He thinks its all funny... Cats tail

baby2fochler

My 18 month old really likes the cats tail and will follow the cat around and around pulling her tail. We have tried time outs and that does work. After doing time outs after he would pull the cats tail and I would speak to him he would sit down and say time out and then get right back up. So next I tried a light spanking (I really mean light) which he thinks is funny.... so he would then pull the cats tail and then spank himself and laugh. He completely understands being gentle and when you tell him to be gentle he will be and then will go right back to doing whatever he was doing.   Looking for any suggestions on ways to help curb this behavior before it gets out of hand.

MrsStanger

You can try redirection. Just ignore that he is picking on the poor cat and get a favorite toy out to play with until he joins you. A timeout we make sure our voice is serious and harsh but we wont spank or hit hand. 2 negatives in this case are not a positive. If redirection doesnt work you can just ignore the act. 2 things will happen here. 1) he will see he isnt getting attention for it anymore. 2) that cat will retaliate at some point. I doubt the cat will hurt him but could just startle him enough to show him it isnt appreciated. I hope that is even the slightest bit helpful. In saying that i also hope the cat is declawed!?

ashiscute

I would not redirect or ignore in this case because it's not fair to the cat.  My kids are not allowed to pull the dogs tail or do anything but pet gently.  If they do get a warning, if they do it again they go to timeout.  I will also physically keep them separated.  So if DS (because it's always DS) continues to bother the dog I will pick him up and take him to the opposite side of the room from the dog until he behaves.  

I like redirection and ignoring for certain behaviors but I am more proactive about behavior towards pets.  You never know when the pet will fight back and I'm not interested in finding out. 

MrsG071809

We haven't started timeout with DD (also 18 months) - we always just remind her when she is near a dog or cat that we only touch their body (no face or tails), and we only use gentle touches.  If she does grab or pull or touch a face or tail, I pull her away and tell her the rule again.  Then I usually redirect her so she doesn't want to go back to the animal.  This has worked relatively well...I will say I have to do this fairly often, but a lot of times she will go up to the dog and pet her very gently while looking at me so I can tell she's understanding the "rule".

SandFHasse

DD thinks it is funny to touch the feet of both our dogs. The dogs hate it. If she does it once we give her a warning in a stern voice. This usually works. If it doesn't next is time out. She's nice to them after this.