this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2026
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Positive reinforcement works always better than negative reinforcement, also with humans :)
Instead of teaching don't do this, reframe with "let's do another more exciting thing instead".
It's way more tiring, but it works!
My wife decided that we should try positive reinforcement to get our cat to stop destroying things. Every time he started to wreck something, we were supposed to play with him.
All that did is teach him that he should attack something if he wants to play.
So now, I'm tired and more things get damaged. Yay, cat ownership!
That’s…not how positive reinforcement works lol.
Positive reinforcement would be providing scratching and chewing opportunities that you are ok with, and providing rewards when the cat chooses to use the designated equipment.
Yeah replacement behaviours are an excellent way to teach "not that" without aversives.
What playing with a cat when it does any behaviour does is train it to do that behaviour.
(provided the cat enjoys the attention)