operation harley - week one

its been a month since i've posted but it seems like longer. especially the last few weeks.

operation harley is my concentrated effort to break harley of his biting habit. for clarification, i don't mind a friendly or warning nip that is brief and barely makes more than a general impression on me. what we're working on is harley's drawing blood.

first and foremost it must be said that harley is a great cat. he has a sweet and comical side, and he always greets my guests at the door, rubbing against them and smelling them part of his training now involves guests greeting him with a treat. my thought is he'll immediately associate visitors as friends and if they pet him, he is gentle and gets a treat, it's not just me rewarding him for good behavior. but this is a small part of the whole training program.

thanks to deb at Catales, harley's shelter mom, and donna, our cat sitter from Furnanny 911, and my own years of having cats for pets, i've come up with a multi pronged approach:

* time out: harley now has a time out crate whichis used only for time out. he gets no more than 30 minutes for his offenses and it'll only be shortened when improvement is seen and the biting is rarer than it is now. the clock timer is his buzzer and i don't use it for anything else. this way he knows the buzzer is for his timeout and he won't be confused by hearing it another time. when he goes in i tell him why, i ignore him when he's in there, and when its time up he is let out.

* reqarding good non biting behavior. harley gets greeted at the door with a pet on the head and a treat. the rest of the time i only pet him if he initiates, then i watch for the signs that he might bite: tail whipping around, angle of his head, puffy tail. i redirect with a toy, never a hand or foot which he likes to bite, and even physically remove him from the area if it looks like it's going to be an issue if he stays. when he's good, he gets treats and i tell him that good harley gets treats for being friendly and calm.

* the squirt bottle of water haas been in use for awhile but is now reinforced by time out.

* harley no longer sleeps in my bed or my bedroom at night. we say our goodnights outside my door and i sleep better knowing i'm not going to wake up to a toe or my arm getting attacked like i had been. this is the first time i've had a biting pet so this si new for me to not have him in bed at night.

* rescue remedy for cats. per the bottle, place 4 drops on a pet treat and 4 in their daily water. its used in situations of extreme stress like when animals are rescued from an emergency situation. deb had seen this work very well for a dog they had and i'm hoping it does the same for harley. i love that its a natural remedy and there are zero chemicals.

* last but not least is feliway which is a feline pheromone in a spray or plug in. it is supposed to calm him instantly. i have seen it work well and am waiting for the plug ins to arrive. they last 4 weeks and have refills available. i got two ordered from the pet store and plan to place them strategically in the apartment.

operation harley has been in effect since this past tuesday to we're not quite at a week yet, but so far i've only sustained a clean scratch on the back of my calf which drew blood. he's had 3 time outs, including one while i was blogging this. mom was here for a few hours last night and he needed no discipline. but he did jump up on the kitchen table which is a no harley zone so he got a squirt for that.

i'm off to run errands and sttend a nature inspired writers and artists workshop at white memorial in litchfield, ct. after a week of training harley, overtime and general loose ends to tie up, i hope this is a nice break and a time to feed my creative side. despite my present headache.