Animal Party Episode 194 Cat Tricks, & How to Touch & Groom Difficult Pets
33:56 Share

Hello, you're listening to Animal Party on PetLife Radio, and that means you're listening to me, the host, Debra Wolf. So, I got a special treat for you. I'm going to put in the show description today a link to my YouTube channel.

And it's Deb Wolf, D-E-B-W-O-L-F-E, Pet Expert on YouTube. Deb Wolf hyphen Pet Expert on YouTube. But I will put a link there because yesterday I was thinking about this. So maybe it was the day before. Thinking about what I could put on there that my listeners would like to see.

And I do get a lot of requests for demos of cat training. Even though I train dogs every day, that's what I get. I get requests for, how can I train my cat to come? How can I train my cat to shake paw? Well, that's already on my YouTube channel. Come and shake paw and some other basics. But I thought yesterday I would just show you a kind of fun way to train your cat.

You kind of seize the moment. You look at what your cat's doing anyway, just like you would with a dog when you're training it. And then you assign a command to it or a cute word, and then you give it a reward. So I did that yesterday with two kittens jumping along a fence. So jumping over fence posts, and I got them to come when called, and I started to teach them to follow my hand, so tracking, and I started to teach them to jump over posts, so with the word jump. So three commands in one, just by observing,

A few days earlier, when I was messing with some tarps that got the kittens so excited that they ran out of the house and onto the fence and started running along the fence doing this game. So I thought, okay, I'll wait till they're doing that again, and then I'll encourage them. And one was doing it. So I ran my hand along the fence, getting him to learn to track a hand movement. And then I could do that with a wand if I was in a commercial setting. I wanted to make a TV commercial or something. But now he knows to follow.

And then when he would catch up to the hand, I'd cuddle him. So now that's the reward. No treats or anything. Oh, and my pleasure, right? He's doing it to impress me. So he's excited that I'm impressed, right? So lots of happy voice and happy commands. You'll see. And when he jumps over the post, which he wants to do anyway, and he's going to do anyway, I assign the word jump, jump, jump. So now the cat knows to jump on command, which is fantastic.

And while he was doing it, his brother decided to get in on the action. So two for the price of one. So if you want to see kittens being trained the fun and playful way on a fence they love to play on, then check it out on Deb Wolf Pun Expert YouTube. Okay, so I'm going to get right into the news. We had some bad news here in the Vancouver area. And I know you're far away wherever you're listening, but there's news like this everywhere, unfortunately.

And what's being done here is a little bit different. So later today on Facebook, Deb Wolf Pet Expert on Facebook, I'm going to post a photograph I took of the news here locally, wherein they showed a woman with a very large pit bull type dog fleeing the scene.

After the woman, by owning the dog, had allowed it to kill another dog. The other dog was a tiny little poodle on a leash with a bunch of kids and another little dog at a little picnic area that was an on-leash area. And this dog went into the area and basically just killed their dog.

graphically, violently. And then the woman snuck up into the crowd, put it on leash and ran off while people were saying, grab her, stop her. So they posted her picture and they want people to know who she, they please want to find her basically. So I'm going to post her picture too later today. So if you want to see this woman and her pit bull leaving the scene of the crime, I froze the best picture that shows her face. It doesn't show the dog very well, but that's okay.

It's the woman we want. Deb Wolf, pet expert on Facebook. I'll be posting that later. So here's what happened. And now this is what's going on. If you're in Vancouver and you have a dangerous dog, that is a dog who's killed another animal, been part of a dog fight or an attack on a person unprovoked. It goes through a bunch of things. You know, you make the accusation and then there's a hearing and, you know, there's a lot of protocol.

protocol. But eventually, when they figure out that the dog is definitely a bad actor and likely to cause harm, he gets designated a dangerous dog. And then that dog, no matter what breed, doesn't matter. Could be a Pekingese, could be a Great Dane, doesn't matter. Once he's declared vicious because of his actions, because the owner let him do this in the past, the owner's incapable of restraining this dog. The owner's incapable of making this dog safe.

