Postive training can work on cats too!

[DawnStorm]

Well, up to a point! Anyway, one of my three cats loves to go outside. He stays in the backyard, so I let him. Anyway, when it's time for him to come in, I will call him. He almost always comes right up me, and I always pick him up, pet him, and tell him what a good kitty he is. It was just something I started doing so Scuttlebutt would associate coming to me with getting petted. I do it with my other cats as well; I just tell them what good kitties they are whenever they come when called.

[dontpugme]

Positive training is amazing. It is successful with dogs, cats, dolphins, horses, seals, and a whole bunch of others. (including cranky toddlers)

[meggit]

wonder if it would work on teenagers

[Horace's Mum]

it works very well on teenagers, but it is harder to be patient and ignore the bad stuff when they can answer back!!

[Fundog]

I had trained my cat to fetch. I loved showing him off for guests-- they had never seen a cat fetch before, lol.

Teenagers: it really depends. On *most* teenagers it works, especially if they've been raised in a positive, loving environment from early on. The teens I work with in treatment? Not so much. They start to become suspicious that you are trying to "trick" them into being good, so then they rebel. And then they've got some screwed up notion about maintaining their "self-dignity": if they cooperate, then they will feel they have "let you win." The only good Time-Out is for, is to isolate a youth from his/her peers, so they don't hurt each other/themselves.