Her weakest trick is probably the “stay” which is why I didn’t click nor reward for it in this video. Instead I asked something else of her and ignored the behavior I didn’t like.

More to come soon! She just finished up learning how to jump into my lap and I am excited to get video footage of it to share.

This is just a simple video I took of my cat, Ninja, playing in the empty bath tub. She does this often where she throws herself into the bathroom and dashes around, in and out, of the empty tub.

I was spying on her and she finally had enough!

I’ve never really had a lot of the common behavioral problems most cat owners have, and I think it’s because I understand animal training in a few different forms and now how and what to reinforce and more importantly, what NOT to.

But recently my cousin Ashley asked me to do a post on why the heck her cat keeps chasing her feet around. At first, I thought she was just joking around and maybe the cat was dodging her feet every once in a while…

But then she told me her cat actually attacks her feet and even to the point where she can easily make her bleed. Wow, this really surprised me so I dug a little deeper on the issue.

I found an article somewhat on the topic called Why Cats May Bite and Scratch.

So to keep this short and simple, I will list the possible things YOU are dong as an owner to make your cat go after your feet, and what you can do to stop it (unless you like it!)

Possible causes making your cat go after your feet:

• You taught it at a young age that feet are play-things by playing with your cat using your feet.
• You drug socks hanging half way off your feet around for your cat to play and chase around.
• Your cat doesn’t have enough other toys to play with.
• Your cat is being playful and/or bored from lack of stimulation else where and needs more time with you.
• Your cat tried it one time and you made it super duper fun so it learned that it does it now to get your attention and/or a reaction from you.

Somewhere along the lines, all pet owners accidentally reward behavior they don’t actually want. I once had a bird who made baby bird sounds for attention and I reinforced it from day one by just LOOKING at the bird when it did it because I thought something might be wrong. We all do it, sometimes we can’t help it, but the sooner we catch onto that, the sooner we can work on fixing it.

What you can do:

• Invest in some more toys that fit the same criteria your playful feet do.
• Don’t react when your cat goes after your feet, make them as “non fun” as possible so your cat is no longer interested in them. This includes NOT yelling, screaming, making eye contact, or anything that could be exciting and reinforcing to your cat.
• Cue an incompatible behavior… meaning, a behavior your cat knows on command that makes it so that it can’t attack your feet and do the behavior you are asking at the same time so it has to leave your feet alone.
• Wear shoes that might discourage your cat from playing with your feet. Nothing that will hurt the cat, but something harder that isn’t as easy and soft to bite into.
• Don’t use your feet to encourage your cat to play.

So in just 1 day I successfully taught my cat what a clicker is. The next day my husband taught her how to rise like a tiger, and I thought, how cute! I want her to do MORE!

But I wanted to teach her something because it seemed that ever since he trained her that, that was their special bond…

So yes, I got a little jealous!

In one day she was successfully touch trained (aka target training) which is a behavior people use to get horses to get themselves into travel trailers. So I thought, I’m pretty tired of stuffing my cat in the cage to go to the vet’s office, I’d MUCH prefer if she walked herself in there! Wahla! Touch training IS the answer.

Ever since I started training with my cat, she has been MUCH more excited to see me and interact with me.

Training is BOND BUILDING, and it makes your cat like you more, respect you more and fulfills the needs of the cat more so it’s not annoying the heck out of you so much telling you that aren’t!

I have a feeling these are the first of MANY changes in my own cat as I go down this training world journey…

When I was little I literally gave myself a hernia at the age of 3 because it took ALL my self will to NOT squeeze the living life out of my pets, specifically cats. My mom had the best taste in pound kitties ’cause they were VERY tolerant of me as a toddler. I loved them so much I just wanted nothing more than to hug them as tight as I could! And my mom was there reminding me how gentle I needed to be.

But I was always wanting to cuddle with them and have them WANT to cuddle with me. I found it devastating when they’d get up and leave or never even choose me in the first place. They always chose my mom.

So what did I do? I closed the door to my room and then they couldn’t get away! They had no choice! Well, they chose to wait by the door until one of my parents noticed they were missing. Ouch!

The problem? Not my age or immaturity (though I know those were both going against me) but it was actually me FORCING the cat to hang out with me. How would you like to be forced to hang out with someone and then have them make you do everything they want to do and not give you any say at all? And not just as a “one time” thing either, but it was like that every time you were around them. You would be waiting by the door, too!

I know I would.

Once I got my own cat and grew up a little, I realized that I had to do things right from day 1 and never force my cat to spend time with me. Because of doing that and sticking to it (and avoiding the immediate reaction to snatch her out of the air when she goes to leap off my lap and maybe I’m not quite fulfilled with my quality time with her) I have a great relationship with my cat built on respect and trust. She knows she can come to me and hang out whenever she wants, and she always knows she can leave whenever she wants which makes her MORE LIKELY to come hang out even if it’s just for a short while.

I’m going to compare it to the type of people who won’t let you get off the phone and the type who hear you gotta go and immediately say, “Okay! Bye!” real easily. You’re more likely to call them more often even if you may not have a lot of time because you know it will be no problem to get off the line with them when you need to. Same goes for cats. What if they’re hungry, thirsty, hot, cold, or need to just go to the bathroom and you’re holding them back?

My parents live in Idaho and on a lot of 5 acre parcels. They’re surrounded by the forest on all sides, really. And often they find deer and moose in their yard along with coyotes nearby in the forests and eagles, hawks and ospreys in the sky. There are tons of predators where they live and I’m always nervous leaving my cat, Ninja, with them. They have cats of their own and always have, but they and the neighbors have had their share of accidents with letting their animals outside.

