figuring out the next steps

a week later and i feel we are making progress in some parts, but at a standstill in others.

the dot on the bed game still seems to be the preferred game. chelsea will lead me into the bedroom with her tail flicking determinedly. i am trying to anticipate her demands so that i have the upper hand, but either way, it seems to be a good way to release all her energy. if we pay this twice in the evening, to the point where she no longer zooms, but only pounces when the dot comes near, she tends to be calmer, less demanding. it is no guarantee though!

she still leads me into the bathroom, presumably so i will ping food around the bathtub, but is often reluctant to perform, even to the point that she tries to ignore the cork-target. but she will continue to sit in the tub and flick her tail when no food magically appears. i am running out of ideas on how to get her to do something cute or clever that i can click and reward. when clicker, target and food come out of the cupboard, i am always the one to initiate activity (apart from meowing, tail-flicking, and of course leading me into the bedroom). i read about these cats who will try all sorts of silly things to hear that click, but chelsea just sits there and will do what i ask, sometimes with a bit of enthusiasm, often not.

target training is another challenge. she is much more likely to touch the cork with her paw than with her nose. when she does use her nose, she sniffs rather than bumps or rubs. if i don't c/r for the slightest sniff she takes great offense, so i have to continue the reinforcement or risk her losing faith and interest in the target, undoing all the work we have done so far. i am just working on the idea that a paw to target is probably more useful for training other behaviours in the future.

the good news:

she is catching on to the high-five trick. holding my hand up in front of her (sometimes with cork, often without) seems to be sufficient cue, when she is in the mood! actual contact between paw and hand is very tentative, but always rewarded.

sitting on the ledge waiting for meals is still a bit of a challenge, but she is staying up longer, with less rewards. i can usually get her to hop up (still needs prompting a few times) before i pick up the dish, and i can usually stop her from jumping down again with a quick hand up to block her movement. i did this a few days ago and found her attempting a high-five, definitely deserved a treat! now i am careful how i hold my hand to block her, so as not to confuse with the high-five cue. yesterday she stayed on the ledge as i inched towards her eating place with dish in hand, and placed it on the ground then clicked. she stayed up, obviously confused as to whether she was allowed to jump down. it took a fair bit of encouragement to get her to jump down for food. poor kitty! i will have to check on what the best strategy is, because up until then she was hopping down in anticipation of the dish hitting the floor, oblivious of any click. this morning, back to hopping down before the dish hit the floor.

she will sit on the ledge willingly and without prompting if it is not mealtime! i reward her with attention and occasionally a treat, sometimes a game.

we now have two puzzle boxes, for post-meal activity. she has figured them out easily enough, although the last bits of food can be a struggle to get out. last night she was struggling with one and i was sitting on the loveseat watching this. all of a sudden she gives my slipper a rub, hello! i'm not exactly sure why she did it, but i decided to interpret it as a polite request for help, so i bent down and held the box in place and even positioned the piece of food where she could easily access it with her paw. she seemed satisfied with that.

with clicking, playing and puzzling out of the way, she was still edgy last night. after a couple of swats at my slippers i herded her into the bedroom with a pillow and closed the door. i then created a new puzzle to occupy her mind. i took two identical plastic pudding cups, both approximately a half-sphere, and held them together with an old hair elastic. i cut 3 strategically-placed holes big enough for a piece of food to fall through when the "ball" is rolled around on the floor. i let her out of the bedroom, figured she was behaving herself enough to introduce new stimulation and place the new puzzle on the floor in front of her. she sniffed, but didn't really catch on, so i rolled it around a bit until one piece of food fell out. she then started to shuffle it about tentatively, but enough that she got some food as reward. kept leaving it then coming back to try a bit more. eventually left it with a few pieces left inside. i added more this morning after breakfast, but i don't think she has touched it yet today. imagine she had plenty with the 2 puzzle boxes.

despite all these efforts she decided last night was a good time to try and maul my legs after i got into bed. luckily i now have a heavy blanket on for the cold nights, so i just ignored her, kept still for a bit and she didn't try again. an improvement i guess!

