by Shojai, Amy
· POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT means the desired behavior results in ADDING something pleasant or positive. For example, a treat lures the cat to wave. To be effective, positive reinforcement must be contingent upon the desired behavior taking place; must be associated with the behavior; and must be used consistently.
· NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT means the desired behavior results in the REMOVAL of something unpleasant or negative. For example, a frightened dog barks at the mailman, the mailman’s departure negatively reinforces the dog—and he’ll bark in the future because it worked to make the scary thing go away. Negative reinforcement often builds on the pet’s avoidance or escape response. It may take only one or two experiences for Sheba or Rex to “learn” this response.
· INTERMITTENT REINFORCEMENT means the positive treat, or negative mailman’s departure doesn’t happen every time, only intermittently. This teaches the pet that since it happens sometimes, it’s worth a try. Intermittent reinforcement increases the likelihood of repetition of the good or bad behavior.
TRAINING STYLES
The old-style coercion methods popularized after World War II that often relied on positive punishment are less popular today. “Physical training” style uses pushing or pulling the pet into position with your hands on his rump to force a sit.
“Punishment” training teaches pets to dislike training and the owner. Yes, pets often obey out of fear of reprisals, but the method also teaches “avoidance” behaviors. Slapping or shaming the kitten for going potty in the house teaches her either to hide it better, or only poop when you aren’t around. Punishment training in shy and aggressive pets makes these behaviors worse.
These techniques rely on dominating the pet. For example, the old style of training said you should “correct” a pet for showing aggression. But today behaviorists understand that aggression is caused by stress/anxiety, and punishing the cat increases the stress rather than diminishing it. Punishment causes aggression to escalate.
A NEW WAY TO TRAIN
Modern trainers focus more on “say please” type programs that encourage cats to offer behaviors in order to get all good things in life. The leader of the social group controls the good stuff, such as food and toys. That means owners automatically give themselves a high-ranking status without having to intimidate or use force in any way. Modern training improves communication between you and your cat and teaches her to want to comply.
“Reward Training” means you allow your cat to discover the behavior you want her to do, and then reward it. She may perform many “bad” behaviors (jumping up, clawing the furniture, grabbing your ankles) until finally she happens to “sit” and is rewarded.
Cats figure out the desired behavior from your body language, verbal praise and the treat, and learns she only gets the reward when she does what you want. The more “wrong” behaviors she performs, the more she learns what WON’T work. This technique trains without giving commands or physical direction—no touching allowed—and works especially well with cats that dislike being moved into position.
CLICKER TRAINING: One of the most popular modern training methods employs clickers (as a secondary reinforcer) to communicate with the pet. The technique teaches pets to recognize the “click” as a signal you wanted her to do THAT (click!) behavior, such as meow or wave a paw. A food reward linked to the click reinforces the message. This painless way to train puts no pressure on you or the pet, because you’ve not “told” her to do anything, so she’s never wrong. But she’s only “right” when she figures out the correct behavior. Clicker training encourages cats to think and figure out what pleases you to turn owners into a treat machine.
LURE TRAINING: Luring the cat with a reward is the fastest, easiest, most effective and enjoyable training technique of all. The basic sequence is 1) request 2) response 3) reward. This training method teaches cats not only to respond to commands, but also teaches pets to listen and react to humans, and humans to watch and react to the pet. It enhances communication between you as you teach Sheba your language, while you learn her language as well.
EMOTIONAL HEALING
Cats don’t have deadlines to meet or a mortgage to pay, but they suffer stress just the same—anything from meeting the new baby or change in your work schedule can leave tails in a twist. You can’t always explain that there’s nothing to fear, and when pets get emotional they can’t learn. Behavior modification and training methods won’t work until the pet gets his feelings under control.
TOUCH THERAPY
A specialized massage technique called TTouch developed by Linda Tellington-Jones works particularly well to relieve cat behavior problems, especially aggression and fearfulness. Tests show that TTouch changes the electrical activity in pets' brains. This helps them relax so they’re open to learn new ways to cope, rather than just react out of fear.
TTouch use very specific circular stroke patterns on the surface of the skin all over the pet’s body, with extra attention to the ears. The basic circle technique is called the “Clouded Leopard TTouch,” because the strokes follow the circle shape of leopard spots.
Make the circles with one or two fingers depending on the size of your cat. Push the skin in a clockwise direction by “drawing” a complete circle with your fingers. Completing the circle changes the brain waves (this has actually been measured!). After completing each circle, slide your hand on the pet’s body an inch or two, and form another circle—never lose contact with the body. Continue making “chains” of circles all over, as long as the cat allows.
A ten to twenty minute session is a good target. Let your cat tell you if she wants a light touch or stronger pressure.
Body wraps can also have a positive effect. While most cats object to being hugged which can make them feel trapped, there are specific techniques that produce the opposite emotion. TTouch wraps effectively uses touch to sooth pet emotions. The wraps use lengths of gauze or bandages wrapped in a specific technique around the body and legs to create snug, constant pressure that also helps relieve stress. A properly fitted halter may have a similar effect.
