I wish I could teach them to play bona fide

fetch : throw light toy or object and they retrieve and drop it at my feet for next round.

Lets do it

  • cheese_greater@lemmy.worldOP
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    11 months ago

    Honestly, just like freakout (lovingly) a little and raise your voice a bit and usher 'em away without hurting or physically connecting and scold them a bit+put on a show so they know you’re pissed.

    Cats do it ALL the time, the hiss and get pissy and like 30 seconds later its like nothing ever happened. You sort of have to have at least or more of a pair of balls than they do. Show 'em who’s boss and reward with treats strategically or when they voluntarily comply

    Edit: my safe/trigger word for this is

    Outta Dare (outta there) 😹

    • idiomaddict@feddit.de
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      11 months ago

      I’ll try that, it’s been mostly either ignoring her meowing or meowing back so far, which doesn’t exactly work well

      • cheese_greater@lemmy.worldOP
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        11 months ago

        The other thing I do is ask them point-blank in a disappointed voice

        Why u do that? 😿

        And I repeat it a couple times, really hamm it up and sort of resist them for a moment cuz they’ll want to rub up against your legs but they need a moment of seperation to realize that they’re doing wrong

        • idiomaddict@feddit.de
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          11 months ago

          Oh god 💔 I’m fine doing that about her jumping on the stove or something that can endanger her, but if it’s just annoying me, I don’t want to cramp her style. I know that’s nuts, but luckily she’s a very well behaved cat whom I adopted as an already trained adult. I’ll recruit my husband for moral support 😅

          • cheese_greater@lemmy.worldOP
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            11 months ago

            The more you use any trick the less effective it is. This is with anything, anywhere, anyone. You MUST pick your battles.

            That’s why I have zero respect for parents who constantly threaten the children with something + everyone puts on a show ("Nooooo, Nooooo, Nooooooo!!!) and it somehow deescalates to “Well alright, stop fucking around” --> nothing is learned and nobody learns it

            • idiomaddict@feddit.de
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              11 months ago

              Yeah. I am 100% not cut out for rearing anything, as I try to reason respectfully with whatever I’m interacting with. It was hard to realize that my niece doesn’t actually care why she can’t eat candy, but just wanted to distract me with a conversation so she could sneak candy.

              I’m actually getting my masters in education (language instruction for adults, thank god), and even with fully capable adults there’s a lot of classroom management that I just have to put on a fake strict teacher persona and power through. If you try to do something and then walk it back, you’re always lost though.