[ATA member] I wonder if it would be wisest to intensively study animal/cat training before getting a kitten so I don’t potentially mess things up, or if I mess things up, is it salvageable? I’d hate to accidentally make it hate a backpack since I don’t know what I’m doing yet.
[Melissa] Studying animal/cat training before you get the kitten could be beneficial. Because then, you have a plan and can formulate goals and put them in order of importance.
Then, obviously, the cat’s emotional state is the most important thing. So therefore, a priority focus on the animal’s emotional state to be able to go out into the world. So a lot of counter-conditioning to help ensure they have a good time; a lot of the focus is on teaching them to feel safe, teaching them to trust you, separating criteria, and making sure that they really are comfortable with the backpack at home and the leash at home first.
And then I make jumping in the backpack a normal behaviour, so [when needed] you can hide them away before they are exposed to a trigger.