Our cat spontaneously unlocked this achievement at about 5 years of age... We heard a little noise in the bathroom for a couple weeks and could not figure it out until we actually caught her in the act. Hilarious, and quite convenient!
My dog has made the same realization. He's figured out if he knocks something that makes a lot of noise I'll come running to find out what is going on.
One of my cats is a whole another level though. Yesterday I saw he'd figured out that he can hold a Tupperware container between his front paws and then use his teeth to pry the lid off. Jerk!
When I was a kid our cat taught our dog how to open a door that was slightly ajar, reaching round with a paw to pull it open. She even closed it again so the dog could practice.
I've tried to do this with cats, but they never seem to recognize that I am making a cat sound. Did you start when she was a kitten? (Alternatively, I could just be uniquely bad at it.)
One of my cats observed my partner turning a doorknob on the bedroom door and subsequently started jumping and pawing the doorknob when the door was closed and they wanted in. No question that if it was a handle-type knob he’d have gotten in.
My cat would smack the metal blinds when he got stuck in my bedroom with me while I’m sleeping.
I just love how he knew that I was sleeping and found out how to make the loudest possible sound in my house, all while staring at me of course, without even having to raise his voice.
Mum has a cat who has this particular (and peculiar) habit of drinking from the faucet whenever he's had treats.
It's pretty hilarious how well he's trained the humans. Whenever he's had a treat, he'll walk toward the bathroom and flick his tail, ears turned back, expectantly waiting for someone to follow. If no one follows, he'll continue on his way and jump up on the counter top. If he still hasn't collected anyone's attention, he'll emit a distinctive (and very squeaky!) meow that he uses for no other purpose than "I want a drink" and will do so periodically until someone comes to turn the faucet on. Otherwise he'll lay there until he's noticed (if not, he'll give up and finally go to one of the water bowls).
He's also finicky about the flow rate. If it's turned up too high (he prefers a gentle stream—almost a dribble) he'll stare at you until the flow rate is corrected.
Mine has learned exactly what corners to yell into such that their cry/meow echoes and reverberates everywhere so it can't be ignored. It's kind of impressive how smart and adaptable cats are, lol.
I'm not the parent commentator but I understood them to do it before they let the cat out.
I'm pretty sure that's pretty normal for training behavior, until you step up the training and stop letting the cat out unless it meows correctly
I had a cat that learned to open the door by watching us do. He would jump and grab the door handle with both hands. I guess one can conclude that animal intelligence is rare in all species
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