Agt Super Trained Cats Audition

[MeganLLB]

This was amazing. Did anyone else watch this and was like totally completely amazed that they trained cats to perform like this?

 

[Boris Diamond]

I hadn't seen that. I enjoyed the video. Thanks for posting!

 

[white shadow]

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Of all places to see this sort of thing...........
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[Willowy]

Aw, I love performing cats. I like how they only do it on their own terms, lol. You have to find what each cat likes to do. I have one who would do that "climb the pole then jump off" trick.

 

[abyeb]

I did see that! I think it’s fantastic that these people are doing this; it shows everyone that cats are very intelligent and very trainable! Even better, all the skills the cats perform are based off of their natural abilities like jumping and climbing.

 

[FlawlessImperfection]

This was amazing. Did anyone else watch this and was like totally completely amazed that they trained cats to perform like this?

I am so amazed!!!!! And, realize how bad my clicker training is really going...

 

[1 bruce 1]

This is why I tell dog people who feel dogs can only be trained with harsh collar corrections and "praise" as the reward they're wrong...you can't get a performance out of a cat like this with a harsh collar!

 

[Casper's mom]

The Savitsky cats are being cruelly treated with shock collars. If you watch closely, you can see them adjust the collar (voltage strength, how much they need to "shock" them, very apparent when the cat wanted to groom himself, voltage adjusted, and suddenly the cat is meowing wildly and doing the stupid dancing trick. You can see the remote device in the mom's back pocket. They are also holding a device hidden in their hands. The shock collars are disguised with bow ties around the cats neck. Cats don't perform like this unless they are being tortured. The Savitsky's are using old, outdated and outlawed zoo techniques to make the cats do unnatural things. Shock collars are deadly to cats. Probably why they now have a new brood of cats they are training. Very sad. This isn't talent, this act should be boycotted.

 

[Willowy]

Cats don't perform like this unless they are being tortured.

Sure they do. Lots of people have done it. Cats usually don't respond to things like shock collars; pain just makes them hide. Though I suppose it is possible for some people to find a way to make a cat perform using pain. That's very sad if the allegations are true. But cats are definitely capable of performing without being shocked or otherwise hurt.

 

[MeganLLB]

The Savitsky cats are being cruelly treated with shock collars. If you watch closely, you can see them adjust the collar (voltage strength, how much they need to "shock" them, very apparent when the cat wanted to groom himself, voltage adjusted, and suddenly the cat is meowing wildly and doing the stupid dancing trick. You can see the remote device in the mom's back pocket. They are also holding a device hidden in their hands. The shock collars are disguised with bow ties around the cats neck. Cats don't perform like this unless they are being tortured. The Savitsky's are using old, outdated and outlawed zoo techniques to make the cats do unnatural things. Shock collars are deadly to cats. Probably why they now have a new brood of cats they are training. Very sad. This isn't talent, this act should be boycotted.

hmmm sounds a bit like a conspiracy...

 

[KarenKat]

Is there evidence of the shock collars? I watched the video and saw almost no hesitation from the cats, and when the black cat jumped down they simply brought him back up to complete the trick. I didn’t see any indication that the cats were discomforted.

 

[MeganLLB]

Is there evidence of the shock collars? I watched the video and saw almost no hesitation from the cats, and when the black cat jumped down they simply brought him back up to complete the trick. I didn’t see any indication that the cats were discomforted.

I watched the video three times in a row and I couldn't see any evidence of a shock collar. And I don't see anything of what C Casper's mom says. I don't see them adjusting the collar. You don't adjust the actual collars that go on the animal. I have e-collars for my dog. I use the vibration settings, not the shock setting, and you pick what you want to do and set the level of intensity on the remote. Nothing is adjusted on the collar. I also didn't see any part where the cat tried to groom himself and then "meowed wildly" .

I think it's just hard for people to believe that cats can be trained to perform tricks. Everything the cats are doing are things that they do naturally. Nothing is unnatural. They are jumping, climbing, and that's about it. Different variations of jumping and climbing- nothing unnatural about it.

 

[MeganLLB]

I've been trying to teach luna how to do this trick. My problem is Bosco keeps interrupting. He is so clingy and needy. He won't give us two seconds of peace and he always tries to get her treats. It's hard to practice with him attached at my hip.

 

[artiemom]

I am not sure about having shock collars. I would think that AGT would not allow that; after all, the judges are all animal lovers... Howie even has a show on Animal Planet.

I love watching the kitties with their performances. Perhaps I am naive, but they did seem to get a lot of encouragement from the owners...

It is good to see that they have gone through to the LIVE shows. That will be interesting.

I think if there were shock collars, then the animal rights groups would, immediately be up in arms against this performance act. I have not seen anything written about it.

I will watch them closely during the LIVE performance.

 

[Casper's mom]

I watched the video three times in a row and I couldn't see any evidence of a shock collar. And I don't see anything of what C Casper's mom says. I don't see them adjusting the collar. You don't adjust the actual collars that go on the animal. I have e-collars for my dog. I use the vibration settings, not the shock setting, and you pick what you want to do and set the level of intensity on the remote. Nothing is adjusted on the collar. I also didn't see any part where the cat tried to groom himself and then "meowed wildly" .

I think it's just hard for people to believe that cats can be trained to perform tricks. Everything the cats are doing are things that they do naturally. Nothing is unnatural. They are jumping, climbing, and that's about it. Different variations of jumping and climbing- nothing unnatural about it.

 

[Casper's mom]

View the last performance the other night on AGT. The cat wouldn't do the dance trick, trainer went down to adjust collar, cat responded by meowing wildly (look at his mouth) and did the stupid trick. I have screen shots of the device hidden in the Mom's back pocket, as well as the trigger device they are both holding and try to hide. The shock collars are hidden by the bowties, and previously by the colorful collars the original cat clan wore. The daughter originally wanted to train lions etc. at the zoo. Of course these training techniques are employed with large animals. They just translated it to small domestic cats. I'll be posting the screen shots and slowed down video with close-ups to prove this.

 

[Willowy]

Of course these training techniques are employed with large animals.

No, they are not. A lion will eat you if you zap him. A zoo will lose its accreditation if they use shock collars on the animals. Do you have any further information about these allegations?

Shock units are fairly large; I don't think a bow tie would hide one.

I agree that there's no reason for someone to touch or "adjust" a shock collar by touching it. The adjustment is on the remote, not the collar itself.

Is it possible the thing in the trainer's hand is a clicker? Clicker training is very common for cats.

 

[Willowy]

I watched the latest performance. I see no indication the cats have been trained using compulsion techniques. An animal trained using pain will not show any "style". They will not be enthusiastic. Those cats looked pretty enthusiastic.

The bow ties appeared to be held on with elastic, which isn't strong enough to hold a shock unit. I didn't see any other collar on them. The bow ties were not large enough to hide a shock unit and were rather floppy.

The trainers had handfuls of treats the cats really wanted, and when the cat did something right they dropped a treat. I suspect that when she touched the cat, he smelled the treats and that's why he meowed. By his body language, it was not a meow of pain, it was a demand meow; he wanted something.

Where did you get this information anyway? I tried googling for it and nothing came up.

 

[MeganLLB]

Also those remotes are fairly large. I dont think they could hide it in their hands without you clearly seeing it. They are like the size of a small walkie talkie. More likely that they are clickers.

 

[MeganLLB]

Also I dont know of any credible zoos that make their animals perform. Zoos are usually involved in conservation efforts and are more concerned with breeding and sustaining their population. Ive never been to a zoo and watched a lion perfom tricks.