CATFANCY's Naughty No More! Change Unwanted Behaviors through Positive Reinforcement

by Marilyn Krieger

Thought you couldn't train your cat and resolve troublesome cat behavior challenges? Yes, you can! Clicker training, combined with other friendly, positive behavior modification techniques can effectively solve cat behavior problems and train your cat in a way that will be quick and easy for you-and fun for your cat. Clicker training can also improve your cat's activity rate, attitude and, more importantly, strengthen the bonds between you and your cat.

In this easy-to-read beginner's guide, Marilyn Krieger, a leading clicker-training expert, tells you how to teach your cat to: sit and stay and not dart out of doors; not scratch the furniture; have stress-free introductions to new cats; stay off the table and counters; get along better with you, your guests and other cats; have a stress free association with both the cat carrier and the trip to the veterinarian; do tricks and much more!

Genres: Cats, Nonfiction, Animals, Self Help

160 pages, Paperback

First published August 24, 2010

Reviews

[Regan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, quick read.

[Cassidy]

I appreciate the emphasis on never disciplining your cat, instead understanding what they think and feel to cause their actions.
I've been trying to get my two angels to be kinder to each other for years, so borrowing this from my library might prove useful!

[Stephanie R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book describes some of the naughty things that cats do and how to stop it with clicker training. The author loves clickers so if you want to take any of the advice in this book you had better get a clicker. There are 4 different personality types discussed in this book: The Attention Seeker wants attention from humans, the Safety Seeker wants to be safe, the Networker wants to be up high to see everything that is happening in the house, and the Foodie loves food. All 4 of these personalities may do the same naughty things, but for different reasons. For example, it is naughty when a cat jumps onto the counter when you are preparing dinner because she will get in your way and she might get hurt on the stove. An Attention Seeker jumps onto the counter because that's where the action is and she will no doubt receive attention (even if it's yelling or being pushed off). The Safety Seeker wants to be on the counter because she feels threatened on the floor, possibly from children, other pets, or being stepped on. The Networker knows there is a much better view from the counter, and gets to be in the middle of the action at dinnertime. And of course, the Foodie jumps onto the counter because there is food there (even if you clean up, cats can still smell traces of food smells).

Depending on your cat's personality type, you must handle naughty behavior in different ways. For counter jumping, you may want to pick up the cat and put him on the floor. But if he is an Attention Seeker, you are giving him exactly what he wants and he'll keep doing it. You must use the clicker to redirect the cat into doing something that fulfills his needs but is not naughty, like to sit on a special stool in the kitchen. The author is all about giving your cat a stool to sit on and there are several humorous photos of cats sitting on bar stools. I could go on but I don't want to give away all of the advice in the book. There is one problem with this book, though. The author assumes her advice will work perfectly and doesn't discuss what to do if the cat doesn't react exactly the way she says it will. I don't know if I will ever use any of this information (I don't have a cat) but it was fun reading about the personality types.

[Tia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good basic primer on positive reinforcement, but short on troubleshooting details: for instance, what if your cat begins getting nervous and fretful during training? When and how do you transition from always clicking and treating for a behavior to broadening the behavior to every day life?
Also, the suggestions for how to stop nipping and counter-surfing are good first-lines, but they don't tell you what to do if your cat doesn't mind double-sided tape, for instance.

[Neva · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of hard to rate a how-to book before you attempt to apply the principles. This book was easy to read and the techniques sound logical. I seem to recall in the description or foreward that she promised to teach me how to make my cats like and interact with visitors. I may have missed the part where she told me how to do that. Maybe after training my cats to sit on their stool, I can coax them out from under the bed to perform their tricks for visitors. We shall see.

[Phobean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trying out the training now!

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful! Best of the cat training books that I read - enough so that I decided to purchase a copy. Now on to train Moses, Millie, and Moxie...