(i only just finished writing the post and ie closed down on me....so here goes again)
since my last post asking for advice on my kitten, i've wondered whether or not there's some serious misunderstanding coz i AM offended by certain people wondering whether or not i'm mistreating my cat.
just a starter note though, i know you guys. ive been here for ages and i know u all love animals. so do i.
yet just from that last post, from some of the intense responses i've gotten, its no wonder why the few newbies that has had guts to ask a question never appeared again. you guys are scary. (not all of u....just some whom i cant even remember names). i'm a very blunt person, very aries. but some of you should really ASK before you make a judgement. you've both scared angered and offended me, even though i know u guys. if you've made me feel that way, think how you would make some newbie feel??
to the rest of you however thanks for your advice
anyway
1) mogu is not on a diet. wen i say restricting his food, i mean knowing how much he can eat, and not giving him way more than he can eat. i dont want him bloated.
whenver mogu meows for more food, i give him some more, but he never finishes it! i have tried giving him say 1.5x what he normally eats, yet he would only finish 2/3 of that, ie his normal ratio anyway. usually i give him a teeny bit more, just to make sure there's definitely enough for him. i feed him 3.5 times daily, brekkie lunch dinner and late night snack in the form of training session.
2) whoever suggested i was feeding mogu second-rate food...how did u even get that idea? how can second rate foods cost $50 for 3kg!?!
mogu is on nutrience as thats wat he ate at the breeders. i freely admit i can't really afford to feed him hills science. but really how many of you give the most expensive foods you can find?
my question was is there any other better price-quality balanced foods? NZ prices are so damn expensive. but just as a thought is 11weeks too young to be fed on canned foods? mogu has fresh meats about every 2 days or so, just to help him develop chewing skills. what's better canned foods or meats?
3) i'm not demanding mogu to be a show star. trainign does not mean showing him off or *making* him do tricks.
to anyone that has studied educational psychology, clicker training concepts fit in perfectly scientfically. positive reinforcemnt not punishment.
these articles really motivated me
http://www.clickertraining.com/node/181
http://www.clickertraining.com/node/654
clicker training is about shaping behaviour. about gaining trust in your pet and bonding with them, about letting them trust and love you so they're willing to please you, just as how i'm willing to please them, to make them happy and give them a cuddle or a rub, to play with them when they're bored.
click means good boy. you've done it right. yes! its more effective than simply saying yes. as you've got better timing and is consistent. animals to begin with don't understand words (they might later but not in the beginning). you can put on a happy face adn call them stupid dog in praise. they would learn the cue stupid dog means well good boy. clicker basically lets them know click means good. again ITS MORE EFFECTIVE! its just what we call conditioning, and is totally humane.
sure dogs try to please masters more than cats, so i'm not expecting mogu to tap dance for me. however, my goal is to let him know that i like what he is doing, and if he loves me he will try and do that more to please me. no i'm not trying to sound arrogant, but we all try to make our loved ones happy.
at the moment, it's very simply:
you've sat down and waited for your food. click! good boy for not clawing up my trousers. (mogu can sit for 5 seconds now)
you sniffed at the cables but didn't bite it. click! good boy for not chewing on it
you looked up at my desk but didn't jum. click! good boy for not jumping onto my desk
hey you've gotten into your bed. click!
you're letting me rub your tummy without biting. click!
clicker training to me at least is simply to PRAISE him for his good behaviour, naturally, not MAKING him do something. all these things are what he did by himself, i am just observing. sometimes it may be accidental. he maybe just didn't feel like biting, but the fact is he DIDN'T BITE! click!
of course, mogu doesn't respond to every click, and that's ok. but at least he vaguely knows that he's done a good thing, maybe he just wants to ignore me. and that's still ok. he doesn't feel like pleasing me that's fine. but i'm letting you know that i like you NOT clawing the curtains. i don't punish him even if he do. (well acutally i use negative reinforcemtn...ie spray him. negative reinforcement is like i dont put my hand into a fire coz its painful. so to mogu it's if i scratch this i will get sprayed...so i'll stop scratching. it takes a few tries. cats are excellent gamblers)
to reinforce again, clicker training is based on pleasure. mogu knows that i click him when he does something good and he will get a treat. no one likes being told off
so no i'm not trying to bring mogu up like a human, he's a cat, but i want him to be a well mannered cat. we all like our pets and kids to be well behaved. manners is different from getting excellent grades (or knowing how many tricks)
my goals for now:
mogu doesn't bite or scratch me, cables, furniture...anything but his own toys and post!
mogu toilets only in his litter box
mogu doesn't jump on furniture, he's free to go on my bed. i'm happy for him to sleep on my desk but not to throw my things on the floor.
is that not making a cat of him?????
it is a little different from how doglover trains crash and toby. crash and toby are dogs. mogu is a cat
4. enclosed spaces. caging animals, if not for punishment, is totally humane and does not hurt their feelings.
mogu has access to the whole house, more or less, minus two bedrooms, during the daytime from about 7-8am when either mum gets up or i get up...whoever does first. mum shuts him into the laundry/sun room space, which is about 10m2 when we need to go out, which is rarely more than an hour or so. he's got access to his toys litter bed food water etc inside. this is because whilst he's not fully house trained we cant really risk him destroying more things. mogu doesn't actually have a cage. he also gets shut out if say dad's trying to sort papers on the floor and mogu tries to play. shut out not being shut in.
at night, from abuot 9pm, when everyone's in their own rooms, mogu stays with me, which is nearly always in my room, a fairly big room too, with access to the joint bathroom i share with my sister. bathroom, not just a toilet cubicle. its about the same size as a studio apartment.
incidentally, the half meal i give him at night, is used on training purposes. just in between playing with him and studying, i click him for things that i see and feeds him. OR i actually sit down with him for ten minutes in training. again i cant stress enough its not trick training. its behaviour. and also a bonding process, allowing him to trust me and to know me. he gets about half a meal in this process. i click him for all sorts of random things. chasing his tail, cocking his head. it's all working well as he can sit for aobut 5 seconds already wiating for a treat.
already he bites the cables a lot less, and doesn't jump onto the desk and more friendly.
5. spending time with him. yes i know no time is enough to be spent with such a cutie pie, yet i'm not with him 24/7 nor can i devote all my time at home to him. i spend the mornings with him and the evenings. just not afternoon to early evening when i've class. when i'm home, i play when he's bored, and play until he goes off. i pick him up for massge and rubs when he meows by my feet, and keep massaging him until he decides to jump off my lap. basically i play when he wants, and study when he's amusing himself or else sleeping
just out of curiosity, ithought cats sleep heaps? how come mogu never sleeps until midnight?? i've almost never him take naps during the daytime...is it a kitten thing?
and what's with cats and toilets? whatever mogu is doing, he would rush to the bathroom when he hears anyone go in, and totally look at you and sit by your foot while you're doing your thing. he could be be taking a rest nap under my bed, and would still totally get up to see me in the toilet. even if i got up in the dead of night to go, he'd still run to wait in the bathroom.......... is it cats nature to watch their friends poo???? >.<
there...i've released the pressure now. that's all i've got to say. and as a friend i would still like to remind the minority of you to think carefully about what you're going to say so you dont go offending someone.
it is very disturbing. like that latest manx(something) person...i can totally understand how he/she felt now