# Teaching good manners



## fluffball (Jun 2, 2011)

Does anyone teach their kittens/cats good manners such as not jumping up on the worktop when their food is being prepared or not to chew at flowers/plants ?


----------



## buffie (May 31, 2010)

fluffball said:


> Does anyone teach their kittens/cats good manners such as not jumping up on the worktop when their food is being prepared or not to chew at flowers/plants ?


Teach a cat.....you are having a laugh...Work tops, I dont see the problem,.Plants...well...we dont have any.Every thing else is a compromise,We dont really want cats to do it..They do..So we compromise  Simples


----------



## Emma-Jayne (Apr 23, 2011)

I have 2 cats Moriarty who is 3 and Tabitha who is 3 months. Tabitha can't reach the worktops YET!!!!

Moriarty very sadly is very well behaved. He won't jump on worktops or touch his food until it has been put down for him. He also won't touch food on a human plate no mater what it is. I wish he would! I gave him some prawns on a small plate and he wouldn't touch them until they were in his treat saucer. I know he had a rough time before he came to me at 8 months and I shudder to think how he was trained not to do these things. I try not to think about it. 

I have managed to train Moriarty a little. He knows up zig, down zig, bedtime, stick and teeth. He also knows "come on gimmi that belly. He rolls over and stretches his body for a rub  He wasn't intentionally trained he just hears the expressions so often he got used to them.

I think I talk to them too much 

Em xxx


----------



## chellemich (Apr 5, 2011)

I think you're either lucky or you aren't in whether or not you're able to train them.

I recently gave the use of tin foil on the worktops another go.

Do they look bothered?


----------



## Jenny1966 (Feb 7, 2011)

Molly at 8 months still cant get on the kitchen worktops! :thumbup:

I have 'trained' her to sit when she wants a treat, though I'm sure she only does it to shut me up  

She has also learned not to take anything from our dinner plates, instead she just lies there staring at you with a pitiful look on her face


----------



## Myanimalmadhouse (Mar 6, 2011)

Jenny1966 said:


> Molly at 8 months still cant get on the kitchen worktops! :thumbup:
> 
> I have 'trained' her to sit when she wants a treat, though I'm sure she only does it to shut me up
> 
> She has also learned not to take anything from our dinner plates, instead she just lies there staring at you with a pitiful look on her face


For most cats thats about all you can ask for! Goose is really good, he'll happily sit right next to a full cooked chicken and wait for you to give him some, Gizmo however, well lets put it this way, I need more eyes in the back of my head and more elbows to keep him off while tring to eat :lol:


----------



## missye87 (Apr 4, 2011)

Train? Are you kidding?  The only training going on in a cat-hooman relationship is the hooman being trained!

Storm practically sits on your plate when you are eating and it's a constant battle. Benji, luckily, is too young to get anywhere he shouldn't


----------



## fluffball (Jun 2, 2011)

I do find it quite fascinating that people don't train cats or at least try to train them in the same way that they do dogs. I was looking at some vids on youtube and came across a few cute ones

YouTube - ‪Cat Does Dog Tricks‬‏
I like this but I think she needs to teach the cat to take his treats a bit gentler lol

but I think this is just brilliant although the cat uses far too much paper lol
YouTube - ‪Cat using toilet & toilet paper ‬‏


----------



## buffie (May 31, 2010)

fluffball said:


> I do find it quite fascinating that people don't train cats or at least try to train them in the same way that they do dogs. I was looking at some vids on youtube and came across a few cute ones
> 
> YouTube - ‪Cat Does Dog Tricks‬‏
> I like this but I think she needs to teach the cat to take his treats a bit gentler lol
> ...


Dont know why you find it strange.Cats are not driven by the same desire to please that a dog is.If I wanted something to train then I would have dogs,although having said that,I used to breed Afghan Hounds and you had as much chance of knitting fog as you had of getting them to do something they did not want to do.


----------



## Jansheff (Jan 31, 2011)

You'll only train a cat to do what it wants to do anyway!

When she had more time, my daughter (busy with GSCEs now) spent time clicker training our two Burmese. They and she had good fun and she got them jumping through hoops and following a Harry Potter type wand around an obstacle course she built in the house. All food motivated of course, and they loved the attention.

Try training them not to do something though, like keeping off the worktops and table and not eating plants, and flowers and they suddenly act thick and don't know what you're on about.


----------

