Conference misery::feline_v1

    I have a cat that will fetch, but actually he feels that he taught
    me the trick (and in from his perspective the name of the game is
    not "kitty fetch" but rather "human throw"). I've seen animal trainers
    on TV talk about training cats; the key seems to be giving the kitty
    a reward for a properly executed trick.
    
    Deb

    
    
          My Angus fetches yes fetches her toy mouse.  If and only if
    she is in the mood.  If I throw it she runs after it picks it up
    in her mouth and deposits it in my lap for me to throw again till
    she gets sick of it.  This isn't something I taught her but something
    she just started doing out of the blue.  No reward whatsoever as
    far as treats.  Just a ooohh you good girl....  I really don't think
    it has anything to do with me but just like a normal cat she does
    it because she wants to and likes to..... Good luck she may already
    have ideas of her own...  If she has a toy that she really is attached
    to try getting her attention to it when you have it in your hands
    and throw it and see what she does....  Let us know......  :^)
    
                                                                   kim

    	Cats don't seem to have the desire to please that dogs have.
    They seem to be much more distainful of activities that don't interest
    them than your typical dog who will hang in there for a while in
    most any endeavor.   I sometimes divide people into cat-like and
    dog-like.
    	The only "tricks" I have taught Copernicus is not-tos:  Not
    to cough up hairballs indoors - he goes outdoors to do so, along
    with his other eliminations.  And not to jump up on the bed when
    I'm in it - he will put his two front paws on the bed and meow for
    attention now.  A head scratch and a few kind words and he's satisfied
    and goes and curls up in a soft corner.   - Chris

    Why would anybody train a cat not to jump up on the bed????
    
    What could be finer than a rainy Sunday morning, a warm water
    bed, flannel sheets, your favorite person at your side and a 
    cat purring away at the foot of the bed...
    
    :^)
    
    Edd

    There was a good article in one of the last 2 or 3 issues
    of CATS Magazine about *how* to train a cat.  It involves
    rewarding the cat for behaviors that are desired.  I'm
    sure that it requires much perseverance and discipline on
    the part of the human...don't give in!
    
    Good luck and let us know what happens!
    
    	Pennie

    re .5
      How about a cat and a dog who thinks he's a cat??
    
    I thought cats were too smart to be taught tricks.  I can
    just see Morris on T.V. now whe someone tried to teach
    him how to fetch
    
      Trainer:  Go fetch Morris, go on!
      Morris:  Just sitting there looking at the camera.
            "You expect me to go running after that silly
              toy?  How boring!  Next you'll probably try to
              destroy my moral character by suggesting a bribe
              to run and get the dumb thing!
                  ;-) ;-)

    Niniane plays "fetch" with you as well, but only when she's
    in the mood.  As others have stated, I can't take credit for
    the trick, she just started doing it out of the blue.  Also,
    the newest thing is when I don't feed her as quickly as she'd
    like, she goes over to the kitchen cabinet where the cat food is
    kept, opens the door with her paw, sticks her head in as if to say,
    "Hmmm, what's for dinner tonight?", then takes her head out, looks
    at me and meows.  If I ignore her, she does it continuously until
    I feed her.  My husband used to pick her up in the living room,
    and hold her up to the loft above, and she would jump the short
    distance from his arms to the loft floor, squeeze under the railing,
    and run downstairs and fall at his feet until he picked her up and
    did it again. Unfortunately, she got too big, and won't fit anymore!!!
    
    Mary-Michael
    

    re.0
    
    3 weeks is a bit short...
    
    however, I once had a room-mate who trained one of my cats to [in
    the following order]:
     - stay
     - sit up
     - play dead
     - roll over
    
    this was accomplished without the aid of edible treats over a six-month
    period.  For three months after the training process was complete,
    Sue-Ann was the only person for whom the cat would perform; the
    she [the cat that is] loftily deigned to do a trick or two when
    a couple other of our house-mates gave the 'commands.'
    
    the cat would never do tricks for me. [but then anything wearing
    fur or feathers seems to instinctively know that such behaviour
    isn't necessary with me -- one look and I have all the back-bone
    and authority of warm ice cream...]
    
      Ann
    

    I'm sure I mentioned this a while ago, but it is certainly
    relevant here:
    
    *ALL* of my cats will follow certain commands of mine, without fail!
    
    For example...
    
    If I say "DON'T LIE DOWN"...they don't lie down!!!

    How about:
    
    GET DOWN OFF OF THERE!!!
    STOP THAT!!
    
    Seriously though, Snuggles did used to come when he was called.
    He hasn't though, since Tiggers came to live with us.
    
    Kathy

    The only tricks that Rumtum, McCafferty and Bustopher know are:
    
    Get down!
    Kitties want to eat?  (boy, they come running for that one!)
    and they do *sometimes* come when called by name
    
    But hey, isn't independence one of the best qualities of a cat?

    I used to have a cat that did a few tricks.  But to tell you the
    truth I think he was part dog.  He started off by coming to his
    name.  He'd even answer you when you called him.  Later I started
    to whistle like you would for a dog and here would Harry.
    
