Dear LPG, 

I recently read a message on your pages about how an observer saw the rapport between dogs and their owners, and how their dog-walking behaviours have changed during the nearly 50 years that she has been watching through a front room window (►►►).  The writer says that her message was purely written from her repeated bouts of observation, and stresses that she has never actually owned a dog, and neither have I.

But I do have a cat and having taken a look into how to train a dog with the advice and guidance she shared, I thought it might be worth taking a look at this question from a feline point of view.  

My relationship with my cat goes back a few years now but she is and always has been a law unto herself since I got her about 4 years ago.  She definitely keeps me company, but on her terms not mine. I think that I can speak relatively confidently when I say that we cat owners tend to do a lot of talking to our cats, but it doesn’t take long for us to accept that they are very unlikely to respond to our requests. Many cat owners know that their furry friend will come back for food and hang around for a bit of love and attention but that is about it.  

Our cats do love to be stroked and made a fuss of, but while looking up all that information offered about training dogs, I found a bit about how to train your cat.   We have all heard the maxim about training an old dog new tricks but having watched a few of the videos I have found on the subject I think it might be a challenge worth pursuing.  

I realise, and suspect many fellow cat owners will agree, that this might take time but we older feline pet owners have a lot more of that than many others.   

I know that my cat is an individual with a few habits that I would like her to improve and with patience perhaps we can also get them doing a few tricks worthy of ‘Britain’s Got Talent’.  Perhaps it is a case of persistence being the key… 

FT, Greenwich

FT offers some internet tips for training you cats…

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