Cracker: Flashback
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merc,
Okay then, let's rename this thread the Pet Advice Discussion Forum...
Can you just do that, I mean, I may not be ready and all, hell you can't just jag off on a tangent like that, can you? And I'm wary, because you changed it to Pet Advice, but you didn't actually ask for any, spooky.
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Dear Damian,
My labrador is afraid of guns, yet I like guns. How should I resolve this situation?
Thanks in advance.
Ben
P.S
She is also soft on terrorism -
Sorry, the above post was supposed to if not say, then certainly imply:
THESE ARE THE THINGS THAT ARE WRONG WITH MY CAT - HELP!?
Better?
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they respond incredibly
I had a cat once, who responded when I whistled - ie, a tune. She'd come running from quite a distance to say hello.
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merc,
Mmmkay no need to like shout man, it's just that you got all cat mind weldy there and I didn't get the vibe.
There is nothing you can do about cats, they are senders and receivers, dogs are just receivers, a hippy told me and he had cake.
Dogs are soft on terrorists, children are terrorists...my fav dog is Dr Bob. -
Cats are nature's alarm clocks, but they just can't be set.
Mine does this thing where he walks up and digs under the covers, then gets out, then gets back in again etc etc until I finally get out. This is better than his other technique where he sits on my head. Bastard.
My advice: train them when they're kittens. Too late for that? Lock the bedroom door and ignore them.
My cats come when I whistle. My Dad used to do it to our old cat so I taught ours to do it as well.
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I am the cat whispering guinea pig. I can also wiggle my ears, eyes and nostrels, although with guinea pigs it's no big thing. Much as i would love to aid guinea pig-human understanding, our body language is too complex and subtle to even try and explain (this derives from the fact that we can really only sniff, struggle, squark and waddle - no Rodney Hide jokes please).
Che, tongue clicks are indeed the best mode of oral communication with cats (no other epithets for Rodney Hide jokes here either thank you), although like dogs they do respond to tone.
Damian, watch out your RD (it looks like a nice one btw) doesn't gnaw off long threads of wool, it can cause really serious problems with their gut (strangulated colon etc). As for 4am wake-ups, i haven't been able to fix that one myself, i hope they grow out of it. i know i did.
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My advice: train them when they're kittens. Too late for that? Lock the bedroom door and ignore them.
that is good advice (if you can stand the scratches on the carpet, wallpaper, door until they get used to it). the trick with extinction is if you are going to open the door, then do it as soon as they let you know they want it opened. if you're not going to then make sure you don't whatever you do, or at least wait until they've stopped exhibiting the 'open the door, human' behaviour before you open it. the worst thing you can do is let them scratch/meow for ages and then open the door. that just trains persistence.
My cats come when I whistle
yeah, they're much more trainable than people think, but being cats they are happy to let humans think it's only dogs that can be trained.
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We are able to close our cat off in the back of the house, from upstairs then we cannot hear him trying to wake us up.
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D. you're right about the attention thing. some cats like to be ignored. but others are like dogs and just love you to death.
advice: don't start loving her back.
and... i always thought your avatar was a speedboat crashing.
seemed weirdly appropriate.
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merc,
I am the cat whispering guinea pig.
Respect, you are that and more. BTW, don't give up on human GP understanding, it's just an interface and the right GP away.
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i always thought your avatar was a speedboat crashing
Che, you need to rest your eyes a bit more.
don't give up on human GP understanding
i know, i know, i should keep trying. i'm just annoyed with what they're doing with that new Straw and Woodshavings tax (like as if it will reduce our consumption), and they just don't get the pleasures of wallowing around in your own poo pellets. that's a discrimination i just don't know if we can get past.
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merc,
Well at least you don't get farmed for food anymore, there is hope, I blame the hampsters, little bleeders.
And how come you know about persistence my hairless pink friend? -
Damian, watch out your RD (it looks like a nice one btw) doesn't gnaw off long threads of wool, it can cause really serious problems with their gut
Okay, since this is now the official pet appreciation/advice thread, I do need to clarify, he's a Birman. His name is Tonka. And if I ever actually caught him gnawing my wool, his colon would be the last thing he'd have to worry about. No, he's a stealth wool-eater my Tonks. I think I need to bring in expert help. If only I could find a dog that wasn't soft on terrorism.
And Che, good grief. Strangely appropriate because I told you that when I grow up I wanted to be a speedboat? Still do. But no, man, no. There's a slightly-doctored but larger and therefore more Che-friendly version of that photo here
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wicked. now i get it.
main thing to remember is that cats are attention seekers because they are basically social animals.
like dogs, if they're taught properly when they're young they can be very well behaved. but even if they're older there is redemption.
the cat 'romany' i mentioned before had been pretty badly treated by her previous people, and wouldn't let anyone touch her. scratched everyone and anyone.
after about a year of gentle goading you could pick her up and blow bubbles on her belly.
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Why do cats go and stare at things? Our dear cat P.T.Barnum (he was a Clayton cat, Che) who went to valhalla last year, used to go and stare at the ceiling for 10 minutes after his breakfast for a couple of months. Then he didn't.
