This myth got started because it is more difficult to obedience train a cat than a dog. But it’s no use pretending that it is not possible.
more cat pictures
After all, Dominique the Catman doesn’t have a problem with it. There are 35 cats performing for Moscow Cats Theatre. Karen Pryor says we can clicker train our cat.
But the essence of this myth is that it doesn’t matter. With my three current cats, the only obedience training I’ve done is teach Puffy to give us The Paw when he wants something. And only because he was not capable of figuring that out for himself.
This is a myth within a myth. Because:
Cats don’t need obedience training.
It doesn’t mean cats won’t do what we ask them to. Ours do it all the time. Just the other night, we had a bat in the house. In the time it took me to get a hand towel, Mr. Bond had already cornered the bat and had it in his mouth.
This was a big difference from his behavior several years ago, the last time a bat got into the house. That time, he went and got Mr WereBear, and had him take care of it!
But this time, he acted differently. Even though he’d just had a booster rabies shot, I didn’t want him to get bitten. And the only thing worse than a bat is… half a bat. So Mr WereBear told Mr. Bond to give him the bat in the towel. And he did.
We let the bat out the window, and it flew away. It’s probably telling stories at the Bat Bar right now. We made a big fuss over Mr. Bond’s swift action and he got treats and praise for the rest of the night. Our Hero!
This wasn’t obedience training. We hadn’t taught Mr. Bond that if he catches bats, he should give them to us. This was his first bat capture. In fact, this was the first time either of us had asked him to give something up. This was cat persuasion. This was the cat doing as we asked, because we asked.
To me, that’s not obedience training. It’s something even better; a mutual agreement we have with our cats. We try to do things they like, and they try to do things we like.
It’s partnership.
So when I say “train the cat,” it is with methods that are as much about training the people as it is training the cat. We can get the cat to do what we ask. We just need the ability to know how to ask, and the flexibility to sometimes let the cat train us.
So there’s two ways to lift people out of ignorance when they bring up this cat myth. One is to point out that some people do obedience train their cat. These people have their cat doing tricks!
The other is to ask, as I do, “So your dog comes when called?” They nod. “Outside, off leash?” Well…
Cats should not be slandered.
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What’s the biggest cat myth? That cats aren’t affectionate.
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Hahaha! Well, he IS named James Bond! I’m surprised that he didn’t take the bat out with a toy mouse with a built-in blowgun, then sipped a tuna juice martini, shaken not stirred, with a bit of catnip floating on top.
My wonderful white cat Kill Kill can be dissuaded from anything she isn’t supposed to be sayng by a simple “HON–ey!” in a certain way. She always stops, but does it with that cat paw-licking that means “I was going to stop now anyway.”
My polydactyl boy Byron is a bigger challenge. You can really only discipline a cat verbally, and he’s almost completely deaf. Man, but he has done some damage in his day! But hitting him would just make him afraid of me, not understand what he’s done wrong. But he sure picked up on my body language after he’d deliberately broken something. Now all I have to do is stand next to him when he’s about to smash something, arms folded with a stern look. I’m not sure how he knows I’m there; maybe he can smell me. But he always stops, turns and looks guilty, and then makes his little cry that’s his version of “I was going to stop breaking everything now anyway.”
Of course, Mr Bond would have to make a quip after defeating a flying mouse. “Looks like there’s CATS in your belfry, Batfinger!” or something.
When we get Mr. Bond a new toy, we dangle it in front of him and say, “No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to play with me!”