dogs

Can You Train a Cat?

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As I sit here on this New Year’s Eve morning watching our cats play with their Christmas toys, I couldn’t help wondering it you can ever really train a cat. While training a dog seems relatively easy, our cats no matter their age seem much more independent. It seems rather than allowing us to train them, they are far more likely to train us to meet their needs and fit their personalities.

When I visit other sites across the web, I often see links to humorous pages. They often say in a joking manner that this is the cat’s home where they allow us to stay and others to visit. This, at first, draws a laugh but when you really think it may be true.

A dog may learn its name and come when called. A cat, on the other hand, may learn its name as well but will respond when it wants and more often at not simply ignore us or turn away. A dog can be taught to sleep in its bed, yet a cat may more often give us a few inches in our bed or even use us as a bed. If given a new toy a cat may play with it for a few minutes and then hide it for later but just like a human forget where it was hidden. Our cats decide when we should sleep and when we should arise, even at 4:00 AM although we would sleep until seven if given the choice.

It seems that no matter how hard I try to teach otherwise, my cats seem to think that my keyboard is a good resting place. And a small spinning screen icon while a program tries to load is to be stared at and swatted and blocked from view.

So maybe our cats are probably smarter than me. They almost have me trained now but there is still much to be learned. I need to understand if they can see even a small part of the bottom of their bowl then the bowl is empty. And their litter box must be emptied every time that they go. And I only get a small space on the bed trapped between them and the floor.

But even with all this, we love our cats and would be sad if they were not here. So, no matter who trains who, our cats are an important part of our lives. We hope that we make them content to be with us and never want to leave.

And I still wonder, “Can you train a cat?”.

On this New Year’s Eve, I hope that everyone has a wonderful evening. If you are driving, stay safe. And starting tomorrow have a very happy 2025.

“My Three Dogs, Love will find a way home” By W. Bruce Cameron (A Book Review)

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If you are an animal lover, no matter what type, this is a book that will find a way into your heart. It is extremely difficult to assign a genre – it could be an adventure, a pet story, a love story, or any of several other types. It could even be reclassified from a novel to a non-fiction book with a few minor changes and a disclaimer or two. After much thought, I think it best falls into the realm of a love story or, actually, several love stories in one.

There are many types of love included, sometimes only briefly while others throughout the book. There is brotherly love. There is also the more common love between a man and a woman. We see love between people and animals. And we see love between the animal members of the pack as well as the human members. There is also love from Teme at the animal shelter, Georgia, a police officer, and Ron, a man who seems to love and feed homeless dogs on the street. Each of type of love is faced with challenges. Can love survive or will the challenges be too great?

The story focuses on the dog pack of Riggs, Luna, and the newest member, Archie along with their human pack members, Liam and Sabrina. While Liam and Sabrina seem to be in love, their relationship is challenged because Liam seems to sometimes forget to include Sabrina in life changing decisions. As a result, Sabrina decides to take a break, move in with her sister and decide if their relationship can continue. When she moves, she must leave the dogs with Liam because her sister is a “cat person”.

Liam is unhappy but struggles to keep going and take care of the dogs. This works well until an unfortunate accident makes it impossible for Liam to continue. Brad, Liam’s brother, steps in to help which he has done since they were both teens and lost their parents. Since Brad does not like Sabrina, his only solution is to take the dogs to an animal shelter, not a no-kill shelter. The ideal solution would be for all to have a new home together, but this does not happen.

The book follows the adoption of all three dogs and the efforts of Riggs to bring the pack, both animal and human, back together. Along the way Riggs and the other dogs meet new friends, and enemies.

Read the book to find the answers. But be prepared to shed a few tears along the way and question whether we, the two-legged members of many packs, have done the best we can for our non-human family members. Have we earned the unconditional love that they give us and do we do all we can to protect them, especially if something unexpected happens?

The Holiday Season – Adopting a New Family Member

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The Holiday Season is here, whether you celebrate Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanza, or some other holiday, this is often a time for adopting a new family member, one with four legs. This always seems like a fun thing to do. A way to share our love. Possibly a way to teach other family members responsibility. But before we share our love, it is a time to think about whether we are ready for the new family member and what this involves.

The most common new family members are dogs and cats. Before we welcome them into our lives, we need to think carefully about what this means. Along with all the good things like unconditional love, someone to greet us at the door, someone new for companionship and play, there are also new responsibilities and new costs. Who will be responsibility for walks, both morning and evening, and possibly the associated training? Who will clean up if accidents occur? Who will take care of food and drink for the new family member? Many of the same questions we would need to ask if we were welcoming a new human family member.

This new four-legged family member may soon conclude that he or she now owns the home and we, with only two legs, are there because they welcome us. Can we accept that? Where will the new family member live and what rules will be in place? And who will enforce the rules and how? Violence and abuse are not acceptable answers. If we already have other pets, will there be peace at the arrival of the new stranger or will there be war, or at least minor battles? We should ask, and honestly answer, these questions and many others before the adoption occurs.

Why? Because, unfortunately, many of these adoptions result in the returning the new family member, often the day after their arrival, or, even worse, their abandonment or death,

Later today, or possibly tomorrow, I will be writing a review of a book I recently read, W. Bruce Cameron’s “My Three Dogs”. While the book is fiction, it could as easily have been true with only a few changes including the common disclaimer, “Names have been changed to protect the innocent (or guilty).” If you or anyone you know is considering an adoption over the holidays, I would strongly recommend that you read this book first.

If you have asked yourself these questions, and still believe that you can accept a new member to your family I welcome you to the world of pet-owned people. I hope you have a wonderful life with your new “boss” and enjoy all the time you have together with him or her.

Happy Holidays!