Day 37 -- Stay on the toilet seat first!

In the past few days, I've decided that I need to first train Kratos to stay on the toilet seat while he poops before I start decreasing the amount of litter in the bowl. After all, it's definitely not a good idea to be peeing into a near-empty bowl... while standing in it. Plus, once Kratos is not standing on litter anymore when pooping, it will probably be easier to get him to poop with no litter at all.

Yes yes, obvious in retrospect. I am so impatient.

It's very difficult, however. First, I have to stalk Kratos at every moment, sneaking up behind him whenever he goes into the bathroom in case he tries to poop. Then, every time he stands in the bowl and gets ready to poop, I need to lift up his legs and put them on the toilet seat. Obviously, he does not like this; most of the time, he resets, turns around, scratches the litter, repositions himself on the litter, only to have me interrupt him and move his legs onto the seat again.

I was getting worried that my corrections on his pooping posture might be interpreted as corrections on his pooping in general -- Kratos might conclude that it is bad to poop in the toilet, or that it is bad to poop in my presence (or, to poop at all!). To make myself a welcome presence while Kratos poops, then, I bought some special treats that I give him only immediately after he pees or poops with my correction. Hopefully, this complicated mixture of positive and negative signals will somehow send the right message...

Kratos seems to be enjoying his treats so far, but the training is taking much longer than I expected. It's annoying to deal with his bowl every time I use the bathroom, and it's stressful to monitor him constantly to make my corrections. If he doesn't make some break through any time soon, it might be time to start giving up...