of how to discipline a cat, but more a case of how do you get a cat to do what you want it to do and stop doing what you do not want it to do that is important.
I think that if you want to achieve those aims then you have to understand that in most, if not all, circumstances discipline can in fact be counterproductive.
In this article I will go into the wrong and right way to achieve what you want and keep your whole household happy.
How Not to Discipline A Cat
Cats are not small humans, reasoning with them is not possible so unlike a human who can have privileges removed, or whatever other punishment is reasonable, they do not understand consequences as we do, particularly if the punishment comes after the event.
Follow that course of action and the cat will begin to associate the punishment with you. Far from the happy contented feline friend that you want you will end up with someone who will start to avoid you as time goes on.
I particularly do not advocate any form of action that will cause a cat pain. Negative stimuli to change an activity is one thing but in can be subtle and not frightening.
How To Discipline a Cat
The whole disciple thing regarding cats is not really discipline at all as I intimated above. It is more a guidance away from the negatives and towards the positive.
For example do you have trouble training your cats to stay off counters? This is one where the gentle approach works. I have always advocated never giving them a reason not to climb on counters but covering the clean surfaces with a material such as kitchen foil, which cats dislike walking on is a good deterrent. After a short while you will find that you can stop doing this. This is just one tactic available to you.
Your cat can be quite easily conditioned, it is not hard to do and only requires perseverance. For example although cats will not come running the same way a dog will there is a good chance that if you know that your cat wants feeding why not call it by name as you put the dish down. By association you stand a better chance of the cat coming when called (or not if the cat does not want to on this occasion, cats have a habit of proving you wrong just when you think you are winning).
If the cat has a behaviour that you do not like such as pulling all the paper off the roll in the bathroom then turn the roll so it cannot do it. The habit will fade and you can turn it back later if you want.
Always subtle. Your cat is going to the toilet where you do not want it to go? Pick it up and put it in the litter tray, make where it went slightly unpleasant by cleaning with strong smelling solutions put down deterrents.
Remember it is behaviour change that we are trying to encourage. Any severe punishment could just result in your cat just packing its bags and leaving.
I have given just a few suggestions here, there are of course far more things that you can do that are beyond the scope of this article. As I said above there are several other techniques you can use for training if you want to know how to discipline a cat
I cannot stress too much to you that it is not so much about learning punishment but persuasion in a kind and humane way.
You can find out more by clicking the link or by cutting and pasting http://youloveyourcat.com/how-to-discipline-a-cat into your browser
Roger
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Roger_Shann
No comments:
Post a Comment