braddy@houxl.UUCP (07/26/83)
I have used the rub-its-nose-in-it method along with a good scolding and putting it outside (where every cat I've known prefered crap, given the chance) and it worked. I fear this could ruin a cat's sense of smell. Have your heard anything about this? I think it's as (more?) important to catch them in the act, associate the punishment with the crime *quickly*.
rwhw@5941ux.UUCP (07/26/83)
Some people should not own pets!
Rubbing an animals face in "it" shows signs of real intelligence. Try that
trick on a Great Dane or better yet, on a pet Panther.
BTMginger@ssc-vax.UUCP (Ginger Grover) (07/26/83)
My Mom always trained our cats and dogs with a broom. A swat and a holler works on kids, so why not with pets, too? The only drawback is that the animals would freak out whenever someone started sweeping the floor -kinda made us kids shiver, too. :-) Ginger Grover ssc-vax!ginger
alb@alice.UUCP (07/27/83)
If you're cat's not going where he/she's supposed to, try and find out what conditions make where he's going so acceptable to him and then try and copy those conditions where he's supposed to go. In our case, we found that our cat much prefered sawdust for one of the two cases but the litter box for the other (my brother does a lot of free lance construction and has a workshop downstairs, so there's plenty of sawdust around) We got a second litter box and now fill one with litter and one with sawdust (having an ample supply of both). The cat now uses each for its proper purpose.
annej@tekecs.UUCP (Anne Jacko) (07/27/83)
I'll add my word of caution to the idea of training a cat like you train a dog -- the old "rub his nose in it and toss him outside." Cats *generally* do not react to punishment as do dogs (I've trained both). Such treatment of a cat may make him nervous, suspicious and unfriendly. (Personally, I think that's pretty smart of them. I wouldn't like someone who did that to me.) There's a fairly recent book titled "You *Can* Train Your Cat" which describes ways to modify the little beastie's behavior without freaking him out. I haven't used the suggestions (I'm lucky, my cat seems to be naturally well-behaved) but they make sense. -- Anne Jacko, Tektronix ...decvax!tektronix!tekecs!annej