Training update (and random kitty cuteness)

Our animal-training programs continue to be very successful in our household.  Here are some of their accomplishments:

Rabbits:  Fiona has led this training effort, with her partner Fergus joining in a little later in the process.  Each day when I would go into the herbivore room for feedings, Fiona would hop over and nudge my leg and gently paw me as I was filling bird dishes.  She seemed to be begging for the birdseed.  I thought it kind of strange, but finally one day a few months ago, I put a little pinch of the birdseed down for her.  She scarfed it right up.  Interesting. 

The next day I went in for feedings, and she came over to nudge my leg again.  I ignored her.  She gave one of her very-excited-happiest-bunny-in-the-world leaping twists.  I love those!  I immediately gave her a pinch of birdseed.  The next night, as soon as I opened the birdseed container, she gave her happy jump.  I gave her the seed.  It was this point that Fergus noticed something and joined in the process.  From that point on, it has become an established nightly routine. 

Fiona is no dummy!  She sniffed out my weakness.  She masterfully used positive reinforcement to alter my behavior in such a way that she benefits.  Once it's established as expected, I see their happy, anticipating little faces, and I have to give in.

Birds:  Hurley bird (Poppy's mommy) always flies right over to my head or shoulder when I enter the room.  One time, she was peeking over the top of my head in a very cute way, so I held up the freshley-filled dish that I was carrying, and she loved sitting up on me, eating the fresh food held conveniently right up to her face.  That single act formed an expectation in her that she had a new daily ritual.  The next night, she leaned in toward the food dish, looked at me, chirped and head bobbed, and repeated until I held the dish up to her and stood there while she had a hearty snack.  (Their meal was soon to follow--lots of fresh produce for all of the herbivores.)

Dogs:  Each night I prepare food for the outside critters.  Almost every night involves some kind of food with lots of peanut butter, as I know the poor outside critters need all the fat they can get in this cold weather.  One night that I was doing that, the dogs were begging more than usual, so I let them lick the peanut butter off the knife when I finished. 

The dogs are no stranger to effective training.   They have implemented many such routines that directly benefit them.  They were quick to pick up the fact that I can't stand when they get the disappointed look on their faces.  So the night after the knife-licking occured, the minute I quietly unscrewed the lid from the peanut butter, they were there so quickly I could have sworn they vaporized into the kitchen.  They had their very happy, I'm-anticipating-the-best-thing-ever faces.  Again, I tried to ignore them, because I didn't want to establish yet another food routine.  I did really well until I started putting everything away and I saw their little faces crumble.  When Daisy is sad, her little forehead gets wrinkles.  It's pathetic.  Jezi looks like she's been kicked.  (Chloe did not join this routine, because she doesn't really like peanut butter.)  We have a new nightly routine that they very much look forward to.

Cats:  Their methods are much more subtle, and they rely less on cute manipulations than bullying.  Nonetheless, they've been quite effective too.  They generally just steal what they want as far as food, so they have worked more on service training. 

One of many examples involves Mimosa.  She was taken away from her mommy much too young, and as a result has an intense need to suckle and knead.  For whatever reason, she prefers to do this on the inside of my upper arms (where the skin is very delicate and sensitive).  I had hoped this would abate with age, but it definitely hasn't.  I have been increasingly less accomdating with letting her tear up my arms as she's gotten older, but she wasn't happy with that. 

She learned that my weakest time is during the night, on the rare occasions that I actually get to sleep.  That's when she started showing up, throughout the night, and she would stand right next to my ear and purr loudly.  I of course pretended to be asleep, thinking she would go away.  My arms were covered by sleeves.  Cats don't just give up like dogs do.  She then started pawing repeatedly at my sleeves, tugging on them with her claws.  Finally it just seemed easier to pull my sleeve up, let her do her thing, and then fall asleep.  It's usually only for 5-10 minutes before she snuggles up and dozes off
.

It only took one time.  No matter how many times I tried to ignore her after that, she just kept pawing, purring, and if she did give up, she returned a few brief minutes later.  I'm now so well trained that I barely rouse up when I pull a sleeve up, grit my teeth through the pain and wait for her to go to sleep. Cats do not give up.  Ever.  It is much easier to give in that deal with her persistence.  The insides of my upper arms have permanent marks from the little stinker, but it's a very strong need with her, so I don't mind.  I would prefer to get it down to once a night or less though! 

As a little aside, Mimi really is a stinker.  We call her the garbage truck kitty.  She is very healthy and doesn't have worms.  She eats the same diet as the other cats.  Her teeth are fine.  She is only 13-14 months old.  She stinks.  Her breath smells like rotting garbage for no apparent reason.  She IS smelly cat, but we don't know why.