Advntrs1
Savannah Kitten
I am so happy to report that now that I can finally read this document I have been doing all the right things for awhile now finally. We did however both make the mistake of trying to pick him up to get collar and or harness on unsuccessfully which I have to admit now was dumb. I made the first attempt probably on day 6/7 of him being home and my angle of approach was crappy such that I could scruff, but not immediately bring him into my chest and tuck him in my arms to calm him. It ended with a few scratches of course and both being traumatized. He wasn't combative prior attempts so I thought we would continue to work on it.. YUP BAD IDEA and wish I would have joined sooner to read this. Then Dad made a similar attempt because we really want that collar with ID on him...I had warned him it wasn't a good idea as I had made progress since my failed attempt and didn't want to go backwards. So I employ a combination of all the techniques listed and we just have to deal with no collar until ???. No biggie since of course we can't and don't take him for walks or anything LOL. We just hope eventually we can and want that GPS on him.
He has improved with hand feeding in that he has learned to be gentle by training him with a high squeal and saying owie in a hurt tone if he accidentally got my finger in his ZEAL for his chicken
. He is SUPER gentle now. We could very gingerly touch him if we did very slow movement towards the back of his head for pets as long as he was focused on the food. Treats work great if you pour enough out to keep him there chomping away and as of last night I really was able to get some full petting in during treats. As soon as the last treat is in his chompers though he flinches with a slight duck of his head with a look of what do you think you are doing 
and runs off. We now also see a pattern of a play routine at bedtime when we get into bed he has to jump onto the bed from the dresser to attack my Fiance's feet (Typically only his ha ha) and plays with both of us if we make movements with our hands above and under covers. He may lie down for sometimes a full minute and then eventually goes to sleep elsewhere (It varies).
SOOOooooo Progress is happening but it is very slow. With that yes you do have to be Patient, Patient, Patient and hopefully one day I might get a collar on him without issue and perhaps some headbutts and lovin'!
He has improved with hand feeding in that he has learned to be gentle by training him with a high squeal and saying owie in a hurt tone if he accidentally got my finger in his ZEAL for his chicken
. He is SUPER gentle now. We could very gingerly touch him if we did very slow movement towards the back of his head for pets as long as he was focused on the food. Treats work great if you pour enough out to keep him there chomping away and as of last night I really was able to get some full petting in during treats. As soon as the last treat is in his chompers though he flinches with a slight duck of his head with a look of what do you think you are doing and runs off. We now also see a pattern of a play routine at bedtime when we get into bed he has to jump onto the bed from the dresser to attack my Fiance's feet (Typically only his ha ha) and plays with both of us if we make movements with our hands above and under covers. He may lie down for sometimes a full minute and then eventually goes to sleep elsewhere (It varies). SOOOooooo Progress is happening but it is very slow. With that yes you do have to be Patient, Patient, Patient and hopefully one day I might get a collar on him without issue and perhaps some headbutts and lovin'!
