Stephen wrote:
> On 13/06/2010 9:05 PM, Sabrina Kilian wrote:
>> Of course. He only responds if I mimic his last type of meow, though.
> 
> That will be the one that says "I am here". It is the meow that sounds
> strangulated.
> 

Yeah, after that he switches to different meow, myurp, bzzzrt noises,
and only responds when you get somewhat close to the last sound he made.
It's a game, but I don't know the rules.

>> If a person did that I would think I was getting language lessons.
> 

> much to their amazement, their cat will come over.
> 
>> Anthropomorphizing just leads to new scars, though, as he may not be
>> elitist but he is still all fuzz-and-claws.
>>
> 
> Our tom cat would not scratch if you had bare skin but if your arms or
> legs were clothed then that was fair game.
> 

He either doesn't know he has sharp claws, or he thinks I am better
armored. Could be either. He knows that stretching his paws and clawing
people gets him pushed off of laps, so that's reduced. But, tapping his
claws on my face does wake me up, and if that is what he is after then
it's hard to counter that positive reward.

The claws I deserve, apparently, for either oversleeping breakfast, or
for having the bad manners to roll over after he has thrown a toy on my bed.

>> While teaching a cat to fetch, it is very fundamental that they
>> understand the concept that fetching is "getting the ball while it is
>> not in your owners hand." When that part isn't taught properly, ouch.
> 
> Well done, I only ever trained Bertie to catch and take away never to
> catch and fetch.
> 

Catch was easy, throw something and it will get swatted the the floor.
If he can get his claws into it, it will get picked up an thrown again
with no help from me.

He's worked up to "Alright, I hit it in your general direction, you
fetch it." That last step is the tough one for cats.

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