A couple of weeks ago I was feeling a bit stuck, and so I asked DH2U for a blog idea. His response involved a cage match between Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump. Not at all what I was looking for, but it did evolve into my O Canada post.
The other night as we were watching our new monitor/television (thanks for the gift, Ma), he said, “You also could go for the old standby,” and pointed to this sight of Lemon:
This reminded me of a comment I received from a friend of mine from high school on my post about trying behavioral modification on Carmen. He wanted to hear Carmen’s side of it. And now here it is:
The other day I was licking Tammy as her payment for an extra good under-chin scratching – I like to reward the staff for things that please me – when I saw that she still has a scar on her hand that I put there nearly a year ago. I did stop to admire my handiwork for a moment and think back to the injustice of that day.
So there I was sitting on my throne, minding my own business, scratching my ear with a hind foot because my collar bell plays a pleasing tune when I scratch at just that angle, when Tammy grabbed my paw mid note. Her hands were cold, so I put my paw back down on the throne. She looked away, so I started the concert again. Again she interrupted me. This continued for several minutes.
When this had all gone on way too long, I glared at her and wacked my tail on the throne. She failed to mention that part in her version. The next time she grabbed me, I wacked her. She had it coming! I’d warned her to stop, and thus I feel proud for putting my staff back in her place. I went back in the bedroom and conducted my symphony in peace while she dealt with the blood blister.
I taught her a much-needed lesson: She hasn’t tried to keep me from scratching since. I guess behavior modification does work – just not the way she intended.
Has anyone ever tried behavior modification on a cat? or How close do you think this is to what my cat was thinking?
Grown Up, Now What? 