Can they see ghosts? -
Well at least you don't get farmed for food anymore
we don't talk about that
I blame the hampsters
buck-toothed tosspots. we certainly don't talk about them either. actually we're pretty big on not talking about stuff. you may have noticed this trait.
And how come you know about persistence my hairless pink friend
the opening the door after letting them go on for ages is in fact a Variable Ratio (VR) schedule, the same schedule that gets humans pulling on the levers of One Armed Bandits til they run out of money and family. it's a mighty powerful one. Alternatively, opening the door as soon as they omit the 'open the door, human' is a Continuous Reinforcement (CRF) schedule, which is highly prone to extinction - which in this case is what you want.
Incidentally, and you might like this m, if you have a subject responding on a VR schedule and then switch it to a Variable Time (VT) schedule, you get superstitious behaviour (ie. behaviour performed in the presence of a stimulus that is not maintained by any causal relationship to reinforcement). And that doesn't extinguish very easily at all. You can train superstitious behaviour in just about any species. Can you tell I'm a refugee from an experimental psych lab yet?
he's a stealth wool-eater my Tonks
he's a fine animal. if you are worried, try getting some sacrificial woolen fabric and rub it liberally with fresh chilli, then leave it around for him to discover. Don't use a sauce because it will smell and his aversion may not generalize to other wool like you want it to. He will probably only do it once. Leave some milk or something cooling for him too.
Why do cats go and stare at things
my mother also thinks her cat can see ghosts. maybe, but i think it's actually because a lot of cats are enlightened and the staring is just when they are in samadhi. when they open and close their paws, like they're kneading thin air, when you scratch their stomachs? that's also samadhi.
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from memory early in this thread, the issue was about dogs and the media, how a "dog bites man" had become a "man bites dog" story in New Zealand, when lo and behold, today the herald runs a dog bites dog story [url/link http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10437366]
and then there was Flann O'Brien (again !) who in Anthony Cronin’s biography No Laughing Matter is described as the .. "Man Whom No Dog Ever Bit"
Cronin recounts the story..
"The Conollys also had a dog called Adam who had become rather wicked. One day when Brian (FOB real name was Brian Nolan) came to the house, Angela told him to go into the drawing room where Adam was, but not to touch the dog in case he got bitten. ‘No dog ever bit me,’ was the reply. Moments later he emerged with blood pouring from his head. In spite of the plainly visible wound, he denied he had indeed been bitten.”
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merc,
Agent Riddley you are a never ceasing marvel. I was the first to condition my rat (computer simulation I won't hurt lives, only souls) at Uni. I felt your presence, as I'm guessing you were held there where they conducted unspeakable tests upon your small pink person.
However your advice is very sound though your experiences terrible, I think you should have your own guest spot on PAS, I am, yes, your very big fan.
Our cat Bysshe, a black from Te Awamutu via SPCA Auckland (a Watership Downs tale of epic proportions) with a Tui wattle is Mary Shelley returned, there is no training for the author of Frankenstein, her 2 main incindents of note, eating white-tails, hence Bysshe does what She bloody well likes.
A little cat bed works well (filled with catnip laced victims) and a cat door is a must, BTW. -
thanks m. it takes a certain feel to be able to condition a subject quickly, computer sim or no. it's not surprising you possess such a feel.
female black cats are notoriously untrainable though from my experience. which is i presume why you like her.
these guys on the other hand (Bengals) here and here behave like dogs.tell me, do you think 'trainability' is related to intelligence, and if so, how?
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merc,
Well my pod head would ask for intelligence to be defined and my behaviourist sock would say you can't mentalize, but in the interests of discourse I will say yes that trainability is related to intelligence and that intelligence is related to character and character is both innately and experientially driven. Cats are curious, they can be trained, and bear in mind that they are the only domesticated animal (close proximity to humans has a sorry track record, why dogs can be maudlin and GP's pot shy), to retain the ability to hunt for food, though intelligent enough to simply adopt people if necessary.
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The difference between cats and dogs?
Dogs get 50 orders a day, and they obey every one of them, slavishly.
Cats get just one order a day, and they think about whether or not they will take any notice of it, and then just carry on.
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pod head is right. then let's define intelligence as the capacity for functional adaptation to an environment. would it be that trainability and intelligence are positively correlated?
The difference between cats and dogs?
Dogs are carrion feeders
Cats only eat fresh meatDog lovers need to be loved
Cat lovers need to love -
merc,
Ontologically yes, however remember, it is the crooked roads of genius that lead to the palace of wisdom. And we must look to the inverse, would stupidy negatively correlate to incapacity? It cannot be so. How about intent? Is the intent to train positive or negative? If one is trained and they are unaware of being trained, are they being trained? And what of outcomes? My darker side says to me that all training holds within itself gain for the trainer and loss for the trainee.
Better to give of yourself freely and forget the outcome quickly, thereby freeing yourself of an inexplicable net. For as Blake says, All wholesome food is caught without a net or a trap. -
merc,
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