So, once that happens, the dog must be leashed and muzzled everywhere, always, in public.

Okay, that's how it goes. Well, the city of Richmond, which is just a little bit outside of Vancouver, one, I guess you got a borough, one municipality south and where the Vancouver airport is, so popular city, big city, they have gone a step further. And what they've done is kept that part of the bylaw, but they've added to it that all pit bulls and pit bull-like dogs are

and they further go into a description of many of the breeds, including the phrase bull-like, are considered dangerous in Richmond. And if you go to an event like the Richmond Night Market, you'll see a big, giant poster outside the front gate because you are allowed to bring dogs into the Richmond Night Market. And it's dogs on leash, any size, allowed.

But these pit bull types have extra restrictions or are not allowed in the night market at all. And there's a big sign with their faces. They're cute looking faces. About 10 of them make the list. So is that something you want to consider in your city? Would that help? Is that something that helps? I don't know. I've done shows with this before with Dr. Stan Korn, professor of psychology. He's written many bestselling books on dogs. And he understands this kind of thing, the way why dogs

an owner would let their dog, who they know is a threat, still be a threat and not contain it. And his take on this is that, well, I won't tell you his take. You'll have to look up that show. But there's a lot to this. Can you really go by breed? Is it fair to go by breed? There's so many nice pit bulls out there. There's so many bully type dogs out there that are sweet and nice.

But if they bite, their bite is so serious. And when they're bad, they're really bad. And when they're bad with bad owners, oh my God, that's a recipe for disaster, right? You got a bad owner with a golden retriever, okay, the dog runs away and it maybe raids the garbage of the neighbor or maybe goes swimming and won't come out of the water. Typical golden stuff usually.

But that's because goldens are meant to swim and meant to scavenge for smells and stir up birds. And they've got this special skill set built into their DNA. Well, fighting dogs have a skill set. And when they discover they're good at it, they don't want to stop. So it's a difficult thing. I mean, I once had a couple who wanted me to teach their golden retriever not to swim in their koi pond. And that was nearly impossible. So you got to factor in breeding to some degree.

And when I did that show with Dr. Stan Korn, it was basically, are pit bulls bad? And why are they bad if they are bad? And he gave a lot of reasons. The selective breeding for aggression, the dumping of dogs that aren't quite aggressive enough but are still way too aggressive for normal life, the fighting industry and what it produces. But the big problem with all of this that I see is

is in most places when they make a breed ban, they affect the good actors as well as the bad. The bad people don't care, still break the rules. And on top of all of that, they just switch dogs. So if you can't bring a Rottweiler around, okay, I'll go get a Mastiff. Oh, I can't bring a Mastiff? Okay, I'll get a Cane Corso. Oh, you didn't write Dogo Argentino, I'll get one of those. So you can get tougher and tougher and tougher dogs happening just to get around those rules. So this rule is interesting that it refers to all bull-like dogs.

dogs. And still, if your dog does something terrible against society, it will still be deemed a vicious dog in Richmond, even if it's not a bully type. So this legislation might be more effective. I'm not sure. There's something to the cachet of, you know, having the toughest dog on the block and wanting your dog to be tough. And

I think that's a real mistake, a real misunderstanding. I do not think a dog that is underexposed to life and unable to decide who is friend, who is foe,

is a better protection dog than a dog who knows it all. Who knows come sit stay heal knows the dog park knows where to be what to do knows innocent child from robber in the night can distinguish these things. That's the kind of dog you want protecting your house. Okay we're gonna go to a break and come back and talk a little more about cats. Stay tuned on Animal Party Pet Life Radio.

This is Debra Wolf, host of Animal Party on PetLife Radio. You know the expression, cats have nine lives? Well, what if you can give them one more? The Give Them 10 Movement is on a mission to help give cats an extra life. How?

