Training Alice ~ Need suggestions...

2384 Views 10 Replies 8 Participants Last post by librarychick, Feb 1, 2012

its.alice

Discussion Starter · Jan 31, 2012

Alice has become a holy terrorist, and pushes our buttons in every way she can.

She jumps up on the counters, the dining table, bookshelves, desks, headboards, you name it, she tries to get up on it. And when she's up there, she HAS to knock down whatever is there. She has the door scratching post with the ledges, and no matter what I do, she won't learn.

I've tried spraying her with a squirt bottle, I've yelled, we've resorted to spanking, she has her own room that she goes into when she's bad that has everything she needs. I've tried leaving tissue paper with citrus oil because I've read that cats don't like the smell. That hasn't worked either.

Even when I play with her to the point that she pants, she's ready to go again in 10 minutes. I give her so much attention whenever she jumps up to my chair and I love on her for quite a while, then she leaves and goes back to being a terrorist.

Tonight she broke a couple items that were handed down from my in-laws to my husband. I'm currently looking up shock collars, and other means by which to stop her jumping up.

We don't have a free-standing scratching post because we live in military housing in Japan, and it is small. Once we get back to the states, I WILL be buying one ASAP, but right now, it's not possible. And she has a TON of toys.

I'm coming to you guys because I've gotten a lot of good responses from you in the past, and some good advice. I need to see this from a different perspective because I am so infuriated, and my husband is no better.

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Nan

· #2 · Jan 31, 2012

How old is she? I would suggest to put away any breakables. Do not spank or hit her; she won't understand that - it will just make her fearful of you. Maybe line the bookshelves with tinfoil-something icky to walk on.

If she had her own cat tree, that probably would help.

You might look into getting a book "Starting from Scratch" by Pam Bennett Johnson. If you can buy from Amazon at your location, I know you could get it in kindle format, so you could read it on your computer (or kindle if you have one)

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MowMow

· #3 · Jan 31, 2012

I'm not entirely sure what you expected..cats climb. It's what they do.

She's going to need vertical space to climb and play. She's a young cat if I remember correctly and she's going to have ENDLESS (believe me, I feel your pain here) energy.

I agree with Nan. Lock up your valuables until she's older and has more grace/maturity not to knock things down.

If you are really planning on buying a shock collar and shocking her for things that are in her nature and instinct to do, imo, rehome her and get a small toy dog instead. It will be happy to run around the floors and play with toys.

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CJinCA

· #4 · Jan 31, 2012

Did you provide a cat tree or shelving (they make shelves for cats that you attach to the wall too) that she IS allowed to climb on? Maybe if she has something more interesting she won't climb where you don't want her to. I also suggest putting the valuables behind glass or acrylic display case or something she can't get into. You just can't expect a cat to stay on the floor, esp a young cat.

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yingying

· #5 · Jan 31, 2012

Arrr, Alice! I miss her! How is she doing? Any recent photos?

Alice is a princess, so she has to be on high place. And no yell, no squirt bottles will work. Don't ever think about shock collar! If the space is tight, maybe you can put some shelves on the wall? Something similar to this

If everything fail, then feel free to send Alice to me. I'm more than willing to serve her!

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librarychick

· #6 · Feb 1, 2012

its.alice said:
Alice has become a holy terrorist, and pushes our buttons in every way she can.

She jumps up on the counters, the dining table, bookshelves, desks, headboards, you name it, she tries to get up on it. And when she's up there, she HAS to knock down whatever is there. She has the door scratching post with the ledges, and no matter what I do, she won't learn.

I've tried spraying her with a squirt bottle, I've yelled, we've resorted to spanking, she has her own room that she goes into when she's bad that has everything she needs. I've tried leaving tissue paper with citrus oil because I've read that cats don't like the smell. That hasn't worked either.

Even when I play with her to the point that she pants, she's ready to go again in 10 minutes. I give her so much attention whenever she jumps up to my chair and I love on her for quite a while, then she leaves and goes back to being a terrorist.

Tonight she broke a couple items that were handed down from my in-laws to my husband. I'm currently looking up shock collars, and other means by which to stop her jumping up.

We don't have a free-standing scratching post because we live in military housing in Japan, and it is small. Once we get back to the states, I WILL be buying one ASAP, but right now, it's not possible. And she has a TON of toys.