    He had a habit of throwing himself down at your feet and roling
    over on his back so I just encouraged him to continue by saying
    "play dead".  He then would stay on his back until you said "rollover".
    Then I'd do the two seperately.
    
    To teach him to fetch, I bascially did the same thing you do with
    a dog.  Get his attention with the "mousie", toss it saying fetch
    at the same time, then calling him by name and saying bring it here.
    But what really was a killer, was the day I said "Where is your
    mousie?" as I'd been searching for it high and low. (You see even
    though he had other toys, this one *mousie*, tatty though it was,
    was his favorite).  Well, doesn't he look at me then go chirping
    through the house, looking in all his favorite spots until he comes
    back with his mousie.
    
    I thought it was a fluke so I hid it and asked him again where's
    your mousie?  Didn't Harry go off doing the same thing, find his
    mousie and bring it to me.
    
    The only other things he'd answer to was do you want to go for a
    ride?  If the answer was yes, he'd hop in the truck.  What I always
    thought was strange, no matter where we went or how far whenever
    we returned home to my parents (even after we moved), within two
    miles of the house, at the same intersection, whether he was asleep
    or not, Harry would sit up, lookout the window, look at me and meow.
    Like he knew exactly where we were.
    
    I think 3 weeks is a short time to teach a cat new tricks, but
    persistance and priase goes a long way.  So does a little treat.
    If the cat does anything *cute* try to encourage it.  It also helps
    to have a *willing* subject.
    
    Good luck!
    
    Roslyn, Esco and Brandy
    
    P.S. I taught my 2 now, to come to a whistle since the electric
    kittie caller doesn't work outside, by whistling for them at meal
    time.  Do this even if they a sitting right at your feet and they'll
    soon catch on.  I'm glad I did because now I give them IAMS and
    occasionally they get feline maintenance (canned). 

    Sam, like all the other independent cats of the world, won't come
    each time you call him, but he comes running every time if you whistle
    for him.  He's better than the dogs, they won't come no matter what
    you do!!!
    
    Jeanne, Cali and Sam
    

    My cat Ozzie will sit and cry until my son will take a stick and
    play with him.  He will usually get Ozzie going to the point that
    he will climb the lenght of the chimney in my living room.  He will
    also jump pretty high to catch the stick.  
    
    All my cats answer to their names.  Ozzie, Dusk, Strigger, Bandit
    and I am working on the stray that comes around every days.
    
    I really thinks cats are very smart.
    
    Denise

    My cat (chamie) comes when I call her and she waits for me at the
    door for when i get home from work, this is'nt really a trick but
    not meny cats do that.  she does not sleep on the bed (due to hubby
    kicking her off in the night) but when the alarm clock goes off
    and I do not get up RIGHT AWAY she sits on my chest and licks my
    face,,needless to say she has not leared about saturday's and sunday's
    yet!!
    
    Louisa

    When I was up in Maine, I went to a barn sale.  The lady who owned
    the barn had an 18 pound pure white cat whose name was Andy.  When
    she said, "Andy, come and show the lady how much you weight"...the
    cat came running over to her, jumped on top of the workbench and
    sat all tucked up on an antique scale she had.  Afterwards, she
    put a piece of newspaper on the floor and said "Now Andy, I want
    you to come and lay down right here" pointing at the paper.  Darned
    if the cat didn't jump down from the scale and lay down right on
    top of the paper.  She then told me the next trick that her husband
    was working on was shaking "paws"  
    
    
    what a remarkable cat...

    I think that cats definately have the intelligence to learn to do
    tricks, the real trick is to get them to want to. I find that my
    cat will only do something when she feels like it, which generally
    is about 50% of the time.
    
    The one thing I have realized is that it is much easier to get her
    to repeat a trick that she did on her own than to teach her something
    completely foreign to her. For example: I had seen Onyx playing
    with her pom-pom mouse -- rolling around on the floor and occassionally
    tossing it up in the air and jumping up to catch it. I decided to
    see what would happen if I threw it up in the air. Now Onny is almost
    always ready for a good game of catch, sometimes jumping 4or5 feet
    to snag her mouse out of mid air. Now if I could just get her to
    bring it back to me!

    What about using Pounce/Bonkers to call her after she catches the
    mouse?  Also praise her for coming to you with the mouse. When she
    is consistent in her behavior, slowly decrease the frequency of
    the treats but continue with the praise. You should end up with
    a kitty that fetches.
    
    Just a thought.
    
    Roslyn, Esco and Brandy

    I think cats are like people, in that each and every one is so
    different.  SOS is about 5 years old now and he does several "tricks"
    on command.  He sits, begs ("up"), rolls over ("be cute"), gives
    his paw ("hand"), comes ("come here", and this is a hard one,
    especially when he's eyeing something and he does talk back!), talks 
    ("say hello"), and of course, stops at "no". He was so easy to teach 
    (I think he just likes pleasing us).  Sometimes he does these "tricks"
    for a treat, but usually not.
    
    LOR