How? With spay and neuter. Spaying or neutering your cat helps them live a longer, healthier life. And it helps control free-roaming cat populations, too. Learn more about the benefits of spay and neuter and meet Scooter, the neutered cat, at GiveThemTen.org. That's GiveThemTen.org. Let's Talk Pets on PetLifeRadio.com. ♪♪♪

Hello, we're back on Animal Party Pet Life Radio, and I'm howling away like it's a dog show. So listen, cat owners, it's not a dog show. It's a pet show. Ciao, meow, all of you. Welcome to the show. All right, so yeah, the squeaky wheel gets the treat, huh? I know, the dogs are making more noise than the cats most of the time.

But not always. When cats are mating, they are extremely noisy. If you think your neutered tom is going to take it away and you won't have to hear it, oh, you're probably wrong. He's going to draw lots of fancy females to him and it's going to be happening all over your yard and in your neighborhood. And if you think...

The term caterwalling is a coincidence and it has nothing to do with cats. I don't believe so. When cats are mating, the female makes a noise that's sort of like a high-pitched engine revving up in low gear. A kind of a sort of a thing. And it gets louder and louder and louder and louder. And it's nothing you want to hear. So nothing I want to hear. Tell you. Because 1 plus 1...

One boy cat plus one girl cat, one boy kitten plus one girl kitten, any which way you throw it, five years later, can be 11,000 cats. I know that sounds incredible. It does. But each litter can be eight to 10 cats, right? Eight to 10 kittens produced. And if every one of those goes on to produce kittens and the original female goes into heat every four months, has a litter, two months later, they're weaned,

She comes into heat again, starts over, starts over. So that's three to four litters a year. You get my math, right? That's all right. I think this number is actually too low, but that's the number that's circulated out there or was by Marcy Kladnick years back when she did the research on trap, neuter, and release. So I'm sticking with it because it's still astronomical. You don't want to look at your cat. Do you want him to turn into 11,000? No, you don't. So neuter and spay your cats.

The other thing about that is they make way better pets, and they're way less likely to get hit by a car, or get in a fight, or destroy things, or even be aggressive to you. Like, all of that is way better. Now, if you're a professional cat breeder, and you know what you're doing, and you contain your cats at all times, and they're never allowed outside, does that sound onerous? It does to me. If that's all true, and you have a market for your kittens and all that, all right, I suppose I'll concede that. But...

They can get out and they will want to get out and they'll be desperate to get out. So if you have kids and cats, your cat's going to get out when they're in heat. They just are. And then they're going to get pregnant. The best idea, you bought some fancy cat, three grand, and you want to breed it and you're going to, oh yeah, it's going to get out and mix with Joe down the street, you know, puss and boots from next door. And you're not going to be able to make any money at this. So really cat breeding, dog breeding, it's a labor of love. Well,

with very little revenue, very little. One C-section on a dog can cost you five grand in the end. It's an unplanned C-section where it's an emergency and there's, you know, emergency clinic fees and all night lab service and all that. But still, one blood transfusion on a dog in the same situation, emergency 911, you're at the vet, they call the clinic. Well, they don't do blood transfusions like they used to anymore.

They don't bring a donor dog in from the SPCA that needs a home that's really big and docile and get him to donate to everybody for three weeks or so and then find him a good home. No, they don't do that.

They don't do that. I wish they did. They make you get a blood test of your animal so they can find the blood type, and then they go get blood products to match, and in the end you're into it for a grand, where it used to be a couple hundred bucks or less. So, yeah, this can be super expensive, cat breeding, dog breeding. And while the smaller animals are easier to take care of in some respects, they're very, very fragile.

Like when I'm assisting with a difficult birth of puppies, I can use my baby fingers if I'm working with a large-sized dog to help facilitate the birth. You can never pull, you can never tug, right? These are really tiny little things. But if you're dealing with kittens or teeny tiny puppies...

