Dog-ish Cat

My son's cat, Chester, is about three years old now, and he's become quite good at playing games, in more ways than one.  When my son is around, he follows him around like a puppy, and only has eyes for him, and plays up to him like crazy; nuzzling him, mewing at him for attention, and jumping on his lap to get petted.

HOWEVER.....


When my son's not here, he makes use of everyone else for getting the attention he wants, especially my daughter, who's decided to take advantage of that situation and teach him tricks.  He follows her everywhere, even into her little "club," as she calls it (really a blanket over a table and shelves that makes a sort of tent), jumping on her lap or next to her as she watches television.  She calls him, he comes.  They have a game that they play with each other where she chases him, and then he yells at her when she doesn't follow, and once she comes to him in answer, he runs off again, expecting her to chase him some more.

So yesterday she decided to take advantage of the situation, and went in to get some treats for him and try something else to see if it would work.  I suddenly hear, "Mom, you've got to see this!"

She comes into the room I'm in and informs me that she's taught Chester to "sit" like a dog.  I've never known a cat to do that, so I had to see.  She called him over and he looked up at her expectantly.

"Chester, sit!" she says, and darned if the cat didn't sit!  Just like a well-trained puppy!  I was amazed, and told her that I'd never seen a cat do that before on command, which I hadn't.  But if anyone could do it, it would be my daughter, who's always had a way with animals anyway.  It wasn't just a one-time thing, either, as he's still doing it when she tells him to.

Except when my son's home.  He won't do it for anything, and in fact, ignores everyone else when my son's around.  Little traitor!

So my daughter told me I should tell this story, and even gave me the title for it, which I thought was pretty apt.

And they say you can't train a cat.  I never have believed that, but didn't think they could be trained on command, like a dog, either.  Yet another crazy pet that we've seemed to acquire.  Not one of them normal, that's for certain.  Whatever "normal" is.