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| Title: | Meower Power is Valuing Differences |
| Notice: | FELINE_V1 is moving 1/11/94 5pm PST to MISERY |
| Moderator: | MISERY::VANZUYLEN_RO |
|
| Created: | Sun Feb 09 1986 |
| Last Modified: | Tue Jan 11 1994 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 5089 |
| Total number of notes: | 60366 |
1465.0. ""The Educated Cat"" by MRESS::FEASE (Andrea Midtmoen Fease) Wed Jun 15 1988 12:20
[Reprinted without permission from the Boston Globe, 15 June 1988,
page 77 - just thought everyone should see this :-) ! ]
Cats a Rising Star
by Diane White
June is Adopt-A-Cat Month. And what better reason to adopt
a cat than to teach it to do tricks?
Why settle for the pedestrian joys of mere feline companionship
when you could turn your cat into a star and do stupid pet tricks
on Letterman? Or maybe even shine on stage in Las Vegas, as the
next Siegfried, or Roy, or possibly both?
Everyone knows cats don't do tricks, you are probably saying,
if you are still with me, which, I realize, you may not be. But
this is not necessarily so. Cats can be taught to do tricks, according
to George Ney, and who would know better than he?
Ney (rhymes, as he himself points out, with "not shy") is trainer
of what he describes in his book "The Educated Cat" as "the nation's
largest multiple-cat performing act". I confess I was somewhat
surprised to see that phrase, implying as it does that there is
more than one multiple-cat performing act in the nation, but who knows?
Maybe cat training is a concept whose time has finally come.
Ney certainly thinks so. He writes, "through the ages virtually
no one thought to train a cat to do tricks. That's why, even in
a high-tech age of infinite possibility, performing cats continue
to amaze".
Now, thanks to Ney, the Gunther Gebel-Williams of housecats,
you can train your cats to play dead, to jump through hoops, to sit
up and beg. Well,you can try, anyway.
Unfortunately, you will not find instructions in his book on
how to teach your cat to do anything useful, like quit clawing the
furniture to shreds, but hey, we are talking show biz here, breaking
into the big time, the cat show circuit, what Ney calls "the feline
equivalent of Hollywood".
The George Ney story begins on a dramatic note in the little
town of Fox River Grove, Ill., with the failure of his carpet business.
Stuck with a lot of odd-sized leftover carpeting, Ney cast about
for a way to use it and hit upon the idea of making furniture for
cats, scratching posts, perches, tunnels and so forth.
To his surprise, his line of feline furniture was an immediate
success. As a promotional gimmick he acquired a cat, a Scottish
fold kitten named Tasha, to perch on his furniture at cat shows.
Between customers, Ney began teaching Tasha to do tricks. She caught
on. One trained cat led to another, and the toast of the cat show
circuit.
Ney outlines what seems at first glance a rather grueling regimen
of cat training. An "ideal" schedule, he writes, includes six or
seven training sessions a day. However, a cat's attention span
being what it is, i.e. all but non-existent, none of these sessions
lasts more than a few minutes.
"The Educated Cat" is illustrated with photographs of cats
doing tricks, and looking, frankly, rather undignified. In one
photo a grinning Ney presides over the supine bodies of several
cats, their little feet sticking up in the air. The caption reads,
"At a cat show, with four felines playing dead at one time". And
the cover photo, two cats in rhinestone collars pretending to play
a toy piano, lacks charm.
Ney concedes in "The Educted Cat" that there are cats who will
never learn tricks. "These cats can be sweet and loving in their
own way and on their own terms", he writes, "but do not try to
turn them into performers".
So I was not surprised that "The Educated Cat" was not a great
success in my house. Killer was not amused when I tried to teach
him to play dead, a trick I imagined might come naturally to him.
It didn't. Repeated attempts to teach him the simplest of Ney's
tricks - to sit, to lie down - failed, even with inducement of his
favorite treats, kippers and asparagus. It's probably just as well.
If Killer learned all those tricks he'd get himself a good agent
and leave home.
| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 1465.1 | Dinky Tricks | UBOHUB::HOOD_S | | Wed Jul 06 1988 15:05 | 40 |
|
I was very interested to read your note of "The Educated Cat" but
can understand why some cats would not be very amused!!
I think, unless your cat shows signs of ENJOYING the idea of
learning tricks, it is best to leave them to their own devices.
However, my puska, Dinky has been a very strange cat from the
moment I got her - trying to follow me onto a bus to go to work
one morning when she didn't feel very well (don't leave me Mum!!)
and crying when I have two tins of food and gave her the flavour
she doesn't like to much!!!!
