How do you teach "Gentle"?

[raynes]

Other than just saying it over and over and stopping him from grabbing handfuls if the cats fur?

[vthokie]

Who knows. Dd likes to smack DH in the face. We always just say No, then use her hand and show her a nice touch and say gentle. She still gets excited and smacks his face though

[Deleted]

i will rub his hand on my face while i am rubbing my hand on his face and i say gentle while i am doing it. I figure if i keep using the same word and keep showing him what gentle is hopefully he will grasp the concept soon.

[EnchantedSoul]

Take his hand and gently stroke the cat and say "easy/gentle". They are starting to be at an age where they can mimic simple behaviors. You'll just have to be very consistent.

[browneyedhunni85]

Haha, we are dealing with this too. C loves to grab Fluffy's tail and Fluffy is so good about it. he just runs in the opposite direction.

[eav2c]

I take his hand and gently rub it on our dog (or whatever it was that he was being rough to) and say "be gentle, nice, etc." He might not get it now but will eventually. I always just try to redirect and so far it has worked. He has grabbed our dogs face pretty hard too.

[browneyedhunni85]

Haha, we are dealing with this too. C loves to grab Fluffy's tail and Fluffy is so good about it. He just runs in the opposite direction.

[raynes]

Ok, that's what we've been doing.

One of our cats (the dim witted one) loves it. He can pull on her ears and tail with no ramifications. When she's had enough she leaves.

The other one, however, keeps trying to swat at him. Though she might be starting to figure out that she's a lot faster than he is.

[fusion]

Just keep doing it, then I usually redirect to a different activity.

[Deleted]

As PPs have said, just keep at it and it will click eventually.

[bebeetmoi]

Jan 15, 2013 9:39:10 GMT -5 @pcloadletter said:

Just keep at it. I like to rub his hand on my face and say easy.

This is what I've been doing. Lots and lots of repetition. Hopefully it will resonate at some point because my LO is a brut.

[raynes]

I must have lost this in the haze if the early days, but Derek tells a story of how someone's 3 y/o (must be my step-nephew?) was over and his parents cautioned him "gentle" around Owen. He took that to mean "pet" the baby, so he did.

[claralou]

Jan 15, 2013 9:47:34 GMT -5 EnchantedSoul said:

Take his hand and gently stroke the cat and say "easy/gentle". They are starting to be at an age where they can mimic simple behaviors. You'll just have to be very consistent.

This is what we're doing, although with two dogs it's a challenge. We were "gently" petting one dog the other day and while I was guiding her hand and talking to her about it, I failed to notice that she was BITING the other dog's leg. Thank God for old, sweet dogs.

[Deleted]

Take her hand and pet the cat while saying gentle. Also give positive reinforcement when she is gentle. She's much better than she used to be but still gets a handful of fur sometimes.

[rxbeth]

Ugh, we're getting nowhere with gentle because Madison won't let me touch her hands to show her gentle. She pulls them back and gets pissed.

[dixeedeluxe]

Edie thinks "gentle" means rub the dogs back. Which is so funny. But I guess that's how I taught her. I guess she was listening! Because now when I say "gentile" to her in regards to Adeline, she rubs her back!

[kdrake8]

Raynes and Dixee, that's hilarious!

[biblionerd]

yeah, just show them with their hand over and over. It started with the cats and our faces- just trying not to cry as handfuls of hair are pulled and squeak "gentle" out through clenched teeth as you use their hand to stroke your hair. So now Linus pets us when we say gentle.

[dixeedeluxe]

The other day, Edie was eating and the dogs were barking and being stupid and she said "SHUT UP DOGS!"

Ugh, those were words that come straight out of my mouth. Whoops.

[Deleted]

Jan 15, 2013 9:33:40 GMT -5 raynes said:

Other than just saying it over and over and stopping him from grabbing handfuls if the cats fur?

We are dealing with the.exact.same.thing. We just guide his hand and gently pet our 18 year old cat and say "easy" over and over and over again. It has made zero impact so far though. I hope he gets it soon because he just loves to pet attack her, and she wants none of it.

[carawestt]

Ugh I need this advice too. Lincoln won't stop biting me! I have bruises all over my arm and he bit my face yesterday. I've been tapping him lips with my finger gently and saying "no bites" but it hasn't been working

[Deleted]

Jan 15, 2013 10:17:48 GMT -5 claralou said:

Jan 15, 2013 9:47:34 GMT -5 EnchantedSoul said:

Take his hand and gently stroke the cat and say "easy/gentle". They are starting to be at an age where they can mimic simple behaviors. You'll just have to be very consistent.

This is what we're doing, although with two dogs it's a challenge. We were "gently" petting one dog the other day and while I was guiding her hand and talking to her about it, I failed to notice that she was BITING the other dog's leg. Thank God for old, sweet dogs.

hahaha this sounds like our house!!

[rjamz]

I'm working on this too, poor Suzie the Dog. She's a trooper

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[Faevantastic]

We just tell Chewy to run for his life.