It's very difficult to assist. So you can have a lot of heartbreak. Breeding is not easy. I wouldn't recommend it. I would very much recommend spay and neuter to all of you. Okay, so I'm going to go through some things. Touch. Sometimes I get these, well, I get lots of these emails, actually. My cat's, you know, and then they say some nasty word. My cat's rude or my cat's vicious or my cat's...

doesn't like people or something like this, when I touch it, it always scratches me. Or I can pet my cat for a few seconds and then it always reaches out and smacks me so hard it's like being whipped by a towel. You know, these kinds of emails I get. What does that tell me? It tells me your cat wants attention if it lets you start, but that the attention you're giving it is not the attention it wants. So what do you need to do? Go lighter.

Go less, go lighter. Go big or go home doesn't work here. Go less and go lighter. So cats are small animals, extremely sensitive. They love finger light touch.

You could pet your cat with a feather instead. Now, he might decide to chase the feather, and that's good too. But you could pet your cat with the tips of your fingers instead of your whole hand. You could stroke your cat with just one fingernail. Gently. Watch how this cat that used to swat you is now pushing its whole body against you, trying to get you to go harder. And there's the trick. You go as hard as the cat wants. You go as hard as the dog wants.

It's not up to you. You don't say, okay, when you go to a massage therapist and they ask you, is this touch right for you? And you say, oh no, a little harder. You say, hey, that's too much. Can you please be a little more gentle, right? Right away, they ask you that. Okay, same kind of thing. When you're stroking a cat, especially if it's not your cat or your dog, start really gently. If the dog or cat wants more, they are going to show you. They're going to press into you to try and get more pressure out of you.

If they like it the way it is with a cat, they'll just start twirling. They'll start rubbing this part against you and that part against you. And they sort of spin around and they move and they move and they move and they move. That's a happy cat enjoying the pressure you're giving. But if the cat starts to move away, you're too rough.

If the cat starts to move into you, you're a little too gentle. And the other thing I would suggest with the cats that swats after a little while is where on the cat are you touching the cat? So let the cat show you where it wants to be touched. Now, normally that's going to be around the cheeks. It's where they have a lot of pleasure glands and they'll release those hormones onto your hands. And then you can touch another cat, make that cat happy to go back and forth on

Well, that's kind of another topic, how to introduce two cats. We'll get to that later in another show.

So right now we're talking about touch. It can touch its face. It can touch around just above its eyes, between the ears. These are places that it's hard for it to scratch itself. Right behind the ears, all around the head and face. That's what cats like. Now some cats will try and get your hand to go from head to tail along the back and stroke them. Just let them guide you. Just like you would the massage therapist. Hey, my shoulder's a little sore. Can you work on that today? That's what's going on there.

So don't ignore your cat's signals and pet it like a dog. Right, left, right, left, right, left, right, left on the top of the head. No cat wants that. No, no, no, no, no, no, please, no, thank you. And now let's talk about where on the cat. Okay.

So I kind of indicated you might avoid certain spots of the cat. Now that's true. If your cat is not very good at receiving cuddles from you and you're having trouble getting it to appreciate touch, then you don't want to start with the groin. You don't want to start with the underbelly. You want to start with the top of the cat, the places where it doesn't feel vulnerable. Okay, so here's the thing about cats and dogs. Most big dogs consider themselves predators.

as they are. Although they could be prey to something, you know, like a bear or a lion, a polar bear, whatever. They're not. They're in a pack and they're predators. But small dogs...

They're prey, and they know that. They live their life knowing that. They know they could be prey to another dog. They could be prey to a bird of prey. They could be prey to a bobcat, mountain lion, coyote. I mean, they're food for a lot of animals, and the same with cats. So even though they're remarkable predators, they're always worried about being prey.