Since then, I have sat her down and talked to her and tried a few
simple things which she has taken too with great enthusiasm - she
will sit 'ask' for a biscuit, come for a walk, fetch a ball (only
when she feels like this one!) and will wait at curbs before crossing
the road when I tell her. The most common thing she likes to go
is when I say "Coming to the shops with me?" and get my coat on.
She gallops down the stairs and waits at the door and then trots
along happy by my side to the shops and then when asked to wait,
sits in the shrubs along the path until I come out of the shop and
take her home.
This certainly isn't just chance and was proved when recently, I
walked her down there, took rather a long time and was distracted
when my other loved one (human!) came into the shop on his way home
from work and said "It's raining and I've got the car - jump in!"
and I did ......forgetting poor Dinky waiting outside (how can I
forgive myself!!) As soon as we got home, Tim said "Where's The
Doughnut?" (Dinky's nickname!) and with a shock I remembered where
I had left her! We RACED back in the car, opened the door and called
here - with a really indignant yowl she ran up to the car hopped
in and sat looking out of the window with her back to us all the
way home.
Up until then, I wouldn't have believed you could OFFEND a cat!!!
SANDY.
|
| 1465.2 | Roll-over,play dead, good KITTY??!? | MARKER::REED | | Wed Jul 20 1988 21:12 | 47 |
| I have to agree with Sandy. I was happily owned by Harry aka Harrass
(R.I.P.), a gray and white short/long haired furface. Harry came
to me will I was camping and tended to be a VERY laid back kitty.
Some of the tricks he learned were: roll-over, play dead, find the
mousie (stuffed), and fetch. I admit he was unusual in that he
LIKED to ride in my truck. He would volunterily hop in, look
at me and meow ("where are we goin' ma?"). He quickly learned not
to sit on the dashboard in front of me and on those hot summer days
would lie on the top of the seat, in front of the sliding window
"catchin the breeze!" We even went on long trips and he would use
the box will on the go (it was on the floor on the passenger side).
Later when we moved, I had a roomate who's cat came in to a whistle.
I thought I'd give it a try. And much to my surprise it worked
all the time! In fact, he even took to answering me back until
he got in the house. "MEOW, MEOW, MEOW, I'm coming, don't shut the
door. I'm only three houses away now. Hold that door!" He even
worked out a system with Scooter Pie, my roomate's cat who always
seemed to be a day late and a dollar short for breakfast.
Harry would sit on the first floor porch (if it was raining) or
in the driveway (if it was nice). He could see anyone passing by
the kitchen window. As soon as you did, it'd by a steady stream
of meow,meow,meow,MEEEEOOOOWWWW until you whistled for him. Meanwhile,
Scooter would hear the alarm and would be waiting at the door, taking
his time coming through until Harry caught up to him. Then they'd
both fly upstairs.
But the best trick(s) were roll-over-play dead: you'd shoot him
and he'd flop on the floor and lay on his back. He enjoyed a vigorous
tummy rub afterwards. And find/fetch the mousie: I'd say "Harry
where's your mousie? He search high and low to find it, chirping
all the time. Then when he'd found it, he dump it either in my
lap or on the floor next to my foot. I'd then proceed to throw
it saying "fetch the mousie" and he'd chase it and bring it back
until *I* got tired. Then if he still hadn't had enough, he'd take and
race around the house with it for a few laps.
I really think he was part dog though he did have kitty tendencies.
He was a GREAT cat and companion and I still miss him tho' he's
been gone for 3 years. I am presently owned by two furfaces I've
yet to introduce because I'm still *catching up* but will very soon.
Sorry for rambling on.
Roslyn, Escho and Brandy and a much missed Harry
|
| 1465.3 | mini bear | MYVAX::LUBY | love them furry terrorists | Thu Jul 21 1988 14:26 | 12 |
|
My roommates has this two inch long (tall?) teddy bear that
a friend gave her. She keeps it in a sliding compartment at
the head of her bed. T.K. opens up the compartment, takes the
bear, and plays with it until it is taken away again. We have
found it in the water bowl and the food dish. He doesn't really
chew it so I'm wondering if he thinks its a kitten and he is
trying to feed it and give it water! Of course, maybe he was
trying to drown it in the water bowl...
Karen
|
| 1465.4 | | CIRCUS::KOLLING | Karen, Sweetie, & Holly; in Calif. | Thu Jul 21 1988 17:35 | 4 |
| Re: .3
more likely a mousie
|