- Joined
- Aug 8, 2005
- Messages
- 11,488
I'm absolutely no expert here. Just observations. I'm firmly leaving the various niceties up to those experts.
I've discovered a cat be trained in the exact same way as gentling a horse. This is very different than the usual formal training of an animal.
First thing you always keep in mind. All animals have quirks, preferences and dislikes. Some can be worked with or worked out, some you simply work around. This sets horse gentling apart from pedestrian animal training. Your empathy is absolutely mandatory here. If you can't feel the animal's heart with your own, don't bother reading further.
Examples.
-A cat strolls past me so I grab it's tail then let it slip through my fingers. The cat accepts this the same as being petted, pausing to enjoy.
-I mash the cat flat with my foot onto it's side then stroke it with my foot. Just fine by the cat.
-Rub the cat's tummy. No problem. It enjoys it.
Typically, cat's have certain innate dislikes. Don't you dare grab my tail! Touch my tummy and it's claw, shred and maybe bite time. Do NOT make me feel trapped.
Gentling. You do it, what the animal doesn't like, until you sense resentment. Then STOP. End. Final. Over. When it's heart is at ease again, repeat. And again and again.
For example, my horse was wild, never broken, never saddled or bridled. I needed him to take a saddle. Place saddle on his back and at first I removed it instantly before the bucking started. And repeat. It took about 20 hours to get him to accept the saddle and cinching it up. Repeated hundreds of times.
Grabbing a cats tail is about the same. Eventually it accepts, then equates this to just another form of being petted. Same with rubbing it's tummy.
The whole plan is to have the trainings as a natural normal part of your association with the animal. NO TREAT TRAINING. NO REWARDS. The training then becomes special events. I suppose that works but it isn't the gentling approach.
With gentling, you do things together, neither one putting extraordinary demands upon the other. WE are going to do this and then that. The animal starts out thinking 'I'd rather not.' You convey, 'Me too. Get over it and let's get on with it.'
So you have to work into the training as a cooperative association. For example, pick a cat up to it lay on it's back in your arms, comfortable and contented. I started with sitting on the floor, pick up the cat, cradled it in my arms then immediately and very gently put it back on it's feet. Repeat after a few minutes or days. Slowly work up to things.
Gentling never demands strict obedience. You and the animal have your foibles and personality quirks and traits. Extending respect is shown by accepting the eccentricities. Cooperative. Not slave and master.
Eventually the animal will learn your moods and you must learn it's. The more you work together, the more your rapport expresses how you feel with the animal and visa versa. In turn this leads to tolerance. One of you is in a really crappy mood. You convey with empathy that you pick up on this but we have a job to do as a unit. Let's get it over with as quick as we can. The animal will understand this. Appreciate your understanding.
This isn't pie in the sky. It's real and how gentling is done. The end goal.
There are down sides to gentled cooperation. It's strictly between you and the gentled animal. It rarely works with another person.
I'd walk up to my horse with a saddle it conveyed 'WE have to go to work' and he accepts. Someone else walks up to him with a saddle, not a chance.
The same applies with our cats. I'll pick up any of them and cradle them on their backs in my arms. My wife tries it and the cat is royally affronted.
This turns into a royal pain in the arse for me. I pick up any cat and cuddle it and all three know it's play time. The one in my arms demands full petting attention while the other two flop on their sides or backs directly where I'm walking for some foot petting.
This make sense?
I've discovered a cat be trained in the exact same way as gentling a horse. This is very different than the usual formal training of an animal.
First thing you always keep in mind. All animals have quirks, preferences and dislikes. Some can be worked with or worked out, some you simply work around. This sets horse gentling apart from pedestrian animal training. Your empathy is absolutely mandatory here. If you can't feel the animal's heart with your own, don't bother reading further.
Examples.
-A cat strolls past me so I grab it's tail then let it slip through my fingers. The cat accepts this the same as being petted, pausing to enjoy.
-I mash the cat flat with my foot onto it's side then stroke it with my foot. Just fine by the cat.
-Rub the cat's tummy. No problem. It enjoys it.
Typically, cat's have certain innate dislikes. Don't you dare grab my tail! Touch my tummy and it's claw, shred and maybe bite time. Do NOT make me feel trapped.
Gentling. You do it, what the animal doesn't like, until you sense resentment. Then STOP. End. Final. Over. When it's heart is at ease again, repeat. And again and again.
For example, my horse was wild, never broken, never saddled or bridled. I needed him to take a saddle. Place saddle on his back and at first I removed it instantly before the bucking started. And repeat. It took about 20 hours to get him to accept the saddle and cinching it up. Repeated hundreds of times.
Grabbing a cats tail is about the same. Eventually it accepts, then equates this to just another form of being petted. Same with rubbing it's tummy.
The whole plan is to have the trainings as a natural normal part of your association with the animal. NO TREAT TRAINING. NO REWARDS. The training then becomes special events. I suppose that works but it isn't the gentling approach.
With gentling, you do things together, neither one putting extraordinary demands upon the other. WE are going to do this and then that. The animal starts out thinking 'I'd rather not.' You convey, 'Me too. Get over it and let's get on with it.'
So you have to work into the training as a cooperative association. For example, pick a cat up to it lay on it's back in your arms, comfortable and contented. I started with sitting on the floor, pick up the cat, cradled it in my arms then immediately and very gently put it back on it's feet. Repeat after a few minutes or days. Slowly work up to things.
Gentling never demands strict obedience. You and the animal have your foibles and personality quirks and traits. Extending respect is shown by accepting the eccentricities. Cooperative. Not slave and master.
Eventually the animal will learn your moods and you must learn it's. The more you work together, the more your rapport expresses how you feel with the animal and visa versa. In turn this leads to tolerance. One of you is in a really crappy mood. You convey with empathy that you pick up on this but we have a job to do as a unit. Let's get it over with as quick as we can. The animal will understand this. Appreciate your understanding.
This isn't pie in the sky. It's real and how gentling is done. The end goal.
There are down sides to gentled cooperation. It's strictly between you and the gentled animal. It rarely works with another person.
I'd walk up to my horse with a saddle it conveyed 'WE have to go to work' and he accepts. Someone else walks up to him with a saddle, not a chance.
The same applies with our cats. I'll pick up any of them and cradle them on their backs in my arms. My wife tries it and the cat is royally affronted.
This turns into a royal pain in the arse for me. I pick up any cat and cuddle it and all three know it's play time. The one in my arms demands full petting attention while the other two flop on their sides or backs directly where I'm walking for some foot petting.
This make sense?