Posted on 06/16/2016 11:16:31 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows
In anticipation, I’d already positioned a tall, sturdy scratching post in a prominent location next to where the couch would go, and Josh had already used it. Now, I walked over to the scratching post and tapped and lightly scratched the top of it. Josh responded by prancing over, tail up and giving the post a full-extension, deep, hard, scratch, really getting his nails in there. When he was done, I plopped down a big wad of his favorite wet food. Oh look! Scratching the post (not the couch) not only feels good, but it also results in what you consider to be some of the best stuff on earth. We continued to work the program. Knowing that cats like to scratch just after a nap or a snack, I made sure to be there to dole out the goodies. Whether he ever considered scratching the couch, I’ll never know. Months later, I still keep it up, intermittently giving him food when he scratches the post.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.scientificamerican.com ...
We had a cat my Mom would walk on a leash to the beach and back.
I had a cat I would take bird hunting as a teen and he would retrieve them for me.
But that’s about the extent of any cat training I’ve ever seen:-)
You didn’t train the cat - the cat trained you.
Has a cat that if you tried to squirt him would try to catch it in his mouth.
To train him not to get on things I got those rubber floor runners with the rubber spikes on the other side. He would jump up, go "ow!" and jump back down.
The reason it works so well with dogs is they like to please
Cats will do it till they get bored or you aren’t around
At least you had a very entertaining cat.
I have two, fairly young cats, about 2-years apart in age. The older one is leash trained, and the only reason is because she LIKES it.
Neither one of them will eat canned cat food, or cat treats! The kitten (8-months old) won’t even smell of it. That makes any sort of reward training impossible.
Perhaps you could find something else that they regards as a reward.
That wouldn’t work with my KC Tuxedo cat. He loved to jump in the shower with me and chase the water splatters. Had him leap into the tub once when I was languishing ... I had to lock him out of the bathroom after that if I wanted a tub bath ... he loved water! When I rescued him out of a deep Kudzu patch he was not even weaned and the first thing I did with him was give him a bath in the sink, to wash fleas off. I guess that set the tone. His favorite game was king on the steps when I lived in a condo with steps that went to a landing then turned and went the rest of the way up. He was also fond of fetching any balled up crinkling paper. ... He’s been over the rainbow bridge for fifteen years, but I still miss him so much.
Her smaller (6.5 lbs) littermate, Allie, is doing just fine. When she thinks it is bed time, regardless of the time of day, she will jump up on the corner of the bed and meow until one of us comes and rubs her back. At night she will curl up on my chest with her head under my chin. Makes it damn difficult to read in bed.
Oh, and if I want her to do something I have to tell her in Hungarian thanks to Sweetie Palm.
"Ceterum censeo Hillary esse delendam."
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
Based upon experience from 60+ years of being cat staff and 10 years of dog companionship. You can absolutely make a cat do anything you want it to do if it happens to feel like it at the time!!! Similar to raising children is is much like trying to herd chickens.
When our indoor cats got elderly we would walk them around the yard on a leash.
Some kid stopped his car and told me: "Hey mister, you're dog looks like a cat" (with a perfect straight face).
My wife taught her tuxedo to sit, give paw, roll over, and play fetch.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.