i think i will try and introduce her to following the target to jump from one chair to another today. we are obviously in need of diversification in our activities!

dad might be visiting this afternoon. i wonder if she will perform for him? perhaps a high-five? we'll see!

high-fives and puzzle boxes

yesterday we started work on the high-five trick. i held the cork target in my hand and held it up in front of her. the first attempt involved a few claws meeting skin, but not in aggression, i think. c/r for the attempt. a couple of times she lifted a paw part way and i rewarded that. tried without the cork and she was starting to get the idea. success once or twice with no cork (and no claws!) but a bit more consistent with the cork visible. some of this was in the bathtub at her request. she seems to like the food pinging about.

the dot on the bed game is certainly gaining popularity and intensity with the c/r when a paw catches the dot. i have to concentrate more on where the dot is, but she is much more likely to zoom around back and forth and in figure-eights. when she needs a breather i point the dot within paws reach, so we can develop just the paw to dot action. i am trying to get her interested in following the dot off the bed, so far i can get her to paw it (reluctantly) if it is just off the edge. we played the game twice in one night.

after reading some of the files on the cat-clicker group (information overload!) i made a simple puzzle box by cutting a few holes in a pasta box i rescued from the recycle box, then dumped a few bits of food inside. introduced it to her last night when she was obviously looking for something to do (feet and ankles were being eyed maliciously), and it kept her occupied for several minutes. i watched her figuring out strategies, and every so often she looked up at me as if to say, why don't you help me with this? when she finished she saw i was still watching her from the loveseat, and next thing i knew she was coming straight at me with wild eyes. started to take out apparent frustration on my arms, but while i felt claws, no damage was done. i yelled and she backed off. obviously not used to having to work or think so hard about food!

still full of energy after play and puzzling, to the point that she batted at my feet a few times when i was walking around. claws might have been out, but again no scratches. i quietly herded her into the bedroom with a floor cushion, and she knew there was no point in arguing. i closed the door part way, and she seemed to respect that, settled down on the bed. she reappeared a bit later zooming around the apartment, in a much needed release of energy. good! (i stayed out of the way.)

bedtime was a non-event. phew!

i am very lucky that she does not attempt to get me out of bed in the morning with aggression. instead she just keeps reminding me of her presence by hopping around the bedroom and lying down on whatever part of my torso is available (front, back or side!). every so often she will try and dig at the covers but i dont move, only mutter at her to stop. sometimes when i finally stick my feet out, she will rub on my toes... lovely tickly whiskers!

breakfast this morning, i still had to prompt her to jump up on the ledge (a little less reluctant) and she stayed up (i blocked her a couple of times, then she was more willing to stay.) i set up the puzzle box while she was eating brekkies, and left her alone after that. i think she got the food out of the box faster than last night, although i haven't timed her. either way, she left me alone and went back to bed, her usual routine.

small blessings

when i got into bed last night chelsea glared at my legs under the covers, but i turned out the light so nothing happened. lucky that she already knows that when the lights go out at night, the game is over!

took 2 tries this morning to get her to stay on the ledge waiting for brekkies. she stayed longer than before, anyway! she still needs prompting to hop up, still hesitates before she follows the target, lots of meowing when i pick up her empty dish off the floor. right now i get it all prepared before she goes on the ledge so i can put the dish down without hesitation and give her my full (silent) attention while she stays on the ledge. i find if i see her thinking about hopping down, a hand up will remind her to stay for another c/r. i don't think i'll change this just yet, but eventually would like to see her hop up before i pick up the dish. similar experience at dinner time, but i think she stayed up the whole time i asked her to.

she was on my lap this afternoon when she tried the little kisses to get my attention, then a very soft test nip on my hand. i've decided on a zero-tolerance approach to teeth (admittedly with allowance for gentle touch when taking food from my fingers), so i immediately placed her on the floor. she went off and came back a bit later. i was leaning forward so lap wasn't available, she tried a bit of vocal complaining, tried a gentle push, then all of a sudden brought a paw up to wash her ear. missed clicking the first one, but she did it again after a short pause and i clicked with my tongue and let her on my lap. is this coincidence, or has she really caught on since those few c/r's yesterday?

