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Not to be a downer but something is up with Bobbles. Around 10am, I was in my son's room while he was running virus scans on my laptop. I climbed under his comforter while waiting. Bobbles came up and was staring at me. I made the mistake of reaching out to pet her. She started biting at my hand and arm. Keep in mind, this is not done hard or mean. I pulled my hand back under the covers and 10 seconds later she jumped up and bit my forehead. Again, it wasn't hard but my son saw the whole thing and said it looked vicious. He made angry cat sounds at her and she looked properly reprimanded.
I am the ONLY person in the household who gets face and head attacks. There's something about my being under covers that makes Bobbles crazy. It's not a big deal. I just can't pet her. The other thing she does is she'll stalk me and bite my legs after I pull my hand away from being bitten. It's just so weird that it's ME and only ME. She doesn't mess with my husband, son or the Basset. I'm the weak link in the family. In Bobble's mind she's not doing anything wrong. Shortly after the face attack, I went back to bed and she jumped up all happy hopping around.
I remember you had this problem with her a while back, and thought she had pretty much stopped doing it. Sorry to hear it's started again. I still think it's overly aggressive play on her part, but haven't a clue on how correct that behavior (I've never had to deal with it fortunately).
FWIW, I can't move around much (especially my hands) under the covers either, if my cats are on the bed. They'll tolerate a little under the cover movement, but not much. If I try to pet/play with them under the covers, the moving lump will get seriously attacked in short order. But they have never gone for any exposed part, or my face.
Yeah, I don't purposely play with her under the covers. When I'm fixing the covers for bed and she's all excited, I toss a ponytail holder on top of the covers for her to attack so she doesn't focus on me. When she's pouncing on me when I'm under the covers, I try to stay still and continue sleeping.
It's easy for me to avoid getting my face attacked. All I have to do is never pet Bobbles and then put my hands under the covers. That frustrates her for some reason. I'm not putting my hands under the covers to play. I'm trying to remove my hand from being bitten. Clearly that's not working so I can't pet her.
When I'm not in bed and this happens, I've eliminated the stalking and biting my legs by providing her with something else to attack.
One thing I do differently from my husband and son is remove my hand and arm from being bitten. They just let her go to town on them until she gets bored. They don't encourage it or ruffle her up. (Neither do I.) They just tolerate it until she is done. When I do that, she usually bores and stops without having the prey drive. The problem is she gets too rough sometimes or I fear she will get too rough. That's why I remove myself, which completely sends her into prey mode.
She doesn't do this to the Basset because he growl and lunge at her. I can't do that because she retaliates and strikes back if I simply say "no."
The animal behaviorist told me to remove myself; however, that's the very thing that sets her off. The only way to make sure it never happens is to never pet her. But she's sooooooooooooo cute! How can I own a Bobbles and not pet her? LOL
Yeah, I don't purposely play with her under the covers. When I'm fixing the covers for bed and she's all excited, I toss a ponytail holder on top of the covers for her to attack so she doesn't focus on me. When she's pouncing on me when I'm under the covers, I try to stay still and continue sleeping.
It's easy for me to avoid getting my face attacked. All I have to do is never pet Bobbles and then put my hands under the covers. That frustrates her for some reason. I'm not putting my hands under the covers to play. I'm trying to remove my hand from being bitten. Clearly that's not working so I can't pet her.
When I'm not in bed and this happens, I've eliminated the stalking and biting my legs by providing her with something else to attack.
One thing I do differently from my husband and son is remove my hand and arm from being bitten. They just let her go to town on them until she gets bored. They don't encourage it or ruffle her up. (Neither do I.) They just tolerate it until she is done. When I do that, she usually bores and stops without having the prey drive. The problem is she gets too rough sometimes or I fear she will get too rough. That's why I remove myself, which completely sends her into prey mode.
She doesn't do this to the Basset because he growl and lunge at her. I can't do that because she retaliates and strikes back if I simply say "no."
The animal behaviorist told me to remove myself; however, that's the very thing that sets her off. The only way to make sure it never happens is to never pet her. But she's sooooooooooooo cute! How can I own a Bobbles and not pet her? LOL
I know what you mean, I wouldn't be able to resist either.
Like I said, I don't have a lot of experience with this, but I would suggest; get your husband and son to stop allowing her to do it them... completely. If your petting her & she looks like she's going to do it, stop all contact with her until she calms down. She has to learn that her humans are not play objects (as a sibling would be). The Basset doesn't tolerate it & knows how stop it, so follow his lead. Not necessarily suggesting that you growl at her, but then again, it does seem to work for the Basset.
lol, Hopes, this is why I sleep with only one of mine. She is very calm ... she cuddles with me while I read my Kindle, then when it's "lights off" she moves to the foot of the bed between my feet.
She's scoping you out to see if you're "worthy" of the Mother's Day present she's working on for you!!! My Mama had a saying - "pretty is as pretty does".....she really is still just a baby though - and I think she knows she has you totally wrapped around her little paws. Oh, what we do for love!!!
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