Because my baffling tactic of saying, "Oom-pah-pah, Oom-pah-pah!" didn't prompt my cat, Collette, to move out of the way in the hallway, I tried another tactic when she started scratching the clothes hamper yesterday. Instead of exclaiming syllables suitable for marching, I told her, "Collette, I'd rather you didn't do that."
Amazingly, she stopped scratching the hamper. Lesson learned. When my cat's behavior goes awry, imitating the sound of a tuba doesn't work. Speaking respectfully to her as an adult apparently does.
At least, that's what I'm choosing to believe.
