Sassy Heard the Admonition - Make No Small Plans. The Legs as Motivators

She heard "Treats!"
Sassy is the cyber-pet for many blog fans.

Sassy uses her legs as powerful communication devices. One is her levels of urgency when she on the bed and I am resting or reading:

1. Very gentle, steady pressure - duties await.
2. Light swat at my leg - you know what is coming up.
3. Single scrape across the kneecap - I mean it now.
4. Double scrape, kneecap, vigorous - No more stalling. This is when I tell Chris to watch for the triple-scrape, which does not hurt.
5. Sassy makes a surprised noise about my reluctance and drags her claws across my kneecap three times, faster and harder than before.

At this point I burst into laughter, because she has worked up to the ultimate, you-cannot-ignore-this signal. She enjoys the laughter because she is a clown who wants to entertain us and anyone else who is observing her.

She has more tricks. One is the scrape in the air. That began as scraping the antique table, which made a lot of noise with her claws. I did not see where the odd noise came from, and it happened only when I was concentrating. Finally I caught her and glared at her. She withdrew looking very guilty. The next time I laughed and she realized the joke. From that time on, a scrape on the table was done with a big grin. "Am I smart and funny too?" We moved a metal table to that place and the noise was very strange. I repeated my fierce look. She paused, grinned, and did it again.

Now there is a narrow shelf in the same place. She cannot easily reach it, so she reaches up in the air and scrapes the imaginary table, grinning. "Oh my, Sassy. What do you want? Crunchies? A walk? Frosty Paws? Lovey time?"

She may answer by being happy and energetic, or by slumping on the bed as if she is burdened by thick-headed staff. Normally, lovey time means she will not come to us but looks defiant. "Do I have to draaaag you?" She looks frightened at the thought. I reach out and touch her gently then say, "Move move." She jumps up and moves several inches. "Oh Sassy, you moochy pooch. You can move." She grins, moves close between and flops down.

The ideal lovey is when she comes up on her own, lays her front paw on Chris, grins, and listens to praise and encouragement. Once she has her quota from Chris, Sassy lays the same paw on me - it is my turn. I talk about her popularity in the neighborhood and the McDonalds staff loving her. That done, with some petting, she goes to her place and falls asleep.