The Defiant Ones
When I got home from work last night, The Boss was already crashed, so I didn't have the pleasure of hearing his complaint about Tarzan. I saw the porch light was on outside the door where the cats stay and was curious as to why it was on. I found out first thing this morning before I had a weak cup of coffee (he was up first and got to the pot ahead of me!)
When The Boss gets home from work before me, he goes over and calls the cats inside and closes the door so they can't go back out the pet door in the storm door. The cats usually come RUNNING when he or I do this at the end of the day, but last night Tarzan decided he wanted to stay out and enjoy the warm weather. This was related to me in a way that illustrated how much he had to suffer. I asked "did you go out and try to pick him up?" He hesitated (which makes me suspect he didn't try this) and said, "yeah, but he kept running away." Now I can't imagine The Boss running around the yard trying to nab Tarzan, but if he's sticking to that story so be it. He says, "so I left him out there." Later in the evening he tried calling again and this time Tarzan was ready to retire.
Scooter is my defiant dog; he still tries to test me despite his expensive (and successful, worth every penny) dog training. Catfish is usually the one hiding and the one needing more coaxing, while I think Tarzan is much more laid back. But to The Boss, they are all in the same category: pains in the rear end! LOL.
So, who are your defiant ones? And for those of you who have both dogs and cats, don't you find cats much easier? What do you do to bribe them? This is how they train us: we use a treat to get them to go in our out, then they learn to refuse commands UNTIL they get that treat. Kind of a like a mom will just give in and get her screaming kid a candy bar at the grocery just to make things easier! I feel their pain!
posted by Sandy at 2/22/2007 07:02:00 AM
Pet People
16 Comments:
I don't think cats are really defiant. They are just, well, cats. Cats aren't like dogs. They don't do obedience. Not in their genetic makeup. You know the old saying, dogs have masters, but cats have staff. Well, I think it's true. You can train a cat, but for the most part, they will only do what you want if it suits their needs. Period.
I find my iguanas to be the defiant ones.
Giving a kid a candy bar in a grocery store because it was screaming for it? I don't think so!I'd give him something alright but it wouldn't be the candy! Ha. We'd be out to the car to take care of the little problem and I garuntee it would NOT happen again! I think I made my feeling clear about how kids should be disaplined and if they need it they get a good old fashioned spanking. Not a beating but a good spanking!
I tolerate quite a bit more from animals but they don't know any better.Ha.
The defiant one in this house is most defiantly the Queen of Sheba! Like all good queens, she does things only on her terms! Cheetah is a needy baby that loves a daily routine and accepts rules, well, except for that problem we have when strangers are in the house! But Sheba will fight me on everything! I usually win in the end with the queen but she does not go down without a good fight… I bet Sheba and Dragons, Evil Demon Devil cat are a lot a like!
And I am with you Pam, I would give the screaming kid in a store something to whine about and it would not be a candy bar! Remember y'all, I don’t have kids... hehe
My defiant one is Mattie, hense her nick name Princess B**ch. Everything has to be on her terms and if you put your foot down about something, she will turn around, stick her butt in the air and walk away from you as though you don't even matter. She thinks she rules the roost.
All of my little monsters can be defiant. Though, I will say Jake (the one we found and I think had a bad life before us) tends to be a well behaved guy, other than the barking at times. My oldest Abby, who I spent the most time training can be very defiant, but if I use the stern force she listens. She is easier to discipline than some children. If she misbehaves, I send her to our room. I tell her "go to the bedroom." She knows she has to go sit on the bed until I call her back out. I feel so bad when I discipline her though, because she gives me the really sad and hurt look. Now Zander and Annabelle (which is Zander's offspring), they don't listen worth a darn. Of course, Annabelle is the baby in the house and she can do no wrong. She use to adore my husband and just be so attached to him, but she peed in the floor one evening right in front of him and he got so angry. He yelled at her "No, bad girl" and put her outside. She just stood at the back door looking in thru the glass and made her eyes water like she was crying. Ever since then she has been much more attached to me. She didn't care for Daddy yelling at her. Zander is a lost cause, the dog is soooooooo defiant. I have tried everything with him. He is so bad, but I just can't help but love him. There are days I just want to wring his neck, but then he just makes me laugh so hard when he is bad, I can't help it. He drives my husband crazy, but what can I say, Zander is my little man!
