Is this all a game? Was this all a ruse?

Holy fucking shit these fucking kittens are going to be the fucking DEATH of me.

I have just spent an HOUR AND A FUCKING HALF searching my flat for an orange and white kitten.

Spike couldn't find her (but I had him searching the wrong room so not his fault. He tried.) Cassie's too busy yowling for sex to care. I searched the cupboards. I searched the fridge. I turned the dog couch upside down in case she'd managed to crawl up into the springs. I was starting to think about prying the side panel off the bathtub. I even looked out-fucking-side, and she'd have to walk through walls to get there.

I'd reached the point of praying out loud with TEARS running down my face when she casually strolled up behind me in the bedroom, yawning and obviously just having woken up from a nice long sleep while I'd been imploding and the other three had been crackmonkeying around the flat.

I still don't know where the fuck she was.

I need a fucking drink now.

...and am now praying out loud with gratitude, for the record.

Is this all a game? Was this all a ruse?

Holy fucking shit these fucking kittens are going to be the fucking DEATH of me.

I have just spent an HOUR AND A FUCKING HALF searching my flat for an orange and white kitten.

Spike couldn't find her (but I had him searching the wrong room so not his fault. He tried.) Cassie's too busy yowling for sex to care. I searched the cupboards. I searched the fridge. I turned the dog couch upside down in case she'd managed to crawl up into the springs. I was starting to think about prying the side panel off the bathtub. I even looked out-fucking-side, and she'd have to walk through walls to get there.

I'd reached the point of praying out loud with TEARS running down my face when she casually strolled up behind me in the bedroom, yawning and obviously just having woken up from a nice long sleep while I'd been imploding and the other three had been crackmonkeying around the flat.

I still don't know where the fuck she was.

I need a fucking drink now.

...and am now praying out loud with gratitude, for the record.

Workin' for the champagne, drugs and fun

I have started training Squish to point out a particular cat when I name it. You would think Spike would be the dog for this, but Spike is so cat fixated that attempting to reward him for staring at a cat is just a distraction and annoyance to him - it's actually quite hard to get him to notice that you're waving a meatball in his face, and when he does notice he doesn't care, the cat is SO much more compelling.

Squish, however, did a beautiful job. Half an hour and a bag of meatball chunks and he's dimly starting to grasp that "Where's Cassie?" means "I will get meatball for looking at the biggest cat".

On the one hand, he's frustratingly slow on the uptake compared to Spike. I was using the same indicators that I used to teach Spike "find your ball/toy/whatever object we're using as a toy and bring it closer to me" - flicking my eyes onto the desired object, which is how wolves and wild dog packs (not having pointing fingers) indicate things to each other. Spike always understands that instantly but Squish isn't nearly as attentive to body language, I don't think he registered what my eyes were doing at all.

On the other hand, Squish is a much more straightforward dog and doesn't cloud operant training with his own quirks and agendas the way Spike does. Plus, he's a dog bred for the express purpose of finding and indicating things; that ought to count for something, no?

I ran out of meatball, but I'll have another go at it when the next batch defrosts. Yayy Squish!

Workin' for the champagne, drugs and fun

I have started training Squish to point out a particular cat when I name it. You would think Spike would be the dog for this, but Spike is so cat fixated that attempting to reward him for staring at a cat is just a distraction and annoyance to him - it's actually quite hard to get him to notice that you're waving a meatball in his face, and when he does notice he doesn't care, the cat is SO much more compelling.

Squish, however, did a beautiful job. Half an hour and a bag of meatball chunks and he's dimly starting to grasp that "Where's Cassie?" means "I will get meatball for looking at the biggest cat".

On the one hand, he's frustratingly slow on the uptake compared to Spike. I was using the same indicators that I used to teach Spike "find your ball/toy/whatever object we're using as a toy and bring it closer to me" - flicking my eyes onto the desired object, which is how wolves and wild dog packs (not having pointing fingers) indicate things to each other. Spike always understands that instantly but Squish isn't nearly as attentive to body language, I don't think he registered what my eyes were doing at all.

On the other hand, Squish is a much more straightforward dog and doesn't cloud operant training with his own quirks and agendas the way Spike does. Plus, he's a dog bred for the express purpose of finding and indicating things; that ought to count for something, no?

I ran out of meatball, but I'll have another go at it when the next batch defrosts. Yayy Squish!

Struggling with the cats, running with the dogs

Well, the store-bought furry cat toys on elastic didn't last long (thank you Squish) so I've gone back to doing it Blue Peter style: Take two corrupted DVDs, three pigeon feathers and some string...

( Today's kitten stills - nine under the cut )

In other news, after a walk in the woods full of wild plum trees this morning and a short conversation with captain_ice - I have a cunning plan!

All this healthy eating's affecting my brain. Or something.

Struggling with the cats, running with the dogs

Well, the store-bought furry cat toys on elastic didn't last long (thank you Squish) so I've gone back to doing it Blue Peter style: Take two corrupted DVDs, three pigeon feathers and some string...

( Today's kitten stills - nine under the cut )

In other news, after a walk in the woods full of wild plum trees this morning and a short conversation with captain_ice - I have a cunning plan!

All this healthy eating's affecting my brain. Or something.