I was sharing a drink with a girlfriend this weekend when our server asked, after glancing at my hand, if I had a “crazy cat or something”. I took a look at the backs of my hands and noticed how bad they’ve gotten. Penelope has bitten them to the point of embarrassment. Seriously. I don’t even want to imagine what the scarring will look like in a few weeks. My career dreams of becoming a hand model have gone down the crapper like George’s did.
Once we cleared out, I made a stop at a dollar store to hunt down a spray bottle. I’m going to train P to be good, whether she likes it or not. Yesterday was Day 1 and it went surprisingly well. I keep the spray bottle at my side and she’s learning that following my “no” will be a spray. Fortunately, she doesn’t like it.
Conditioning is key. Some examples:
knocking down my reed diffuser, drowning my glasses in scented oils – SPRAY
jumping onto my humidifier – SPRAY
gnawing my hand – SPRAY
pulling Kleenex out of the box – SPRAY
jumping into the garbage and removing all of its contents – SPRAY
She hasn’t quite stopped doing these things but she’s learning to not do it more than once. Which is a start, right?
Thanks to hippohere on Flickr for the photo.
I’m so sad about this hand modeling thing for you… perhaps you could try foot modeling? or ear modeling? (is there such a thing?)
It is quite tragic but I will recover. My mother has said that I could never be a foot model but I think my high arch can take me places.
Ear modeling though, this could would. Now if only Tiffany’s featured ear models on their site.
[...] @ 4:36 pm Tags: bookshelf, jumping, kitty, redecorating I’m losing the battle against P. She’s now conditioned to the spray bottle and is able to tolerate the sprays, she still [...]