When I first got Diva, I decided that I would train her to "bell" or "chime" as I call it in my house. I'd seen a clip on TV about dog owners who trained their dogs to ring a bell hanging by the door when they wanted to go out. Well, I didn't have a bell, but I had some old, small wind chimes that I thought would do the trick. And yes, it does the trick. She'll hit the chimes with her nose, and if I don't move, look over her shoulder at me. If I still don't move, she hits them harder and sits down to stare out the sliding door. It works really well because I don't have to guess at what she wants and I don't have to be watching her. However, it also means that I'm her "bell hop."
Well, now that the back yard is fenced in, I've decided to try to train Oliver, at 9 years old, to do the same thing. After just 3 or 4 days of periodically showing him that ringing the chimes will have me open the door, he's now done it a few times himself. He'll go to the door and meow for a little while, but then if I wait, I finally hear the chimes. Who says you can't teach an old cat new tricks. :-)
TTFN!
I think that the Kitty Committee (the governing body of house cats) would be pretty upset with your post. Comparing cats to dogs! Teaching a cat tricks!
ReplyDeleteYou just may be sued. Or picketed.
Now I'm more embarrassed about my idiotic cats. Hansel was, once again, frightened by his own tail this weekend. Can I send him to Aunt S's house for some learnin'?
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