Does anybody have any solutions for stopping peeing in the house? I would call them accidents, but the boys constantly do it on purpose and in front of us. They will hold it all day in the kitchen while we are gone. Then we get home and they play outside for awhile and I see them pee 6-7 times outside. However, when they come in for no apparent reason they pee in our living room or bedroom. I would say it is because I have two boys, but this has been going on even before we got the second male. Help!!! I am tired of cleaning the carpets...
Cats are much smarter, therefore MORE defiant than dogs. Dogs are stupid, you just shake the snack box and they come running. A cat on the other hand, KNOWS when you are trying to round them up. My cats Tiger and Lily can find the most amazing hiding spots when they know I'm trying to get them.
And since the topic is "defiant", ever notice how a dog will scratch and bark like crazy to get in (or out) of the door? When you open it, they come BOUNDING in at full speed.......but a cat will scratch and claw at the door, and when you open it, they look at you DEFIANTLY and *slowly* waltz in the door at THEIR convenience, as if to say, "now I'll make you stand there holding the door"
Daisylouu,
I love your take on cats! And another thing, cats will drive you nuts until you fill the food bowl, then they just look at it and walk away never taking a bite! They just want to know it is there when they need it.... Cats ARE defiant little creatures...
I thought of you today when I squashed a spider Daisylouu….
oh skeeter, I usually have to call someone to squash spiders for me. I'm the big joke at work, I'm the one they call to get mice out of file cabinets or a snake out of a classroom, but I scream like a child when I see a spider.
Hi Sherry! We talk about dogs and cats alike, but Iguana parents are Pet People too! You must tell us more aobut them.
Adrienne: Mattie "thinks" she rules the roost? LOL. Me thinks she does rule the roost! I think most of our pets do, dont' they?
Pam: I agree that kids need firm discipline, but a candy bar in the face prevents the screaming, because the mouth is full. Nothing grates on my nerves more than a screaming toddler (babies are different, they can't talk yet so crying is understandable, but nonetheless is annoying).
jdt: peeing. That's a tough one. I really think it's the two boys trying to "up" the other in marking territory when you guys are there, to say "I'm the most important....No I am..."
I caught Peanut doing this a few times (on the bed no less) and it was around the time Scooter, the other male, was bossing him around. What do you do when you catch them in the act? I'd scream NO and put them outside immediately as "time out." I assume they are neutered, which always helps with that sort of marking. If I had a choice, I'd stick to female dogs. As to the carpet cleaning...we got rid of all the carpet over the years and went to laminate wood. My friend Carmen replaced carpet becuase she has a female dog that would pee, usually under the beds! I also got leather furniture, simply for ease of cleaning. So my house is basically pee and fur proof, which is good since lately I have NO TIME to clean!
Daisy, my loving sis, IS the biggest baby when it comes to insects. As a little girl she'd scream like a nutcase over a little ole house fly.
I agree that cats are really defiant! Penelope fusses and fusses if she doesn't have food in her dish yet when I put it in there she looks up at me and then walks off! Sometimes though she will fuss like that so I'll pick her up and love on her, she loves that! When it comes to treats sometimes Courtney will let it sit in front of her for a couple of minutes before eating it, certain kinds that is. Brittany is less picky about food and eats most all of them plus if the other two are too slow she'll try to take thiers too.
Sandy the reason I wouldn't give the candy bar to the kid screaming for it is then it would be rewarding that behavior letting the kid know ok, it worked so now I know what to always do so I'd rather just take them out of the sore but I get your point of just wanting to shut them up. I just wouldn't do it because it gives the go ahead to throw another fit to get what they want, they learn really quick.
jdt. I'm sorry you're having that peeing problem and wish i knew of something but don't have a clue just like I don't have a clue as to what else I can do to stop my girls from killing the carpet.
Oh I do have a thing to tell you guys about how Miss Penelope has me trained. Because I can't leave any food in her dish during the night since her sisters wil steal it and she needs the food so she won't lose weight I keep a little covered bowl of it under my mattress with the gun. About three times during the night she comes up by my pillow to get a snack! I know I know, she is spoiled but she's the baby and she needs her little snacks.
Jennifer, I also have the peeing problem, only mine is the cats! I have had 3 neutered male cats for 8 or 9 years now. We never had this problem until we brought Lucy (the newest dog) into the house a little over 2 years ago. There had been another female dog in the house for all those years until she died, so I don't think it was just the fact that it was a female dog. Maybe just a new, young, rambunctious dog. Dixie was and Reb is old in doggie years. Maybe they weren't used to a young whippersnapper chasing them all through the house.
