Sit, Ellie, sit. Good cat.

Our cat Ellie always wants attention. It doesn't matter to her that you're talking on the phone or washing dishes or peeing. It's a me, me, me universe where Ellie lives. I think that's how it is with most animals, which explains why you are hit the with "poor me, I'm so abused" look everytime you fail to immediately address the wants and needs of your pet. Not that long ago it occurred to me that it might be possible to train a cat. Cats are intelligent creatures and it turns out I can use Ellie's need for affection as a training device.

In her quest for love from her humans, Ellie often joins me at the bathroom counter while I apply the minimal amount of makeup that I wear on a daily basis. She has always been fascinated by my brushes, the big one I use for my MAC Studio Fix in particular. I bought her a brush for Christmas a few years back so I wouldn't have cat saliva all over the brush I use. Ellie loves her brush. She loves to be pet with her brush, to play with her brush, to flick the brush off the counter, leap to the floor, stand over it and eat her brush. You might call it brush love.

We're in the bathroom one morning and I bring the brush out. (She even knows what drawer I keep it in.) And I command her to sit. She looks at me like she's heard the word before but also with of "Homey, don't play dat" kind of expression. Cats have their pride. But Ellie is weak with the brush love and I have been standing there a few seconds, brush in hand, NOT petting her. This has her confused. She paces on the counter, glancing at me, at the brush, at herself in the mirror. I commmand her to sit again. She stops pacing, thinks about what I've said for a split second, and sits her butt down. I immediately reward her with access to the brush. We continue this for about three minutes. I have since been able to recreate this for Darr, who was skeptical at first but now thinks we should take a movie of it as proof. Our cat can sit on command. I haven't tried it yet without the brush as an assistant in the process but I'm hoping, with time, she'll learn the word well enough to do it on command with no brush present. Expect great tricks at next year's cat party.