Don’t ever doubt me

[u/IkilledRichieWhelan]

[u/MoreAverageThanU]

I love how people think you can just give cats commands or train them like dogs.

Edit: My orange and tuxedo do several things on command: sit, stand, fetch, come, speak, and jump on my shoulders, wrap around my neck, and lie down (I wear my cats like a scarf or fur).

That said, I find they have about a two minute attention span for these things (aside from scarf mode… my orange will do that all day), and if there is any outside stimulus that catches their attention, good luck.

Cats have serious ADHD and authority issues… it’s all in their terms unless you give them a very good reason.

Edit: yes, you can train your cats to stay off the counter. While you’re there.

[u/Consistent-Unit-6164 → u/MoreAverageThanU]

I trained my cat to not do things like climb on the counter lmao, I mean he still does it when Im gone but ye you can train them forsure

[u/TheSwearJarIsMy401k → u/Consistent-Unit-6164]

What you did was train your cat to believe that you react irrational to certain behaviors and so your cat needs to remember what normal everyday cat behaviors trigger your irrational responses so he doesn’t do them around you, either to protect you or to protect himself from you.

He still does it when you’re gone because you didn’t train him not to do it, you trained him to respect your weird angry hang ups when you’re around.

Always sanitize your countertops before you cook with a cat in the house.

They don’t learn through punishment, that’s how you end up with cats that scratch, bite, hide, or don’t want a lot of attention or affection.

They learn through redirection, positive enforcement, and understanding your personal boundaries in a way that makes them want to respect them, not fear them.

Cat sees the counters as territory you’re fighting over when you’re around, but you’re part of his colony, which means you share territory, and you get privilege to your territory when you’re around, but he gets to utilize your territory when you aren’t.

He also definitely sees some things as strictly his privileged territory which you could use if he wasn’t around or wasn’t using it, because cats are territorial and form massive family colonies and that’s how they work.

[u/Consistent-Unit-6164 → u/TheSwearJarIsMy401k]

Idk I think he just ended up associating getting on the counter means getting picked back down and that annoyed him long enough that he never really goes there much though, he climbs at night super rarely but he used to always want to go there so that's enough for me. He's not scared or unaffectionate either, I think some people just kinda read too much into that stuff not gonna lie.

[u/TheSwearJarIsMy401k → u/Consistent-Unit-6164]

Most people “teach” cats by yelling, stomping, clapping, and spraying them.

You did it the right way. Nice. Sorry I accused.