Fur is flying: Cat circus pounces into Brooklyn - Brooklyn Paper
A cat circus will land feet-first on the stage of Bushwick circus school the Muse on July 16. And the famously finicky felines are not pussy-footing around — they will walk on high wires, ride skateboards, and play instruments in the show, called... Getting cats to follow orders is tough, but the key to training them is to let the animals think they are in control, the high-flying hair-ballers’ chief herder said. “I’ll start trying to teach them one thing and they’ll decide they’d rather push the shopping cart than ride in it. Dogs you can force, because they can be manipulated like that, but if you try those techniques on cats, they won’t stand for it. ”.... On tour, Martin and crew live under the metaphorical cat’s foot, ceding the bus’s suite to the show’s 14 pawed prima donnas. “The master bedroom is decked out for the cats, so they have scratching posts and beds and hammocks and everything that their paws desire,” she said. Some circuses sell stuffed animals, but a few people who purr-chase tickets to “Acro-cats” may leave with the real thing. Martin has three trained foster cats up fur adoption. “We put them in the show and teach them some cute behaviors — they’re all trained to come to a whistle and do a cute trick like jump through a hoop or do a high-five,” she said. Source: www.brooklynpaper.com
