(778)Training Cats/ Cat tales 14

Do you remember Prince? He was the one who hid behind the curtain in a hotel room as instructed by his mistress. In a later post we saw how good he was at minding a baby that visited his family.

When Prince's mistress was young, she used to be home alone with her cat most of the time. Through trial and error, she learned to train her few cats to obey her like dogs. Prince was her star pupil. When he was younger, he could jump through hoops held by her mistress three feet from the ground. One tip about training cats, we must start the training as young as possible. When cats are older, they hardly care to obey to please the humans.

Another criteria that helps is that a cat that enjoys applause and attention is more likely to be highly suitable for such training. Last but not least, we need intelligence from the cat and patience from the trainer. In order to encourage Prince to obey, many types of cat food are on hand as rewards. Once Prince begins to prefer a special type of snack, it is reserved as a reward that Prince is required to do something to earn it. As long as she obeys, a little snack is offered. Success comes with practice and ultimately the cat strives to do things that the humans are enthusiastic about and make much fuss over.

Now Prince is older and a little heavier than in his younger years. The days of jumping through hoops are over!

See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse - the blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today; ...

cat1.jpg from jabberflash.com