Your cat may also benefit from Thundershirt which has become available for cats. Originally created to relieve anxious behaviors of dogs stimulated by thunder or other noise phobias, the close-fitting vest works on the same principle as TTouch wrap technique. The Thundershirt comes sized for small, medium and large cats and can reduce excess vocalization and other behaviors associated with stress of vet visits or introductions to other pets.
BACH FLOWER REMEDIES
Flower essence therapy can also help with behavior modification. These herbal remedies are made from plants, trees and bushes. The essences are said to carry the imprint of the plant’s energy, so the patient’s body somehow “recognizes” this image, which wakes up the system so it can heal itself. In a percentage of cases, flower essence therapies work extraordinarily well.
The most familiar products are Bach Flowers composed of 38 individual remedies. Each benefits a different emotional state, and is sometimes used in combination with others for greater effect. Rescue Remedy, for instance, is a premixed combination of the essences Impatiens, Star of Bethlehem, Cherry Plum, Rock Rose and Clematis, recommended for any kind of stress. Most health food stores carry Bach Flower remedies. They’re safe to use alongside other medical treatments, and choosing the “wrong” essence won’t cause harm. Once you’ve chosen your flower essences, here’s how to put them to work.
· Maintain the original undiluted bottle as your stock bottle. It should last a very long time.
· To create a treatment strength mixture, place 2 drops of the undiluted remedy in a one-ounce glass dropper bottle, and then fill the bottle three-quarters full with spring water, and shake 100 times. Don’t use tap water or distilled water—they go stale too quickly. Refrigerate the mixture. It lasts up to two weeks.
· Give the pet 4 drops four times a day from the treatment bottle until the behavior changes. This could be anywhere from a few days to a cou
ple weeks. It can be given straight from the treatment bottle dropper into the pet’s mouth or on his nose if this doesn’t stress him out too much. Don’t touch the dropper to the pet or that could contaminate the bottle.
· Alternatively, add drops to a treat, like a teaspoonful of plain yogurt, or add several drops of the remedy to the drinking water for all the pets to sip.
PHEROMONE THERAPY
Pheromones are chemical signals that communicate directly with the brain via the nose on an almost instinctive level, and can be used to “talk” to your cat and put them in a better state of mind to accept learning and training. Dr. Patrick Pageat created Feliway, an analogue of the F3 fraction of the feline cheek pheromone, which cats use to identify/mark their physical environment.
Basically, the substance tells the kitty brain, “Your environment is familiar and safe, so chill, calm down, everything’s cool.” Feliway comes as a plug-in product for indoors, or as a spray, and is available at most pet products stores. You can use the spray by treating a cloth or bed and placing it inside the cat carrier during travel, or use the plug-in to affect all the cats in a house during introductions.
The plug-in lasts for about four weeks, and works well in enclosed rooms (500-650 square feet). It is particularly helpful for dealing with stress-related marking behaviors such as scratching and urine spraying, and eases the stress of fearful of other felines or a new environment. It takes 24-48 hours for the plug-in to reach ideal heating rate to spill the pheromone into the air, and about one to two weeks before you’ll see a difference in behavior.
Sergeant’s Pet Care Products offers a pheromone collar for cats that reproduces the calming pheromones nursing mothers release to sooth kittens. For cats that tolerate collars well, this can be an excellent option.
Other companies offer products that use herbal combinations or essential oils said to simulate the effects of appeasing pheromones. While pheromone therapy has great benefits for many cats, it is not a magic wand. These products work best when used alongside behavior modification and/or other therapies.
TEACHING THE BASICS
Ideally, every kitten learns the rules of the house just as every child learns basic manners. Before anything else, agree with the rest of your family what rules apply. If pets know one human allows sofa digging but not the other, they capitalize on that information.
It’s helpful for multiple pets to not only know their individual name but also respond to a “group name” such as “kitties.” Teach all the critters to pay attention by saying the word-command, then treating every pet that looks at you. Make a huge deal over praising and giving special treats only to those pets that respond and come when called indoors, for example. Before long, all of the “critters” will compete with each other to see who gets the treat first—they won’t want to be left out. This also saves time so you can call all the cats to an inside room at once in case of weather emergency, for example.
One of the keys to training involves breaking behaviors down into manageable components, and working backwards to train one thing at a time until you’ve “chained” all the components together. Trying too much all at once frustrates you and the pet. Pets chain their own behaviors naturally, repeating the same routines each day on the same schedule. Sheba wakes you at 6:30 a.m., follows you to the bathroom, leaps onto the sink, sits, then sips water from the faucet while you shower. Pay attention to the natural behaviors the cat already performs, pick the ones you like, and reward for doing them—and voila! You’ve trick-trained Sheba to sit on command, for example. It helps in multi-pet homes to have one command (sit or down) your cats reliably perform.
Many very short training sessions (even 5 to 15 seconds) work better than fewer marathon sessions that wear you both out. Concentrate on one behavior in each session, to keep from confusing your pet. Repetition is very helpful and important in first trainings. Both you and your pets need the incentive and inspiration of ending with success, so if he doesn’t “get it” build his confidence by asking for a behavior/trick he already knows—and reward him lavishly to end the session.
