Hi all!

First time poster, short time lurker :).

My partner and I are soon to be proud first time owners of a gorgeous Bengal kitten. She's 15 weeks old and has just been desexed and is coming home with us monday. In my new search to provide my partner and I (and the kitty!) the best chance of having a long and happy life together I'm looking for any advice from anyone on training her.

I'll preface by saying I'm fully aware that I'm dealing with an animal here and as such she can do no wrong. After all, she's just doing what cats do.. For this reason (and from reading about other peoples experience) it doesn't seem like reprimanding is a particularly effective way of managing undesirable behaviour. I see a lot of people talking about clicker training to various degrees of success and while I wouldn't say I'm against it (I haven't tried it so I can't make that call) something about it doesn't appeal so much to me. That leaves cuddles, head scratches and praising words. If we're lucky and she's a glutton who likes treats, so maybe some tasty persuasions as well. Am I missing anything here? I want her to be able to be her outgoing active self but want to heavily discourage some behavious (eating cables, scratching the few bits of nice furniture we have and biting or scratching us etc). I don't particularly want to resort to spraying her with water or an air can like some recommend if possible.

When I think about it, it's more that we want to encourage her more to enjoy other types of behaviour instead. Going for walks, hanging out on our shoulders and having a generally respectful disposition towards each other. I'm sure a lot of this comes down to luck of the draw with personality but I figure there must be some portion of it that is affected by our behaviour around and towards her.

I guess that's it, anyone with tips for positively manipulating your kitty please share, if you think I'm being unrealistic thinking I can manage her without some counter measure I'd love to know why and hear from you as well.

Many thanks and much appreciated!

(Oh and photos to come, everyone loves those right ^.^ just can't upload from my ipad)

Welcome to the forum.
Sounds like you've done your research. It most important to start the behavioral training when they are little - just moving them from the object which they aren't suppose to be chewing/eating/scratching and taking them to something that they can chew/eat/scratch is firstly the best way. It will take patience, a lot of patience...!

Look forward to seeing some pics! Have you a name for her yet?

I think redirecting negative behaviors is the first step, if she scratches the couch tell her "no" in a firm voice, put her on the scratching post, and then praise when she scratches on it. I still praise mine for scratching appropriately.

It is also a good idea to restrict the area of the house she is in for a few reasons. First, she will get bored in a small room and therefore be super excited and interested in you or your partner when you come to visit. In my expierence, this facilitates and expedites bonding. She can get used to the sounds and smells of the house, you can introduce new toys, food and water bowl, and litter box in a tighly controlled space. You will figure out in a hurry if she has food, litter box, and/or fear issues. Introducing her to areas of the house from there will help you identify and fix problems easier - she will only be chewing on cords in one room instead of all of them, for example.

In terms of clicker training, all of mine are trained to come to the clicker. It has been helpful when the tornado sirens are going off and I need them all in the basement with me. I don't use it for anything else.

Thank you both for the great advice, really appreciate it! I guess we'll just have to keep a close eye to see how naughty she is :) Luckily I have a job that will allow me to work from home for a few days until my partners day off so for the first week or so someone will be home with her all day :) We live in a modest sized apartment so she only has a few rooms to explore but we will keep her in the one room to begin with regardless until she seems brazen enough to want to get out a bit more. Due to us living in a smaller sized space we plan on training her to go outdoors for walks and what not. Tonight is the night, we're very excited!

Here is a photo taken by the breeder :) Her name is Inari.

She is absolutely beautiful!

I'm in the same kitten boat as you currently and got my 13 week old boy last Friday.

I tried the same tactics that the guys have mentioned above. Mine seemed to LOVE climbing the curtains, each time I'd give him a firm 'no', redirect him to his scratching post and scratch that to encourage him.

The first two days each time he scratched it I would praise him and give him a treat. I've now limited that to a praise to avoid a chubby kitty but it seems to of worked, he LOVES his scratch post now.

I also read on here to place it in a more prominent place in the room (it was originally in the corner) and that helped a lot :)

Good luck with your lovely kitty, can't wait to see pictures as she grows!

Jess

Aw, she's beautiful! Such pretty markings! Good luck! :)

Wow she already has that "wild essence" about her! Very beautiful and lovely markings! With the training you might find you will not need to do much!
Chewing cords : get bitter spray or cover them with tubing!
Climbing blinds:remove the blinds
scratching sofa :covered with plastic
chews wall paper :remove
falls /plays in toilet : lid down
climbs your legs : wear thick pants
Screams at night :get ear plugs
neighbor complain :get new neighbors
Gets bored: spend a fortune
NEW BENGAL OWNER= NEW CAT SLAVE


Haha just kidding (not really) all of those things mentioned above are normal Bengal behavior! Well normal cat behavior! You will likely experience a few but consistency will get results! Always use just the word "no" when she is being naughty! After a few months she will settle a little and make things easier! BIG point if you don't want scratched hands and feet do not play with you bare hands or with feet! This is a disaster waiting to happen! And if she does try get a toy ASAP and give it to her instead! Preferably a kicker toy!!!!

_________________

Well, she is home and all I can say is.. what adjustment time... We got home, let her out and she was playing and headbutting us to cuddle her in under 10 minutes. She's the super quiet type, very rarely a small meow comes out (she just looks up and goes meow) then off she goes to chase something else.. I can't believe how confident and comfortable she is already.. the only thing that gives it away is that she sleeps in the cat box instead of on the bed... she's currently sleeping in my lap as i type this though...

She has tried to eat some cables but only because I bumped them and they're dangling, as soon as I throw something else she's off like the wind and she doesn't ever stay on something long enough to just chew it for no reason.. Either it moves and it dies or it doesn't move and she doesn't care about it haha. She's been following us everywhere we go and if my partner and I are in different rooms she just runs between the 2 chasing a piece of plastic...

Massive respect to the breeder, she seems in perfect health (has to have her spaying stitches out Monday so we'll get a second vet to look at her then), is eating/drinking, using kitty litter (no accidents) and seems truly happy.

Here are more photos (for some reason when I resized them her whiskers turned out strange sorry :3