"Inside Llewyn Davis", by the Coen Brothers "The whole exercise of shooting a cat is pretty nightmarish because they don't care about anything. They don't want to do what you want them to do," says Ethan. [...] "The cat was just horrible." The Age, January 17, 2014.
Clearly, the Coen brothers were in dire need of an animal trainer who knew what they were doing. The old notion of cats being "aloof" and "untrainable" is about as antiquated as the view that dogs "need to be shown who's boss" or else they take over the pack.
Cats (along with most other animals including us) respond extremely well to positive reinforcement focused training methods. They get their "untrainable" tag because contrary to dogs, you can't "make" a cat do anything. But you can motivate them do almost anything with the right training approach. And, along with a well trained cat, you get a pretty sociable one too.
Clearly, the Coen brothers were in dire need of an animal trainer who knew what they were doing. The old notion of cats being "aloof" and "untrainable" is about as antiquated as the view that dogs "need to be shown who's boss" or else they take over the pack.
Cats (along with most other animals including us) respond extremely well to positive reinforcement focused training methods. They get their "untrainable" tag because contrary to dogs, you can't "make" a cat do anything. But you can motivate them do almost anything with the right training approach. And, along with a well trained cat, you get a pretty sociable one too.
Rajah and Kiara waiting for training. | Practicing "Flat" together. Rajah the cat loves his training just as much as Kiara the Whippet does. He offers his latest trick whenever he catches my eye (at the moment, this is lying down flat on his side - a trick he learned by watching Kiara). His eyes light up when he "gets it right" and gets his reward, just like my dogs'.
Whilst training dogs with positive reinforcement is gaining traction around the world, the way most people view cats has not followed suit, as the Coen's example shows. Fortunately, things are changing, with trainers and behaviourists such as Pam Johnson-Bennett and Karen Pryor publishing books and online information about training (and better understanding) cats.
Whilst training dogs with positive reinforcement is gaining traction around the world, the way most people view cats has not followed suit, as the Coen's example shows. Fortunately, things are changing, with trainers and behaviourists such as Pam Johnson-Bennett and Karen Pryor publishing books and online information about training (and better understanding) cats.
So, I won't be watching the movie. I know I won't be able to help observing the cat and more than likely, given the attitude of the makers of the movie, I would see its signs of stress and anxiety. If only they knew how easy it could have been - and how much more fun for both people and cat alike!
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