[Sarah Hall]

Here a short clip of my cat Max.
He proves that, with the right modivation, a cat can be trained to sit. (I couldn't self-record him laying down on command)

 

[Kristen Cabe]

Both of my cats come when called, one will fetch, and one of them will "Gimme 5" on command.

 

[Sarah Hall]

Max will fetch only baby socks... weird, but that thing that I threw was a wolverine-fur handwarmer that he is obsessed with. My other cat, Belle, (who is extremely camera shy) will sit up, roll over, and meow on command in addition to the basics. I know, I have WAY too much spare time! :|

 

[Dianne Davis]

I started my cat on the retreive. This is my little cat Biddy.

 

[Sarah Hall]

I never thought I'd see a cat retrieve a dumbbell!
Mine only fetch little mini-beanie babies that I got from McD's a while ago :|

 

[Jeff Oehlsen]

Good God, as a kid, we were infested with cats (lived in the middle of nowhere) and they were all pretty much named "Biddy cat". Small world.

 

[Woody Taylor]

You all are freaks. I can say that because my dad raised show guinea pigs: I know freaks.

What are you using for treats?

 

[Dianne Davis]

I use her daily meal for her treats.

 

[Sarah Hall]

My cat's reward (as you can see in the video) is to get his toy thrown for him. He's not food-drive, he's toy-drive.
Boy, that's odd to say when discussing cats....

 

[Woody Taylor]

So at one point in my childhood, my dad was up to about 130 guinea pigs...in our basement...(it was clean, promise)...Abyssinians, Dalmations, AmShorthairs, Teddies, Cresteds, Silkies (long hairs), Whites, blacks, tricolors...he would pull the old Datsun 510 into the driveway and every one of those pigs would light up with this high-pitched whistle (not unlike a real piglet). If you have heard it, it's quite distinctive...spread across 130 of those things it was like a room of power tools. They also growl and to this day I can walk by the open displays in Petsmart, etc. and this sound that will make them all stop and hackle up and chatter at me. :twisted: Sometimes it's the little things in life that make it more enjoyable.

Okay, I'm gonna try it. My guess is she will understand the "run to the food bowl" trick right off the bat.

 

[Selena van Leeuwen]

my main **** (6 mo.) is good in playing fetch with his toy mouse...but the dumbell is a great idea to try :idea:

 

[Stacia Porter]

So at one point in my childhood, my dad was up to about 130 guinea pigs...in our basement...(it was clean, promise)...Abyssinians, Dalmations, AmShorthairs, Teddies, Cresteds, Silkies (long hairs), Whites, blacks, tricolors...he would pull the old Datsun 510 into the driveway and every one of those pigs would light up with this high-pitched whistle (not unlike a real piglet). If you have heard it, it's quite distinctive...spread across 130 of those things it was like a room of power tools. They also growl and to this day I can walk by the open displays in Petsmart, etc. and this sound that will make them all stop and hackle up and chatter at me. :twisted: Sometimes it's the little things in life that make it more enjoyable.

Okay, I'm gonna try it. My guess is she will understand the "run to the food bowl" trick right off the bat.

I had silkies!!!! Unfortuntaely my babies only lived about 6 months. We believe it was mold in the walls of our apartment . My son named them Sally and Kally. He was 5 and wanted them to rhyme...

Both of mine would jump in my lap and one popcorned!!!!! I miss my guineas...

130? What a humungous food bill you all had. Did he grow his own vegetables? I bet the farmer's market was thrilled to see him coming...

 

[Woody Taylor]

130? What a humungous food bill you all had. Did he grow his own vegetables? I bet the farmer's market was thrilled to see him coming...

It was actually kind of cute, he was an NC farm kid but in the military all his life so that was how he stayed involved with animals as we relocated. Dad was pretty knowledgeable about genetics and it was one big testing ground for him. He had a national champion tricolor show pig (still not kidding! :lol in the late 80s. I think silver Agoutis were about my favorite for some reason. Dals were interesting but you had to breed blacks to dals or you'd get dead babies. Recessive genes were really fascinating, I think that's why I get so caught up in GSD breeding stuff now. Had a genetics lab in the basement all my childhood. ;-)

He just had to get rid of them when his knees were replaced. Too bad, I know he misses them. But holy moly, what a weird community of people--if you think dog people and cat people are weird, guinea pig people...well...:lol:...he'd always take me along for these trips to pick up good sows from breeders and it was always memorable.

Great first pet for kids, nice introduction to animal care, I think.

Well offtopic, sorry!

 

[Stacia Porter]

OH, our last one I got (when the silkies passed and before we figured out why) was an abyssinian chocolate agouti mix! OH she was gorgeous!!! She didn't have all 10 rosettes, but that didn't matter to us! It was our orange silkie who had the most personality.

Piggie genetics are difficult. And yes, guinea pig people are a little odd...I frequented boards when I had mine and wow. You were a bad piggie owner if you didn't let THEM run around in the fenced-in backyard. And there is such a thing as guinea pig rescue! One lady made a cage for her babies out of a BUNK BED. These guys had a two-tier CITY going on in her spare bedrom. The rescues had insane requirements for cage size and that the piggie couldn't be in a bedroom. And I thought GSD rescues were hard core!

I would have loved to have had that many pigs to play with! I really love the little critters.

OH, and with so many what on earth did your dad use as bedding??????

 

[Sarah Hall]

I've never owned a guinea pig. I was always wondering if they'd be good pets... The only small creature I've ever owned was a mouse that my cat ate the 2nd day I had him...
Hence why I own animals that USUALLY won't eat each other. At 6 years old it was kind of traumatizing to have my little mousie eaten by my cat, with the little butt left for me as a present!!

 

[Woody Taylor]

OH, and with so many what on earth did your dad use as bedding??????

Pine and ceder shavings before aromatic softwoods went out of style. House smelled great. This was before they figured out all the respitory problems they caused animals...and my dad ...so he switched out to hardwood shavings. I guess that gray stuff is in vogue now, I always liked the smell of pine and ceder, I have to admit.