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!

[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 9 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

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.

[–] sunbytes@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

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)