Pet Hates........or FFS

[Beobloke]

Are you not familiar with the concept of “training?!

We have two cats that we have had since kittens and they have never scratched any of my loudspeakers or climbed on the hi-fi. Why? Simply because, as kittens if they tried something naughty they got a firm “NO” and a blast of water in the face from a water pistol!

Completely non-harmful but it made an impression and, now, the word no is all that is required, and the only things they scratch are their scratching posts.

As an aside, on the one and only occasion when my speakers did look like a target and I deployed the above method, apparently my “NO” was a little more than firm. Mrs. B says she heard it clearly from the bottom of the garden!

[Minstrel SE]

No I dont really buy that training solves the issue. They have the brains, reactions and skittishness of small animals. Youve had to go through real effort since young and I still think it doesnt really sink in. You think youve done well and then they leave you a present in a more secluded cupboard

You can probably get to a certain point but I think the pet will mostly still do what it wants. If it sees something out of the window and the hi fi is a better vantage point , you can kiss goodbye to your perspex cover being unmarked.

I think training only goes so far with animals. The idea of training a pet not to wreck my stuff doesnt really appeal. Its hard enough with Human family members

[Pigmy Pony]

Why do we go out in our smart clothes when there's a chance that some idiot may spill his beer on them, or a bird may drop a shit on them? Why would we be daft enough to pay good money for a nice car only to risk getting it pranged by some knobhead, or have the expensive paintwork chipped away by flying bits of gravel? You make choices and live with the consequences.

If anything was damaged I would take the financial hit come selling time, either by making good the damage or selling at a reduced price to whoever would buy something less than mint. My house is a home for my family and pet(s), not just a shrine to things hifi.

I've had a few cats and two large dogs (bullmastiffs), and none have ever done any damage to any of my stuff.

The only hifi damage I've ever suffered was to my B&W 603's tweeters by my young grandson's prying fingers. There aren't many 603's that haven't suffered this fate. And when he grows up and gets a job I'll be presenting him with a bill.

My cat had a day of going at the arm of my sofa, but not any more. She's got used to the smell of her new post, so we're all good again.

[Macca]

My cat never damaged the hi fi. Sometimes he would sit on top of the pre-amp, I think because he knew it bothered me. It was valve and I was worried about his fluff going down the vents.


He never crapped in the house either. With a cat that means psychological issues, it isn't happy in other words.

Dogs are pretty easy to train if you are strict and you start on them young.

[Pieoftheday]

[QUOTE=Beobloke;981074]Are you not familiar with the concept of “training?!

We have two cats that we have had since kittens and they have never scratched any of my loudspeakers or climbed on the hi-fi. Why? Simply because, as kittens if they tried something naughty they got a firm “NO” and a blast of water in the face from a water pistol!

Completely non-harmful but it made an impression and, now, the word no is all that is required, and the only things they scratch are their scratching posts.

As an aside, on the one and only occasion when my speakers did look like a target and I deployed the above method, apparently my “NO” was a little more than firm. Mrs. B says she heard it clearly from
You can't train cats that's just silly, you may have been lucky that's all

[Pigmy Pony]

Not sure how much of this is true, but when I was a baby the cat climbed into my pram and went to sleep on my head (luckily I suffered no ill-effects), and my dad's training method proved very effective. He drop-kicked it over the yard wall, and it never came back. Apparently it was already on a yellow card over some other stuff.

He must have felt a bit guilty as he's had other cats since then and treats them all like royalty.

[Pigmy Pony]

[QUOTE=Pieoftheday;981088]

Are you not familiar with the concept of “training?!

We have two cats that we have had since kittens and they have never scratched any of my loudspeakers or climbed on the hi-fi. Why? Simply because, as kittens if they tried something naughty they got a firm “NO” and a blast of water in the face from a water pistol!

Completely non-harmful but it made an impression and, now, the word no is all that is required, and the only things they scratch are their scratching posts.

As an aside, on the one and only occasion when my speakers did look like a target and I deployed the above method, apparently my “NO” was a little more than firm. Mrs. B says she heard it clearly from
You can't train cats that's just silly, you may have been lucky that's all

There's a man in Australia whose cat (I think it's called Diger) has the Guinness world record of something like 60 tricks in two minutes. It's quite handy on a skateboard too. Doesn't seem to be into Thrash Metal though, so that's good.

[Joe]

Are you not familiar with the concept of “training?!

We have two cats that we have had since kittens and they have never scratched any of my loudspeakers or climbed on the hi-fi. Why? Simply because, as kittens if they tried something naughty they got a firm “NO” and a blast of water in the face from a water pistol!

We used the same method with our children.

[Pigmy Pony]

Mrs. P does that if I try to put on a Frank Zappa record.

[walpurgis]

Mrs. P does that if I try to put on a Frank Zappa record.

You've been playing 'Crew Slut' and 'Catholic Girls' again haven't you?