The balance my kitten and I have found us not in her doing as I say, but rather making her WANT to do as I say.
My Kitten serves me in every way. She WANTS to serve me. Whenever I don’t give her the attention she deserves or if I don’t make it evident I am attending to her needs, she is far less likely to have that desire. She must feel absolutely safe and sound.
When my Kitten needs to be “put in her place” the worst thing she can experience is my dissapointment. I never even have to say much. It absolutely crushes her to know she has let me down in some way. So, when something doesn’t go as planned I follow this series if it keeps going wrong:
1. Reminder of agreement – no judgement
2. Scolding, reinforcement of expectation, extra praise when corrected
3. Intervention – downtime serious talk, reevaluation of expectation (make sure this is an action that satisfies both if us), “you have dissapointed me by…..”, if you do this again, we will do x, y, z
4. Agreed punishment (corner time, written apology, loss of screen time, extra duties, etc.) must fit crime. Cannot be levied in anger.
I have never had to go past three. Usually, if it is something going wrong multiple time, she either doesn’t understand, or there is something about the action that is creating internal turmoil. When that’s true, we immediately try to figure out what that fissure is, and retailer the procedure to be honorable for both of us.
Many people use spanking, which works for them. This does not work for us. Instead, spanking is for only when I am expressing my pleasure and contentment. So, out punishments are random and never disproportionate. Finally, real punishment, (#4) in our opinion, is ONLY for actions that have already been mastered, and are knowing being broken.