You have made them afraid when you have a rubber band in your hand and
show it to them in what is obviously a threatening manner when you want
them to stop something they are doing. It's right there in your post.
You snapped them with it (which hurts) until they became afraid of it.

And this is my point. Give the cat something it likes rather than
abusing it. You could have had the same outcome without being mean.

If your cats have a "momentary lapse" you can accomplish the same thing
using a "fun" distraction (such as a happy voice or a treat) instead of
reminding them of the abusive action you used to stop them.

You obviously don't know what you're talking about. I rescue "problem
cats" that have already suffered at the hands abusive people and I work
with them in a gentle manner using "positive" reinforcement which has
been very successful. I don't have to scare them into "behaving."

Thank you for irrefutably proving that you know absolutely *nothing*
about me LOL. You couldn't be more wrong if you tried. Your
defensiveness speaks volumes, though. You have to wonder about someone
that, when given the opportunity to learn how to get his cats to do what
he wants without being mean to them, instead chooses to defend his abuse
rather than find a kinder way.

Have you heard of Seabiscuit? Seabiscuit blossomed after coming to be in
the hands of a trainer that had a reputation for dealing successfully
with "problem" horses  by treating them with kindness and understanding.
He went on to become a champion. Before that, being subjected to not so
nice training practices, he was just another horse that was known for
being stubborn and lazy. Cruelty never has a place in working with
animals. Kindness and understanding the nature of the animal and working
with it will always get you farther.  

And again, it says a lot about you that you prefer being mean when you
could get the same results being kind.

You can't "make" a cat respect you. The fact that you would use
"respect" and "cat" in the same sentence in  terms of how they relate to
people shows just how little you know about cats.

I have no desire to witness a mean and unnecessary form of discipline.

I never said they hate you. What I said was that it is wrong to use fear
to stop them from doing something when you can accomplish the same thing
using kind treatment. The fact that you have no interest in using kind
methods and prefer abusive action tells me all I need to know about you.

That's not going to happen. I'm not going to stand by while you try to
convince someone that your special brand of abuse is okey dokey. Deal
with it.

Megan

                                   

Your description of rubber band training is cruel and unnecessary.  You
should not need to resort to any kind of hitting or "popping."  Furthermore,
you mention positive reinforcement for good things and negative
reinforcement for bad things.  The negative reinforcement is
counterproductive.  I have never hit a cat, "popped" a cat, squirted water
on a cat, etc.  and each of mine have become absolutely wonderful, well
behaved truly loving companions (including one that was feral and one that
was abused before I received them).

Althought this is OT, you also refer to "breaking" a horse.  I grew up with
horses and ponies and had some that were considered to be "mine" literally
from the day they were born.  My grandfather gave my first pony to me when I
was a little less than 5 years old.  My horses were treated only with love
and kindness, and every one of them became essentially a "big pet."  They
would run to the fence to greet me when I got off the school bus, and I
could even ride them without a bridle or saddle.  I was taught from early
childhood that a horse should be "thanked" and given a treat after every
ride.  There was never any reason to "break" these wonderful animals.  When
my mother was a teenager, my grandfather (a farmer) even rescued a pony
(what they called an "Indian pony" and was really a pony/horse mix) by
buying it from a neighboring farmer.  They warned him that my mother would
never be able to ride him because he was mean and even the larger boys
couldn't handle him.  My grandfather told him that the reason the horse was
mean to the boys was because they were mean to him.  Sure enough, my mother
eventually was able to ride that horse without a horse or bridle (just as I
was able to do years later with my ponies) -- and she never held a whip in
her hand.  Incidentally, my grandfather was a farmer; and he was farming
long before tractors were available to him (starting approximately in 1900).
He used large "plow" or "draft" horses for many years.  Therefore, he had
"working" horses, but he treated them in the same way that I just described.
When they were too old to work, he pastured them -- he did not consider them
"glue factory" objects.  He said they had been good to him in their working
years and he was going to be good to them in their retirement years.

Kindness can do a world of good with animals.  Your example of the rubber
flip-flops shows that positive reinforcement does work.  Please look for
some more creative ways to achieve the results you want -- possibly some
additional scratching posts with a variety of surfaces (the flip-flops show
that they may prefer a different fabric) and both horizontal and vertical
positions, a nice cat tree for climbing, etc.  Why resort to the cruelty of
rubber band popping when such results can be attained through care and
patience??

MaryL

Photos of Duffy and Holly (pictorial history of my blind cat Duffy's
integration into our household):
Duffy, Part I: The Introduction -- http://tinyurl.com/8y54
Duffy, Part II: Life at Home -- http://tinyurl.com/8y56