I've been trying to teach my cat to give me a fist bump for a few weeks now. He's very dumb, and he's not quite there, but I think with another week or two I can add it to his repertoire.

[–] Rolando@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago

He’s very dumb

Maybe he just doesn't respect you. Try catching and eating a mouse in front of him, and I guarantee he'll fist bump you.

[–] Strawberry@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 months ago

he'll get it soon! I've not had much success teaching my cat, but he's managed 'up'/tapping a spot' to jump up(for treats of course). maybe we'll work out more soon

[–] Maalus@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

I taught mine to turn off the lights. They instinctly paw at anything above their head, just reward that and you have a saluting cat

[–] Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works -4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

The propaganda machine was pretty strong back then. I'm guessing this involved a staple gun or taxidermy and didn't take long.

[–] mpk@awful.systems 4 points 2 months ago

Plenty of propaganda, but Smoky was a real cat -- was rescued from a bombed-out building after an air raid by the woman in the picture - Miss Ann Twynam of Paddington (a district of London). While I'm sure his saluting trick didn't involve taxidermy, I'm sure it involved bribery. Cats basically owned the black market in tuna during the war when pretty much everything was strictly rationed.

[–] RandomVideos@programming.dev 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

My cat does that when i hold my hand in front of him so i dont think its that unlikely that it was a living cat