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   ✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 01-Dec-2025 21:35:06 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧

   thinking about how much of bad cat behavior is just "the cat probably grew up alone _and_ nobody had the knowledge and wisdom to tell it off in a way it can understand"

   housecats are fully capable of understanding that their claws hurt you, and equally capable of being as careful as their bodies allow (which is _very_). but somebody has to teach them

   [the comment below is about pumas]

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     ✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 01-Dec-2025 21:37:37 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧

     in reply to

     i once lived with a housecat who understood that underneath clothing i have easily scratched skin (this is a trait housecats can learn!), and who clearly intentionally retracted claws while falling on me from some cabinet up top after misjudging a jump

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     ✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 01-Dec-2025 22:03:21 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧

     in reply to

     • prom™️

     @promovicz how do you approach barking?

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     prom™️ (promovicz@chaos.social)'s status on Monday, 01-Dec-2025 22:03:23 JST prom™️

     in reply to

     @whitequark dog puppies tend to learn "not biting" by trying to do so, in their early development. if you give the right signals, it usually just goes away - but same as with barking, some people use the wrong signals.

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     ✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 01-Dec-2025 22:09:06 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧

     in reply to

     • prom™️

     @promovicz figured, yeah

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     prom™️ (promovicz@chaos.social)'s status on Monday, 01-Dec-2025 22:09:08 JST prom™️

     in reply to

     @whitequark dogs in general, will usually do whatever gives them friendly attention. in most cases it's better to try and ignore the dog while they're barking, because "attention is confirmation".

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     prom™️ (promovicz@chaos.social)'s status on Monday, 01-Dec-2025 22:09:09 JST prom™️

     in reply to

     @whitequark we have a "scared barker" around at a hackerspace. they do this because they're scared, and they will stop immediately if their owner greets the person they are barking at - so I told them, to ignore the dog for a second and greet people. they don't even have to be 100% disciplined - the dog just "gets" that "these are friends".

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     ✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 01-Dec-2025 22:09:34 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧

     • PositivDenken 🤯

     @zeank oh yeah, even small cats fighting at full force are quite terrifying

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     ✧✦Catherine✦✧ (whitequark@mastodon.social)'s status on Monday, 01-Dec-2025 22:12:03 JST ✧✦Catherine✦✧

     in reply to

     • maswan

     @maswan yeah this is true, some cats just don't have enough braincells

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     maswan (maswan@mastodon.acc.sunet.se)'s status on Monday, 01-Dec-2025 22:12:05 JST maswan

     in reply to

     @whitequark There is a considerable range of thinking in housecats though, we have one cat who started to sit beside you and pat your leg to be lifted onto the lap after a missed jump and some claws scratching legs hurt his family.

     And we have one cat who's grasp of cause and effect is loose at best. She doesn't really like when you go ouch, but you can tell that she's mostly confused by it.