No and I don't like to see the dancing dogs or performing animals either. Although.......... ahem ......my thread about the Cravendale Milk advert is all about cats, which I think is quite funny.
I am not a lover of animal stage acts! It is an unnatural environment for any animal! When they are not on stage they are living like all stage animals do ... caged up. I know that most acts keep the animals hungry before they work them, to get them to react better. It is cruel and should not be allowed!!!
I'm against the exploitation of animals for 'entertainment' but I've seen some acts using dogs which seem to be genuinely loving what they're doing (e.g. 'Fly ball' at Crufts), so I'm prepared to accept that there might be a few exceptions.
However I have to admit to a certain amount of admiration for anyone who can 'train' a cat because every cat I've ever encountered has quickly worked out that I'm a willing slave to its every desire ;-)
I enjoyed that! The cats are obviously well cared for.
It never fails to amaze me how many people decry performing animals but are happy to keep a dog or cat, well out of its natural environment, or even worse, happy to eat animals and use animal derived products, or kill them with insecticides.
Oh gosh-those semi-long haired cats look exactly like my Caspar. But he'd claw my shoulders to shreds if I tried to get him to do any of that.
I have mixed feelings about this...it is reliant on the cat-or any animal-being confident, and trusting of its owner/trainer...which these cats certainly seem to be. And cats are notoriously untrainable...these are certainly the exception.
I can find entertainment in just about anything. I did train the wife's cat to stand up on her back feet and to stay still when I put her down but it took a lot of patience.
Not sure if I approve of that, just seems so unnatural for cats to behave like that, there must be a lot of trust between the trainer and the cats.
Dogs on the other hand, well I'm new to dog owning, but Geoff loves learning new things, and I don't see anything wrong with owners who want to show off their pet's talents