Marilyn Krieger - Naughty No More

Table of Contents

To my late father,
Charles H. Krieger (19232009),
a wonderful man who will live forever
in our memories.

He always said that I could do
anything I set my mind to.

There are many special people who, through their support and encouragement, played a major role in the process of building this book. Foremost among them are my parents, Charles and June Krieger; my sister, Carol Krieger; and my brother-in-law, Geoffrey Neate. Their comments and suggestions were very valuable and very much appreciated. Sadly, my father passed on before the completion of CAT FANCYs Naughty No More!.

A special thanks goes to my dear friend and mentor, Pam Johnson-Bennett, who reviewed my chapters and encouraged me every step of the way. Shes been with me from the beginning of my journey, and patiently listened to me obsess about details. I treasure her friendship and guidance and immensely enjoy our discussions about behavior. Thanks also to Frances Byrne for her valuable guidance, marketing expertise, encouragement, and friendship. I thank Bob Bailey, Alexandra Kurland, and Dr. Susan Friedman, as well, for graciously sharing their remarkable knowledge about animal behavior and training with me.

All cats deserve recognition; they are perfect and good. Everything about them, from their elegance to their fascinating behaviors and the mysteries associated with them throughout history, inspired me to pursue a career in cat behavior and write CAT FANCYs Naughty No More!. The cats who particularly deserve kudos are the special little ones I share my life with. Maulee, Sudan, Jinniyha, Olivia, Kingsley, and Asia are the true stars of CAT FANCYs Naughty No More!, and they deserve extradelicious treats and lots of attention for their roles in the creation of this book. They are especially perfect cats.

When I started doing behavior consultations over twenty years ago, it was so difficult to convince people that cats could be trained. Dogs were the trainable animals, I was repeatedly told, but cats were stubborn creatures with minds of their own. As a result of that thinking, many cats ended up being abandoned, relinquished to shelters, or euthanized for behavior problems. Its very sad to think of the unfair treatment cats have endured when in fact they are extremely trainable. These beautiful, intelligent creatures are easy to communicate with and are highly motivated. It just takes the right tools.

Operant conditioning (clicker training) is the key to solving current behavior problems, preventing future behavior issues, and improving the relationship you share with your cat. By using clicker training, you and your cat change your mindsets from negative to positive. Through this method, youre able to actually provide a roadmap for your cat toward good behavior while meeting her needs at the same time.

Regardless of how frustrating your cats behavior problem is, it serves a purpose. Animals dont repeat behaviors if they dont serve a function. By using operant conditioning and following the steps mapped out in CAT FANCYs Naughty No More!, you can figure out what need a particular behavior is filling (in other words, the pay off), provide a more acceptable alternative for your cat, and then reward him when he chooses the better option. The additional benefit of this technique is that its actually fun for both you and your cat. Instead of having the relationship become strained and tense due to counter-productive training or punishment, youll find yourself enjoying your cat again. Whats more, your cat will start enjoying you again. Youll get back to the way you wanted the relationship to be in the first place. Clicker training is a serious, science-based behavior modification method disguised as fun. Its a win/win situation for the cat and her human family.

Clicker training isnt a new concept, but it has been a training method used more popularly with dogs. Those of us who work with cats know how effective clicker training is with felines, but many cat owners are still unaware of the technique. Once you learn about it, youll feel as if youve found the key that unlocks many doors. Its that powerful!

Because clicker training for cats isnt as well known as it is for dogs, there has been very little authoritative information out there for cat ownersuntil now. CAT FANCYs Naughty No More! provides you with an excellent foundation for improving your cats behavior. Marilyn Krieger leads you on a fun ride through cat behavior with the help of her trusty clicker.

Pam Johnson-Bennett Certified Animal Behavior Consultant Author of seven titles, including Starting from Scratch, Cat vs. Cat, and Think Like a Cat

I wrote this book from the trenches. Ive had personal hands-on experience with every one of the challenges described in CAT FANCYs Naughty No More!my cats all had their special behavior problems. They have helped me test and develop solutions that work. The behavior challenges that I havent lived with, my clients have. All of the clicker solutions, along with the accompanying behavior recommendations, covered in this book have been successfully implemented on my clients and my own cats.

My cats were, of course, my main inspiration for writing CAT FANCYs Naughty No More!. Living with the smartest and most mischievous cats in existence is very inspiring. (You will meet my little Einsteins and read about some of their antics throughout the pages of this book.) But the popular misconception that cats cant be trained convinced me further that I needed to write this book.

Historically, popular culture has dictated that cats will only do things on their own terms. Another widely held belief is that once a cat is repeatedly displaying undesirable behavior, the behavior cant be stopped. I recently watched a popular morning news show that compared cats and dogs. The hosts concluded that cats dont listen, that they do only what they want to do, and that its impossible to train them. Unfortunately, these mistaken assumptions often result in cats being unnecessarily surrendered to shelters and euthanized because of resolvable behaviors such as inappropriate elimination, aggression, and furniture-scratching. These behaviors certainly arent fun to live with, but they can be stopped using a combination of clicker training, behavior modification, and simple changes to the environment.

Clicker training is an effective training system, based on the science of operant conditioning, that rewards animals for appropriate activities and behaviors. This process uses the scientifically proven principle that animals (in our case, cats) are more apt to intentionally repeat an activity when it is immediately followed by a reward or other positive consequence. The cat understands that a behavior is the right one because a devicein this case, a clickeris used to communicate that the behavior is correct as it is being performed.