I'm coming to you guys because I've gotten a lot of good responses from you in the past, and some good advice. I need to see this from a different perspective because I am so infuriated, and my husband is no better.

I feel your pain...literally. Doran was the same way. It's because of the age she's at. My boys were both terrors until they started to calm down. This isn't going to be terribly reassuring to you, since they started to calm down this summer...at almost 3 years old.

I handled it with a 'naughty box'. A kennel used for times when they needed to calm down. I've found that punishing cats just plain doesn't work. In their eyes they are just doing normal cat things, their instincts have told them to do this. Punishment won't work. Behavior modification, management, and prevention will.

The kennel was NOT a punishment. The kennel was used as a place I could put them when they were too rowdy. Once they calmed down they came out. If they went right back to being naughty, they went right back to the box. Over and over and over...and over, and over. Ect.

I always tried to pick them up calmly. I would put them in the box, and shut the door. After about one minute I would see if they had settled by going over and talking to them in a normal tone. If they flipped out (literally, both boys would do flips...) they stayed in the kennel. I checked at one minute intervals, and when they just looked at me calmly we tried again.

its.alice said:
Tonight she broke a couple items that were handed down from my in-laws to my husband. I'm currently looking up shock collars, and other means by which to stop her jumping up.[/QOUTE]

The shock collar suggestion will not work. Period. I'm not a fan of shock collars for dogs, TBH, but they can work if used properly.

They do NOT work for cats. Cats think differently than us, and differently than dogs. Using pain/punishment doesn't teach them the same things it would teach a member of our two, more social, species.

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marie73

· #7 · Feb 1, 2012

Rule #17 - If your cat breaks something, it means it was left where it shouldn't have been.

I learned that lesson the hard way. I can't get mad at my girls, they're just running around being cats. And I've also discovered your house is never, EVER really cat-proofed.

Ever.

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catloverami

· #8 · Feb 1, 2012

Rule #17 is a good one.....yes you'll have to kittenproof your place.....leave nothing out that can be broken or destroyed. You kitty looks to be Abyssinian....is she? Abys are the "wild childs" of the cat world, and extremely active and athletic. It's in their genes and not much you can do about it. Punishment will not work, and spanking should not be done anyway. Provide as many toys----paper balls, boxes as you can, and play with her with a feather wand or fishing-pole type of toy, and maybe you can siphon off some of her energy. Enjoy her as she is!

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its.alice

Discussion Starter · #9 · Feb 1, 2012

@CJinCa and yingying-We can't put anything in the walls because it's government property, or else I would have shelves all over the place for her.

If it weren't for the fact that she HAS to knock over everything she sees when she's up on counters and tables and such, I'd have NO problem with her getting up on everything. My husband was furious that something that had been sitting there for the past 2 years got destroyed because she was being stupid. Our previous cat, Nocturne, learned not to jump up on certain surfaces.

I know she can learn, and I wasn't really serious about the shock collar. I posted that last night in my fury.

@Marie and catloverami- My house can't be kitten proofed, that would mean we aren't allowed anything. Even my kitchen sponges get tossed around.

I can't wait to get into a new place so I can get her as many cat trees as possible. I know cats want to be high up, but it's not reasonable here. I've tried to get my husband to let me buy display cases, but "they're too expensive" unless they're under $100, and that's hard to find here.

@librarychick- I'll try the kennel approach. I have a decent sized one that can be brought out here and used.

I WILL NOT GIVE UP ON HER AND I WILL NOT REHOME HER. No more of that nonsense. When I got her, it was for life. That's not changing.

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its.alice

Discussion Starter · #10 · Feb 1, 2012

What do you guys think about this? Ultrasonic Dog and Cat Trainer - PetSafe PUPT-100 - FREE SHIPPING!

This might be useful too, since it's a race to catch her after she's been up on the counters.

What are your thoughts on the ultrasonic trainers?

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librarychick

· #11 · Feb 1, 2012

Don't do it. Also useless. Besides, I can hear them and it hurts!

Use a word to mark negative behaviors then follow up. Ex: Doran walks up to Torri and whips her on the head. I immediately say "Doran! Uh uh!" Then go over and redirect him. The word is a placeholder for the period it takes you to intervene.

After a while they learn to change their behavior when they hear the negative marker, as long as you've been consistent in your follow up and the thing they are doing isn't more rewarding.

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