They're very, very small in the world they live in. So they're running around thinking about it. You know, everything's bigger, everything's faster, everything's stronger. Now, they're pretty well armed with weaponry in those claws. But even still, a cat feels like prey. And a lot of the animals that would try and hurt a cat would try and get at its underbelly. That's where the bottom under the throat and the belly is where they're sort of weak. So they don't want you touching their underbelly.

It's also the genitals, the groin, they don't want you touching there. That's private. So what do you do about that? Well, when you're first dealing with a cat that's aloof or difficult or aggressive, you don't touch there at all. But if you've got a rescue kitten or a cat in your life that's just new, touch it there. Touch it everywhere in an inoffensive, quick sort of a way as you're petting it on its face, as you're petting it on its head and its back and all the places it likes. Slide your fingers down and just run them down its tummy.

So it gets used to the idea that it's not in trouble. It's not in a dangerous, life-threatening situation just because its tummy is being touched or its groin is being touched. And I would suggest right away with those cats, you get a brush down there so that when they get their full coat, when they have their spring bolt, when they're old and they can't groom themselves, they're willing to let you brush them all over every part of them. Okay, so we're going to come back.

from a break and talk about how to get a dog or cat who really doesn't want to be handled or touched to allow you to do these things. Okay, stay tuned on Animal Party Pet Life Radio.

Take a bite out of your competition. Advertise your business with an ad in PetLife Radio podcasts and radio shows. There is no other pet-related media that is as large and reaches more pet parents and pet lovers than PetLife Radio. With over 7 million monthly listeners, PetLife Radio podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms and...

Our live radio stream goes out to over 250 million subscribers on iHeartRadio, Odyssey, TuneIn, and other streaming apps. For more information on how you can advertise on the number one pet podcast and radio network, visit PetLifeRadio.com slash advertise today. Let's talk pets. Let's talk pets. On PetLife Radio. PetLife Radio. PetLifeRadio.com.

Hello, you're back on Animal Party Pet Life Radio and you're listening to How to Train a Cat, basically. We're doing how to get your cat, if it doesn't already let you, and most cats won't, how do you get your cat to let you groom it? How do you get your cat to let you touch every part of it? And the same with dogs. There's a lot of dogs who just sit down. Now, most of these dogs, the reason they do that is they have mats somewhere.

And they've had previous experience of people pulling them out or something. Maybe they had ear infections. They don't want their ears touched anymore. Maybe they had anal gland problems. They don't want their anals touched anymore. They got whatever issue they got. They remember. So don't think your dog or cat is so stupid they don't remember. They totally remember. So now you have to teach your dog or cat that that was just one time. It only hurt that time because it was a problem. It's not going to hurt every time.

Otherwise, you run the risk of getting the problem over and over again. And we don't want to have a cat or a dog who needs to be sedated with drugs every time it needs to be brushed.

When I used to do house calls, I used to go to many homes like this. I remember this one cat, and his name was Richard, but nobody called him Richard. Everybody called him Dick. And there was a reason for that. He was a big, big, white, beautiful, exquisitely fluffy cat with shocking blue eyes, just gorgeous. Maths every place on him. And don't you dare try and take him out. So I used to get called to help with Dick.

because I was their dog walker and they were amazed that Dick would come to me and rub against me and try and get picked up by me because Dick was known to be a pretty grumpy cat. So in the end, I was able to groom Dick. Well, I called him Richard. Anyway, I was able to groom Richard, no problem, all over. And there was a few things I did. Every time I visited their dog, which was a few times a week, I'd make sure to interact with Richard, Dick,

Take the cat. Without doing anything offensive to him. Give him a little temptation treat. Give him a little stroke. Play with him a little bit as I was taking the dog in and out or changing the water. Just make him think I'm a good person. So that was the start of it.

And then I would start to stroke him when I was there. And I would intentionally stroke him where he was offering and do one quick stroke to the area he didn't want, which was the back thigh and the underarms. That was this big, fluffy white cat's big, you know, nemesis, the mat center. So he really didn't want to be touched down there. But he liked, so top of him was brushed immaculately. And the bottom looked like it's something out of the bush, the poor guy. So, okay. So that's how it started.