Give up on the idea of democracy or equality within your pets. Cats don’t expect life to be fair all the time and they need to learn how to cope with disappointments without throwing tantrums and being pushy or rude to get their way. Never reward rude behavior or you’ll create a furry monster that rules the household. Instead teach your cats that the only way they get access to treats, toys and attention is with polite, patient behavior. You’ll all enjoy each other more.
Teaching “Sit”
Train one pet at a time. Situate other cats to watch from behind a baby gate so they get a preview and also learn by observation. Make the game unbelievably fun with a high-value reward for the first pet you work with, so the others can’t wait until their turn to train.
1. Say “sit.”
2. Lure the cat to sit, using her preferred reinforcer (treat, feather). Lift the treat upwards in front of her nose, so she must lift her head up to watch. As her nose follows the treat, to keep her balance, her butt must hit the ground.
3. As soon as she sits,
4. Reward with the treat or toy.
5. Repeat 1-4, many times a day, every day. Within a short time, your pet will figure out she gets the treat even quicker if she simply plants his tail as soon as you say “sit” and you’ll not have to bother luring any longer.
6. Once Sheba understands and knows how to “sit” on command, it becomes the ticket to good things. To get fed or receive attention they must first “pay” with a sit.
Leash Training Cats
A leash works great as a management tool when dealing with a multicat household. The leashed cat’s movements can be controlled to interrupt aggressive interactions, for example. Training also builds confidence in shy cats which can help with picked on pariah kitties.
A cat wearing a leash can safely explore worlds outside the confines of the house. Cat leash training especially helps former strays or outdoor felines being transitioned to an exclusively indoor lifestyle. A walk around the garden can relieve the stress and serve as a training reward.
A figure-8 harnesses tightens so your cat can’t wriggle out and escape. These often come already attached to a leash. The small H-harnesses made for dogs may also work. A properly fitted harness also can help calm feline stress in a similar benefit that TTouch body wraps or cat Thundershirt offer. Further, if not correctly fitted the cat can escape which rewards her for struggling to get away, and encourages a repeat of this behavior.
A light weight fabric or corded leash won’t weigh down the cat. Look for six-foot or shorter lengths to keep the cat nearby. Ranging too far away can cause problems if the cat becomes tangled in furniture or a rosebush, or has a face-off with another critter, so I don’t recommend the retractable spooled leashes for that reason.
Cat Leash Training, Step-By-Step
· Make the halter and leash part of the furniture—that is, leave it out for the cats to find, cheek rub, and explore.
· Pet the cats with the halter to make it smell like them.
· If your cats react to catnip, put the halter and leash in a plastic baggy with the herb to marinate overnight so it gives them a pleasant “high” when encountered.
· Drag the leash around like a toy, and praise Kitty when he catches it, to associate the leash with fun times. Make the leash-chase-game part of his routine, always beginning the process with the halter-petting. Do this for at least a week before you ever attempt to put the halter on your cat.
· Once the leash and halter have become part of his normal routine, sit on the floor to play with the cat first and then put the halter on him. Some cats immediately accept the odd feeling (especially clueless kittens).
· Many cats wearing a halter for the first time fall over and act paralyzed, as if the constraint makes it impossible to move. Use the leash to tempt another chase-and-catch game or tempt the cat to move with a feather lure. Once cats realize the halte
r doesn’t prevent movement, they become willing to explore. Leave the halter on for only five minutes and then remove.
· Each day have the cats wear the halter for brief periods. Slowly increase halter-wearing time. Remember to reward the cats with play or treats to help associate good things with the experience.
· When the cats no longer object to the halter, clip on the leash and hold it while following him around. Allow cats to lead the way—the leash isn’t to drag your cats around, but to give them freedom to safely explore and a safety net for you to “rescue” just in case. You can use the feather lure toy to engage the cats’ interest in going where you want them to go.
Go To Your Room!
Cats often need to be safely confined, as a part of re-learning bathroom protocol, being transported for veterinary treatment, or to prevent destructive behavior that can result from boredom or panic attacks. Our Texas weather can turn dangerous and require taking shelter, and it can save the cat’s life if she responds to your request without having to chase her down. Upset pets can injure themselves when they pull the drapes off walls or claw through window screens to escape.
To protect the pets from themselves and your house from destruction, confine the worst offenders in a small room. One “bad apple” often can cause everyone to indulge in the bad behavior, so separating the problem child from the rest helps keep everyone in check. Other times, you may wish to give the picked on pet a “safe place” where the others can reach him. It may not bother some pets to spend time alone, but others get more upset by being confined, so introduce the concept gradually. Pets should view necessary confinement as a happy safe place, and not a punishment. Train one or two at a time (if they get along) but allow the others to watch so they’ll want in on the fun.
· Play a game and have your pets run in and out of the area three to five times in a row bat around catnip mice. Play this game every evening for several days, without shutting door.
