HellBeast never misses an opportunity to beat up on Tsingy. Meal times in particular seem to send him into a frenzy. During meal prep, he runs back and forth between the kitchen and the cat room, pummeling Tsingy at one end and screeching and tripping me at the other. He gulps his food, then jumps up on her perch, shoves her aside, and eats hers too. Since Tsingy is a gentle, mild-mannered cat, she never fights back or stands up for herself. So if I'm not vigilant, she can easily go hungry.
Upul and I talked about this in the past but I never really did anything about it other than yell (ineffectually) at HellBeast. While I was in the US, Upul decided to take matters into his own hands. He trained HellBeast to go into an opened dog crate before the cat could get his food. HB could then be safely locked up until Tsingy finished.
This is nothing short of a miracle since it took me and Upul 15 minutes and the judicious use of a broom and partial dismantling of my bed before I could catch HB in a towel and dump him into a cat crate so I could cart him off to the vet for his shots. Blood was drawn (mine) and the dogs were totally freaked out.
But Upul did a good job. The cat will enter an opened dog crate with no command other than the opening of the crate door and wait patiently for his food bowl. He even waits quietly after he's done, so unusually quiet that I sometimes forget he's locked up!
I think I'm going to expand on this success. I am going to train the cat to enter his own crate under his own power.
The power of positive reinforcement.
Upul and I talked about this in the past but I never really did anything about it other than yell (ineffectually) at HellBeast. While I was in the US, Upul decided to take matters into his own hands. He trained HellBeast to go into an opened dog crate before the cat could get his food. HB could then be safely locked up until Tsingy finished.
This is nothing short of a miracle since it took me and Upul 15 minutes and the judicious use of a broom and partial dismantling of my bed before I could catch HB in a towel and dump him into a cat crate so I could cart him off to the vet for his shots. Blood was drawn (mine) and the dogs were totally freaked out.
But Upul did a good job. The cat will enter an opened dog crate with no command other than the opening of the crate door and wait patiently for his food bowl. He even waits quietly after he's done, so unusually quiet that I sometimes forget he's locked up!
I think I'm going to expand on this success. I am going to train the cat to enter his own crate under his own power.
The power of positive reinforcement.
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