And eventually he would come to my lap. They went away, so I had to spend more time there. So I started doing, you know, my phone calls and my office work while I was there. So I'd give the cat extra time and the dog extra time while I was there after walking the dog. And eventually Dick would jump on my lap and he'd let me brush him all over. And so I'd brush the top of him. And then I'd quickly brush a couple strokes on the bottom where he doesn't like it and go back to the top. And I would do this over and over. And eventually he just let me do everything. So what's everything?

If I have a dog or a cat with mats and they're dry, I gotta say, don't do this when they're wet and don't do this if you're about to go put them in a bath or walk them in the rain. If they're dry, take some cornstarch, just like the kind you use in the kitchen, and take a big clump of it in your hand, it actually feels okay, and then rub it into their mat. Just rub it right into the whole mat and then brush it out and you will find the mat comes out.

Most mats. Now you start when you're brushing a mat or combing a mat, you start from the ends always. And if you're cutting it out, you have to be so careful because it can start inches away and then mat together and you can easily cut the skin and make a cat or dog bleed. And if that happens, they're way more likely to be resistant to having you touch those areas again. So you want to go super, super slow and super, super careful. And I would suggest you try with the cord starch and a gentle brushing technique.

ends first, then the middle of the hair to the end, then the root to the end. Do that before you ever get any scissors out. And if it is a job for scissors, you might want to pay a professional groomer. And then after all that's done and your cat or dog is shaved and there's no mats at all, then start the training where you're brushing, brushing, brushing where they like it, quick little diversion down to where they don't and back up where they like it. And you always end before they've had enough.

So you need to be able to read your cat's posture. As you're brushing it, if you feel it stiffen and it's like not having it anymore, you feel the claws getting ready, just stop. Because it's really important that you are the one who ends it. You don't want the cat to think it has to lash out to end the grooming session. Because then it will lash out at you every time. You'll have scars on your legs and bleeding calves.

And you'll have to wear hockey gloves to groom your cat. And we don't want any of that at Pet Life Radio. So yes, you can train your cat. And I want you to go to Deb Wolf Pet Expert on YouTube to see how to easily train cats to follow your hand. Or you could use a training tool. One of those long wands that you attach cat toys to is perfect. But a pointer stick, a yard stick, anything like that is perfect. Just a big stick.

A cane. Anything like that. And you can teach your cat to follow it. And then you can teach it to do anything. If you teach your cat to come to his name and sit and shake paw and follow a training wand, you can teach your cat to do anything. Now, do cats learn as well as dogs?

Do they? Well, I think so. Some cats, just like some dogs, do not want to learn, right? They just don't. They're just not interested. Some cats are way more interested in just being pet and being warm and having nice food and having nice vibes. There's a lot of cats like that.

But if you've got a cat who's knocking stuff off the counter, who's messing with your feet on the stairs, who's running around hiding weird things, like maybe he dives into your shoe or grabs your sock, or if it's a rolled up sock, or maybe a lighter. They seem to like lighters and coins. And they're...

you hear it you know sliding across the floor scrape scrape scrape and you things when you go clean the clean the house and you pick up the corners of rugs there's all these weird things stuffed under there like coins and keychains and okay that's a cat who wants a job he's bored he's coming up with jobs himself and coming up with games himself and he wants you to interact with him so every cat out there comes when their cat food's poured right and

So just stand there before you pour the cat food and say his name. Ginger, Puss in Boots, Fluffy, Michael, whatever it is. Richard, say his name. And if he doesn't come right away, shake the food. Now he's coming. Okay, now you see him. Now say his name again. Don't pour the food yet. Richard, Puss in Boots, come. Now he comes. Now pour the food. Tomorrow, Richard.

