The Karma of Cats

The judgment of cats is at hand:
how neatly God has arraigned them!

You there, my silken mistress,
how many dead birds must we put
to your credit?  And you, the rangy tomcat
with cauliflower ears and a nose
that's seen better days,
whatever became of those goldfish when
your people were gone for a week?
Oh, how the cries of field mice,
slaughtered in thousands, rise up against you!
Where will you turn?
Where will you turn?  Even now
the furnace of wrath glows hot
for vengeance against your sins.

But Lord, they cry, purring and mewing,
Lord!  with plaintive uplifted faces,
we did not know, we could not help it!
It was our nature to kill soft things,
shining things, whatever would move,
whatever ran from before us!

Well, says the Lord, you may plead
and pray, and say with some justice
that you could not help it, that it was your nature,
but the surprise is, my children,
you're no less accountable
for that!

[Gail White]

(I can't believe this link still works after several years!)

So...do you look like your dog?        http://www.dogdaysproductions.com/lookalike01.html

Jim Dandy: Some other factors and ideas...but no guaranteed solutions, I'm sorry to say.

I've been through this (well, not quite through yet) with one of my

Some ideas I've read (and some that I've tried):

Offering various kinds of litter.  Their textures vary a great deal, and some cats sure can be fussy, can't they?  Wow...box styles vary greatly, as well.  One of my girls can't stand those enclosed ones.  Another likes the enclosed style that's entered from the top!

Cleanliness of the litter box.  One vet insists upon this.  I usually only manage cleaning once per day; some insist on doing so even more frequently than that.

Number of boxes available.  One vet suggests a formula: have (n+1) boxes in the house, where n=the number of cats you have.

One of my girls seems to lie in wait in the middle of a narrow hallway that needed to be passed to get to the usual litter box.  Like some kind of troll one planning an ambush.  I think the girl with "the problem" was sometimes just steering clear of a showdown.

Large sheets of tinfoil placed on areas where the dirty deeds have tended to happen.  (I placed these across half of my bed for a couple of months.  My newest  was peeing there!  At least she's gotten over that problem.  So my bedroom's foil bedspread won't be featured in House Beautiful; no big deal.)

If you can be stealthy and patient, have some idea when it happens, and have good aim with a water pistol, catch your little darling in the act and shoot from a bit of a distance.  I think the idea is to get him/her to associate the unpleasant spray with their activity--but not associate it with YOU being angry.  Don't be yelling...or anything worse...when this takes place.  You've already got one problem to deal with.

wetware: That was NOT a naive question at all...Shutzhund is a SPORT..first and formost and we want everyone in it protected at all times...the helper,the handler and the dog.The dog will protect in any circumstance..what we are doing is getting the dog to know the difference from when the helper is just standing there (not being a threat) and when he makes a threatening movement....the dog takes the sleeve...the dog MUST "out" on command.IF my dog ever had to engage in a real life protection,I would want him to injure but NOT kill the person.and I would want him to "out" the person when I told him it was ok to.

 When my trainer trains the police dogs..he wears a full bite suit and the dog DOES bite on wherever he can,arm,leg,back..other places,lol....but he is being trained for patrol..again,what I do is a sport.

I don't know a thing about protection, beyond what little I've been able to see (from linked videos) and read from those of you who understand it.  So please make allowances for my naive questions...  Why do the dogs only seize the padded arm?  Were a real-life intruder to wear such an apparatus, would a trained dog "go" for that, as opposed to some other, softer and more vulnerable areas?    }:-O

srnity: You guys know that I always talk about the bond I have with Damien,and how it is sooo hard for me to put into words how I feel towards that dog...I thought that maybe with you guys actully SEEING what I do with him you would have a better understanding of how close the dog and handler MUST be to be able to do this type of work.He would give his life for me just as I would give mine for him.He is truely my soul and my reson for being..I love him!!

 On a different note...Niki lost her first baby tooth!!!!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=SmSjwhED3dk

 A few words to you on this clip and this part of the training,first...the helper IS NOT beating the dog with the aggitation stick!! The dog takes 2 MAYBE 3 direct hits from the stick,usually right across it's harness,or to the upper side of it's body...it flexes and is soft..I beat myself in the leg with it one my first times at my club...it doesn't even sting,not at all!!! This is done to show that the dog will continue to protect it's handler even while under attack on himself.Notice that when the helper (the one with the sleeve) stops moving and the dog "outs" he will "hold" the helper there UNTILL the helper makes an aggressive move.

 Please turn up the volume so you can HEAR how the dog responds to his handler...this is what ever one of us strives for..Also...please notice,the dog's tail is always moving..he is truly enjoying the work he is doing.The dog's long bite is trully a beautiful thing here!!!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=kG689zPTp8k

This person got 100 out of a possible 100 points...THIS is tracking at it's finest indeed!!!!