at one point this morning i walked past her, and i could see her thinking about taking a swat at my feet but she took no action. very good, but i just kept walking. better if she's not even thinking about it, right?

thanks for the comments, folks! nice to know someone is out there... chelsea may become famous yet! (as opposed to the infamy she can claim now among my family and friends.)

chelsea: a history

i just posted the following to the cat-clicker list, by way of introduction. this outlines her aggressive tendencies, and the point at which i realized it was time to try something different.

read on:

hello all!

i've lived with cats all my life, and have developed a certain degree of understanding of the feline mind over 35 years, but 5 years ago i acquired a cute little kitten who grew into my cute little chelsea-monster. i think she is probably 1/8 siamese as her mum was the long, elegant exotic body with a fine wedge shaped head. chelsea is shorter in body, hint of wedge shape to her head and can be quite vocal, with a diverse array of sounds, but not the siamese yowl. she is also the most challenging and aggressive cat i have ever lived with. partly due to her nature, and partly, i suspect, to do with my decision to keep her as an indoor cat, the last 4 years in an apartment downtown. (all my previous kitties had the choice to go outside and most of them did. back then i lived in the suburbs.) she does enjoy the balcony, especially when foolish pigeons decide to land!

we have had battles of will for most of her life. i have had to teach her to suck up for meals, with the cue "be nice" and her rubbing on my hand. this she understands, but not always with enthusiasm.

bed time has often been a challenge, as she often thought i should feed her or entertain her instead of going to bed. ankles were threatened and attacked as i approached my bed, and legs were often at serious risk of being mauled through the duvet. i would sometimes cave in and give her treats before she got nasty, so i could sneak into bed. i would also resort to the threat of a spray bottle, or a glass of water in emergencies, to ward off attacks, and follow through with a good soaking if she attacked. she'd remember this for a week or 2 and behave, sleeping nicely on the bed then the cycle would start over.

typing on the keyboard has been a hazardous occupation at times. dirty looks and if i miss it a sudden death grip on my wrist leaving sometimes nasty toothmarks. this usually resulted in me yelling then shutting her in the bathroom for a timeout session of 2 or 3 minutes. this behaviour has also been through cycles of good and bad.

she occasionally gets a vacation at my parents house in the 'burbs, with lots of space to run around in, birds, squirrels and chipmunks to chase from window to window and walks on the leash in the garden. this was all great, but she has my mum wrapped around her little paw pad, and mum thought as long as she kept feeding the beast, she could tame her. i tried to insist on mum following certain protocols, but chelsea won the battles.

it got really bad this summer when she stayed at mum and dad's for 6 weeks, the last 3 with me present, so i could see how she took control. her terrorist tactics involved threatening and attacking mum and dad's ankles (although dad rarely feeds her, he does have heavy feet) to the point dad was afraid of her and resentful, and mum resorted to luring chelsea into the family room with a handful of food scattered across the floor. so chelsea got what she wanted!

and so we are back home, and last week i suddenly thought to look up cat aggression online, and lo! i find an article about the alpha cat. aha! now why didn't i recognize it before?? been staring me in the face (or glaring at my ankles) for the past 5 years! and this article recommended clicker training, and so i found karen pryor's site, and went out to buy a clicker and a bag of treats, and started bumbling through the initial training steps. picked up her book at the library last weekend, and refined my techniques a bit.

just over a week of training and we are both coming along nicely. i have set up a blog, so if anyone wishes to read more of my rambling, please do check it out. i would appreciate any input!!
http://chelsea-cat.blogspot.com

i do have questions, but i think i will save them for later. if you have read all that, thank you!!

enthusiastic clicker newbie,
fiona

hrrmph!

apparently i just missed a dirty look because i suddenly found my wrist in a death grip. tooth marks on my arm and chelsea is having a timeout in the bathroom. i guess i couldn't expect instant perfection! i think this is the first time in over a week. probably an improvement from pre-clicker days.

time to let her out and ignore her a bit longer.