by Rick
(Portland, Maine)
My cat, while quiet, affectionate and beautiful, can seem to be too smart. He has realized that he can get me out of my chair or bed by softly touching the blinds until I get up; then he leads me to his dish, waiting for me to feed him.
He has me trained instead of the other way around. But I love him none-the-less.
He will also walk easily on a harness without struggling. In fact, he is easier to walk than most dogs, staying very close to my feet.
He even gets in position so that I can put it around him. Very mellow, happy and content. I found him at the refuge league and am glad that I did.
Rick
All of the cats that I have or have had in the past have had me trained, also. I really found it funny when they trained my friend’s 4 year old to let them out in my yard on demand. The patio door is kind of heavy and hard to open for a 4 year old, but she was just as trained as the rest of us to cater to their whims.
And yes they are very smart. One cat that I had many years ago sometimes used the toilet to pee in or she would pee DIRECTLY over the bathtub drain. She was never trained to do that, but I observed her doing that more than once. They are all smart and have their own interesting little personalities.
One thing that I have never been able to do with any cat is to get it to walk on a leash, not even the one that used to happily hide in a paper bag and ride on a big city bus with me sometimes several years ago, unbeknownst to the driver of course. He would just lay down and refuse to move if I put a harness and leash on him. I think it is really neat that your cat likes walking on a leash.
Thanks for commenting Kathy. The leash training problem you describe is probably because the harness is triggering the kitten reflex response making him go limp. They can get over that in time it seems. My cat did the same thing but is okay now.