Training a Monkey

As a Monkey-Kitten, I was quick to learn to use cat scratchers. Since Mommy herself had learned that scratchers do more than keep kitties from scratching furniture, she placed them about my new home. The first was easy to use as it was placed on the living room floor. The second and third confused me a little as they were nailed to the wall about 6” above the floor. (Near the front door and by the kitchen). Since they were a little high up, I would usually stand there and look at them. “Mommy and Me“ wall-scratching-lessons usually took place when I was near the kitchen. Mommy would stand me up and gently place my paws on it (without forcing me to scratch). With her hand, she would scratch it and say, “Scratch like this Monkey.” she’d scratch again. The first time, I hopped down and walked away. The next two times I remained standing while watching her. “Good boy, Monkey”, she’d say and scratch again to show me. The next few times, I was golden. I would scratch, scratch and scratch away! Of course, tweats would follow. I grew quite fond of the wall scratchers because I was able to extend my front legs, grasp onto the scratcher, and lean into it and stretch, stwetch and stwetch. (With each growth spurt, Mommy would adjust the height of the scratchers.) When Mommy or Daddy would see me scratching, I would get a tweat and a “good boy”! This scratcher thing was really paying off! The one by the kitchen was my favorite, as it was closest to the Tweat Cabinet, it was like a “sure thing”. “Good Boy” equaled “tweat”, I never forgot that! Every so often, in the middle of a play session, I would high tail it over to the scratcher, stand up and put my paws on it to scratch. If Mommy or Daddy were watching, I barely had to scratch and I would get a “good boy” and a tweat. Wow, this was now like it’s own game. Mommy would often say to Daddy, “Look at Monkey. He just runs over and puts his paws on it and waits. Once his pads hit the scratcher, he’s like…..”look I’m scratching!”. He doesn’t even scratch anymore, it’s like Tag!” Daddy would laugh. What did I care, they were trained! Success! With this, I didn’t scratch anywhere except where I was supposed to. On my scratchers, my kitty climber, my perch, etc. “Good Monkey”, huh?

Paul, the Monkey @ 8wks. Quickly becoming a "Tweat Monster".