The accidents only happen when the people haven’t been able to get their animals in BEFORE dark. Dark/nighttime is when all the predators are out for the hunt and people’s pet cats and small dogs are easy targets. The large dogs are only in danger if they are lured into the forest by other animals and then ganged up on in packs.

So in their situation it’s very important to get their animals to come when they call, and especially to come in at night.

This requires a little bit of food management. If you offer your cat food all day long, it can go in and out as it pleases and the only motivation it has to come to you is if you’re cooler than whatever else it is comparing your company to. Sometimes, the person doesn’t always seem better to be around than the patch of grass they can chew on, or the new cat they can pick on. Or maybe the lizard hiding in the bush. I know my cat would pass my company up for that of a lizard any day!

I helped my parents train their cats (as well as my own) to come in at night because guess what? It’s dinner time! While the animals enjoy their dinner before dark every night, doors are locked and kept that way for the night. Dinner time means all animals are in for the night.

My cat naturally has breakfast, goes out all day long and comes in for dinner and stays in. She isn’t allowed out (and there is no cat door in our house, it’s up to us to let her out). If you make dinner time a routine that your animal has to follow, I promise they will be coming in at night!

You can also offer the yummier stuff at night if you don’t want to take all food away. But it has to be something BETTER than being outside, and worth coming in for. Maybe a little wet food for dinner and dry food for breakfast depending on your kitty’s preferences? I know my cat would go for that.

I don’t know about your cat, but all my cats have always LOVED packing supplies! Boxes (of course, as mentioned so much…) but also all the good stuff INSIDE… like peanuts, bags full of air and just paper scraps and other fun things to play with.

Once my goodies are out of the box, Ninja will jump right in for her fun!

This is a great way to let your cat make a bit of a mess and have a little fun that doesn’t happen every day. It’s a great stimulating act that you can offer with little clean up for you (unless your cat is really hyped up or you decide to add some cat nip to make it that way!)

]]> http://www.simplecattraining.com/packing-supplies-arent-just-for-people-anymore/feed/ 0 http://www.simplecattraining.com/any-other-cat-out-there-obsessed-with-socks/ http://www.simplecattraining.com/any-other-cat-out-there-obsessed-with-socks/#comments Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:29:50 +0000 admin http://www.simplecattraining.com/?p=153

If you look BEHIND my cat in this photo, you will see a few black blobs… those black blobs are socks… and just on the couch to the right was a huge PILE of the rest of them, plus a few through the house leading us to the large pile.

My cat is obsessed with socks. She will find them folded neatly on top of the laundry machine and bring them all over the house and make a giant pile (usually in the den or on top of the staircase)

She cries/meows that certain meow when normally they would have brought in a dead animal for you to be proud of, but instead, it’s a zillion killed socks.

It sure would make me feel better to know someone out there has a cat that does this too because I don’t get it…

I HAVE to get quicker at putting them away after folding.

Although my cat is a short hair, she still sheds and it still becomes a little bit of an issue on my furniture in the house that is red. Black stands out on red…

But with bedding and furniture the same color, the shedded hair does not show up hardly at all! And I love it. Of course, washing sheets and bedding is necessary like normal and if you’re picky a handy dust buster will help any hair situation.

But for now, I hope you like the color of YOUR cat so you can hide the hair, too!

As a cat owner you are constantly put in the situation of deciding what is best for your cat and the responsibility is yours alone.

I can’t tell you how many articles I’ve read on the debating between letting your cat go outside or not. To break it down, you need to weigh the risks and decide what’s best for your cat…

A long life indoors or a possible shorter but possibly happier life outdoors?

My cat sleeps in the house at night, and when we go out she may let us know she’d like to go out too or she will watch us leave peacefully indoors. I really leave the decision up to her. She also loves playing in our closed garage so I will often let her do that.

Since it rains so much where I live (Florida) she isn’t likely to stay out all day because at some point, she knows the rain is coming and it’s not just a drizzle!

Here are the pros and cons to letting your cat outside, or not.

Risks of letting your cat outside:

• Contagious cat diseases (spread by means of biting from other cats)
• Ticks, fleas and worms
• Zoonotic diseases (transmittable to humans from cats)
• Harsh weather depending on where you live
• Other predators (other animals, cars, people, abuse)
• If your cat is not spayed, it may reproduce with other cats in the neighborhood causing some harm in over population
• Loss of wildlife via your cat’s hunting abilities
• Average shorter lifespan than that of an indoor cat

Risks to leaving your cat indoors all the time:

• Not enough stimulation
• Not likely to get enough or as much exercise as the cat would outdoors
• Won’t be getting fresh greens that are necessary to the cat unless you grow them personally
• Behavior problems become more apparent
• Natural behaviors and instincts won’t be exhibited outside and therefore will come more to the forefront in doors (biting, scratching, climbing, hunting)
• Because the cat is not exposed to constant change in environment like the outdoors provides, it will have a harder time with new things in its current environment
• More likely to become territorial as it has no other animals challenging it
• Lack of socialization

Knowing how much my cats have all LOVED going outside and playing and eating the grass and everything else they get out of it (enrichment) I allow my cats go outside. I feel a mixture of both worlds works for my situation and lifestyle. You will need to determine what best suits yours and what you feel is safest for your cat. My neighborhood only has one other cat in it and my cat and that one leave one another alone. All dogs around my house are walked constantly but on a leash so my risks tend to be lower then yours may be.

I do know that I for one would rather my cat live a shorter but happier life than a longgggg mediocure life.

For a different view on this topic, read this article.