You won't have to ask twice. The next day, you won't have to shake the food anymore. That's how fast cats learn. They learn so fast. So I would do that. And if you want your cats to respect you and come to you and learn from you, I wouldn't free feed them. Give them two meals a day. And, you know, of course, they might not eat it all at once. They might be left over. That's okay.

But make the feeding not just grow on trees, not just occur in the food bowl. Make it something you do for them. Because especially dogs, it's really important. They respect the provider. And you are providing. So why not take the credit? Right? All right. I think we've done the whole show now. And I've got so many topics for next time.

I'm going to talk more about cats for sure and more about dogs and how to train them. So are cats smarter than dogs? Well, I'd say a dog who's already learned to think, a dog who's already learned tricks and reward and is interested in performing, who is one of these breeds, Border Collie, Doberman, Standard Poodle. In my experience...

I'd take one of those over anybody on a challenge. You know, you need to train this dog 10 tricks in a half an hour. We're coming back to film you. Go. Yeah, I'd take one of those. Okay? In fact, I probably wouldn't take the Doberman because I'd have to prove myself to him first as the leader and I don't want to have to do that in a half an hour. So I'd probably pick the Border Collie or the Standard Poodle. Or maybe a Golden Retriever who really, really tries hard. Now that's kind of interesting because...

The top three, no matter how you test them, all different ways of intelligence are always going to be the Doberman, the Border Collie, and the Standard Poodle. And the Golden Retriever is down around five. So why would I pick him? Because he wants so badly to please me. And that's a very good trait. That's the trait that's sometimes missing from cats. So you need to find a cat who's either...

uh really really wants to please you all the time he's kind of in your tools he's kind of on your computer he's trying to figure out what you're doing whatever your work is he's watching you trying to interact with you not trying to heckle you but trying to accompany you that kind of cat um or um so that that what i would call a please you kind of um

attitude in a cat, a cat that wants to please its owner. But there's also cats who just want to star. They want to be seen. They want to show off. And that's a great cat to train too. I'd pick one of those two. They're like, look what I can do. Look what I can do. You know, like that six-year-old in the swimming pool. Mommy, mommy, watch me jump. Mommy, all day long. Okay. That kind of cat is great to work with too. So if you take one of those two cats and

who's already learned a trick or two, likes to please people or is really keen to show off, and you compare them to the two top breeds I like to train, Border Collies and Poodles or Golden Retrievers. Let's say Golden Retriever because most of you know them. Okay, so Golden Retriever really wants to please you, kind of like a seeing-eye dog, versus a cat who really wants to show off because that's the kind of cat that works the best for me. Who would learn faster? Depends on the trick. It totally depends on the trick.

I would say they're neck and neck. But who would I be able to rely upon to remember it the next day and the next day and the next day and not have to repeat too much, just do a review? The dog. The cat might get bored of the trick. The cat might lose interest. So that's kind of the difference for me. Dogs, especially an overachieving golden retriever, they love repetition. They won't get bored. If they know they're doing it right and you're rewarding them, you can throw that ball all day.

The standard poodle is a little more like a cat. The third or fourth time you throw it, if he's not a super fetch intense dog, and most poodles aren't, if there's no other dogs who want that ball, because that makes the ball worth more to a poodle, if it's just you and him and you're throwing it, the third time you throw it, he looks at you like, if you want this ball, why are you throwing it away? I've done this trick already. Can we do something else, please? That's like a cat. So if you're training a cat,

Please don't repeat and repeat and repeat until your cat walks away from you thinking you must be stupid. Instead, once he gets it right once, do it one more time right and move on. You can move on to cuddles. You can move on to food. You can move on to play. You can move on to another trick. But

But don't bore the cat and don't bore the poodle. All right, everybody, that wraps it up for Animal Party on Pet Life Radio. From me, Deb Wolf, and Animal Party Pet Life Radio, be good to your animals. Let's Talk Pets, every week on demand, only on PetLifeRadio.com.