USA Today reports on the new trend for cat agility contests [slideshow of cats in action] –
Agility contests for cats? It’s purr for the course
[…]
For pet owners stunned when their own cat deigns to jump off the kitchen counter in the same week she’s ordered to do so, the idea of an on-demand feline performance — in public, of all things — seems implausible.
But evidence is appearing at cat shows all over the world, and interest is growing.
“Many people show up at our events saying, ‘I heard there was cat agility, and I didn’t believe it. I had to come and see it with my own eyes.’
[…]
“This whole thing about cats being untrainable is ingrained in society, and it’s a myth,” Shields says. “Agility is all about showing how smart and trainable they are, the bond between cat and owner, and showing the cats in active, athletic ways that you don’t see when they’re posed and judged at shows. You can get chills watching the speed and coordination of some of these cats.”
And not so much with others.
“Some cats will get in there and then quickly decide ‘I’m just not doing that’ and sit in the middle and take a bath,” says Carol Osborne, a certified ringmaster for agility competitions put on by the Cat Fanciers’ Association.
About 40 shows will feature agility competitions this year, including two this month in Maumee, Ohio, and DelMar, Calif., and three in February in Portland, Ore., Oak Lawn, Ill., and Cincinnati.
“Some of the cats finished in two minutes, some didn’t finish at all, some got distracted in the middle and went off on their own adventures,’ says Bengal cat breeder Ree Hertzson, who saw her first agility competition at The International Cat Association show in Syracuse. “And the Persians would stop after a few seconds and lie around looking pretty.”
I know exactly what our own cats would do if we tried this – Monty would be waiting in vain for noms and Hector would fart vilely from sheer nervousness, then bolt and hide under the bed. Sophie would rearrange the obstacles to her own prissy satisfaction, then put us through our paces – which leads me to wonder. Who’s doing the training here, the cats or the owners?
