Ellen gave me this box that she got over Christmas. She thought Thunder might like it. I showed it to Thunder, and he wasn't that impressed, He isn't a box obsessive cat like most other cats.
I thought maybe he didn't give it enough of a chance. It was time to bring out clicker. Thunder and I only do clicker training sporadically these days because Maggie always seems to get in the way. Since I do clicker with her, she knows the game and wants to join in, I usually end up giving her a treat whenever I click Thunder to reward her for just staying out of the game. The problem is he gets distracted, which is always a problem with cats. Consequently, we never get to do advanced tricks.
All I wanted him to do was just sit on the box. That was easy, so I had him sit up and do some spins. Thunder's style is slow and careful. After about 10 clicks, he was no longer interested.
The next morning, he went and sat on the box by himself. I thought he might want to play clicker, so we repeated the lesson from the day before. After that, he wanted more breakfast.
The next day, he sat on the box, again. I got out the clicker, but after a few treats, he didn't want to play anymore, so I just pet him and told him how wonderful he was.
After that, I thought maybe it wasn't that he wanted to play clicker, but that he wanted attention. I decided to just pet him and talk to him when I saw him on the box.
Well, that opened up the Pandora's box of box sitting. Now, he must sit on that box 10 times a day--waiting for me to pet him. Thunder loves love more than food--as long as his stomach is full. And, I love giving it to him.
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