Whatever the cause, these damn cats have been marking the house ever since. We've caught all 3 doing it at one time or another, so there isn't just one culprit. Unfortunately, with cats, getting rid of the carpet doesn't help. They spray, so the walls and furniture get it. Our entertainment center is slowing disentegrating at the bottom from cat pee. Sweetie was ready at one point to throw all of them out of the house (like that would happen, but he was really ticked). It doesn't seem to be as bad as it used to be, because the smell doesn't overpower you in the living room anymore. I hated for the longest time to have people over to my house because of the smell. You can use the sprays that "remove" the odor, but when it's continuous like it has been, it doesn't really work. Hell, we got one of those industrial air freshner automatic sprayers like they have in restrooms at Walmart and it sits under the end table and sprays every 30 minutes!!
Any ideas on cat's and this BAD thing they do??
jdt: My Oscar would pee in the house until we had him snipped. He was marking his territory. It was really bad when my mom would visit and bring her dogs over. He would go nuts peeing on everything including the couch. He got so bad about it that I couldn't even take him to my mother’s any more b/c he started peeing there too. Once I had him neutered, it stopped. I think taking the bullets out of the gun makes them feel less manly. I know it has to do with the testosterone. I just tell Hubby that so I can call him the girly-boy. I wonder if it would work on men too. Humm...
Ok so now I have to tell my moms cat story about the peeing in the house. When I was in grade school I brought home Ashley; who had to be put down 2 weeks ago. She was 16 and had CHF. Anyways, over the years we have had problems with peeing in the house. So mom decided that since nothing else was working she was going for drastic measures. She bought mouse traps. We would set them and then put them in the corners where Ashley was peeing. Ashley was never hurt by the traps, they just scared her. She got to the point that she wouldn’t pee in the house at all and would only go outside. We still kept a litter box in the house for her, but she rarely used it. It wasn't until the past few years as she was getting older that she used the litter box. Since the mouse traps worked so well on the peeing they became a regular training device in the house. We used them for everything, even hanging them from the bottom of the Christmas tree to keep the dogs and cat out of it. Ashley was an excellent hunter too and we used to have pet birds in the house. She would try to get them even though the cage was hanging from the ceiling. We hung traps from the bird cage too. I know it sounds mean, but it just scares them more than anything and they learn not to get into things they are not allowed to. Over the years we only had one dog actually get caught in the trap. That was Copper and he had his head in a kitchen cabinet that he had figured out how to open. Needless to say he never opened the cabinet doors again. The trap caught his lip. It’s actually funny to watch and wait for them to realize what is going to happen. Then when the snap happens, they come running to you, like “I don’t know what I did.” OH, and we only put them out when we were home incase they got caught in one.
I have tried them on Jazzy. He just sets them off and does what he wants anyways. Some are just more defiant than others.
Oh my gosh, mousetraps! Now that is extreme but hey, whatever works for you...
I bet Sheba would figure out a way to set them off just to see them go pop then wait for me to set them again for more entertainment!
I have an in-law story to tell. The Saints mom was doggie sitting Jasper the Miniature pincher for the Saints sister. The minute they came into the house, Jasper hiked that leg up on a fake fern. Mom B said to never let sis know about this as it would embarrass her and she would never let them doggie sit again. So mum was the word. While Mom and Dad B were here for a visit, Sis took care of Missy cat for them in return. All was well… then at Thanksgiving when we were visiting with them, Sis brought up a story. She was telling mom that she knows how they brag that Missy cat does not get up on the kitchen counter top but she does get on countertops because sis found cat barf on hers when she was cat sitting for them… Well, that is when Mom B had to tell the Jasper hiking that leg on her plant story in return. The Saint and I were laughing so hard at them trying to out do the other one in Pet messes in the house… Moral to the story, no one has perfect pets and they are all defiant even if they have to do it behind our backs.
Stacey when my Tiger started peeing ( he was neutered soon as he was old enough)it was because he developed Diabetes. I would think that could be your problem but not if all of your cats are doing it. I guess they are just marking thier terribtory since the new addition to the family came into the house.
I wish I could figure out why Penelope poops in the floor. As I said, she'll do it right after we clean the boxes as well as other times. We have not changed litter, deoderant or anything. She just started doing it right out of the blue at about the time she was a year old. My best theory is because she has IBS so has blood in her stool sometimes and she does not want that bloody poop in the box. I mean can't think of any other reason. If I hear of anything that will help you I'll let you know.
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