I Rule
I just won my first fight with my cat.
It's not the first fight, actually, just the first one I won.
I was sitting at my desk, typing, and he came in and naturally wanted to jump up on the window sill, as he always does, upsetting my cacti. I consider him personally responsible for the deaths of at least four of them.
Like I always do, I held out an admonishing finger, preventing him from jumping (with cats all you have to do is spoil their aim and they won't jump), and saying "No!" in a firm voice. That much was normal.
What I did differently was that I kept watching him, and as soon as he got ready to jump again, once more prevented him from doing so. I normally would have turned back to my computer, and he would have jumped up, taking some more hapless plants with him, I would have shouted at him, thrown him out of my room, and slammed the door after him.
But not this time. I was determined to not let him jump up, whatever the cost. So I, instead of typing, sat watching him and kept fobidding him to jump whenever he appeared to be contemplating it. Next, he started sniffing at a bag lying near the window to lull me into believing he had lost interest in the window sill. But I was not fooled by his attempt and no sooner had he glanced up to the window that I used my Admonishing Finger and Firm Voice to dissuade him from his ill-considered course of action.
We sat there, doing the mental equivalent of indian arm wrestling for (I kid you not) half an hour, until he lost interest, and left.
YES!
I know it does not seem like much, but I feel that human intelligence has triumphed over the base cunning of the beast. Chalk up another one for ol' homo sapiens!
P.S. What may be of interest to people who own domestic animals is a saying of my sister's that helped me a lot: The point in time when you have to scold an animal for a wrongdoing is when it thinks about doing it.
I have to go, he's coming in and it looks like he wants a second round.
Bring it on, pussy.
It's not the first fight, actually, just the first one I won.
I was sitting at my desk, typing, and he came in and naturally wanted to jump up on the window sill, as he always does, upsetting my cacti. I consider him personally responsible for the deaths of at least four of them.
Like I always do, I held out an admonishing finger, preventing him from jumping (with cats all you have to do is spoil their aim and they won't jump), and saying "No!" in a firm voice. That much was normal.
What I did differently was that I kept watching him, and as soon as he got ready to jump again, once more prevented him from doing so. I normally would have turned back to my computer, and he would have jumped up, taking some more hapless plants with him, I would have shouted at him, thrown him out of my room, and slammed the door after him.
But not this time. I was determined to not let him jump up, whatever the cost. So I, instead of typing, sat watching him and kept fobidding him to jump whenever he appeared to be contemplating it. Next, he started sniffing at a bag lying near the window to lull me into believing he had lost interest in the window sill. But I was not fooled by his attempt and no sooner had he glanced up to the window that I used my Admonishing Finger and Firm Voice to dissuade him from his ill-considered course of action.
We sat there, doing the mental equivalent of indian arm wrestling for (I kid you not) half an hour, until he lost interest, and left.
YES!
I know it does not seem like much, but I feel that human intelligence has triumphed over the base cunning of the beast. Chalk up another one for ol' homo sapiens!
P.S. What may be of interest to people who own domestic animals is a saying of my sister's that helped me a lot: The point in time when you have to scold an animal for a wrongdoing is when it thinks about doing it.
I have to go, he's coming in and it looks like he wants a second round.
Bring it on, pussy.
posted by Tobias Klüpfel at 5:47 PM
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