How Do You Reinforce Desired Behavior In A Cat?
• Use a spray bottle to squirt the cat when it’s doing an undesirable behavior such as jumping on the kitchen counter. After a while the cat will respond to the sight of the spray bottle being picked up. If the cat stops before you spray, don’t use the spray. • It may test your boundaries every ten or fifteen times just to be sure you would spray if it jumped on the counter. That odd time the cat does it anyway when the spray bottle is brandished, give the cat a squirt in the face. • If the cat likes water, try a different negative reinforcement, such as making a loud noise. Find something harmless that the cat doesn’t like. • Tap the cat’s nose and say bad cat loudly. Like the previous two steps, these are ways to negatively reinforce undesired behavior. • To train your cat to use the toilet instead of a litter pan, get a toilet training kit. Follow the instructions. Set up the litter pan near the toilet. Keep moving it closer every time the cat gets used to the new location. Then put