Pets and iPads

[Catherine]

Quote:(now I am taken back in time to a chocolate-loaded machine I had when I was about 2 or 3. If you did the right thing, a tiny chocolate dropped out. I got my Dad's hammer and smashed the whole thing wide apart, and got ALL the chocolates out.....then got into mild trouble....I think it was meant to be an 'intelligence test toy'. It lasted about an hour. They hadn't reckoned on the quantum hammer effect....)

That showed a level of intelligence that the toy's creator had not anticipated. You went for direct action and got all the chocolate at once. Sometimes direct action is the best way to go. I am picturing this toy as having trained you to free birds from traps. I think who we are and how we turn out is right there in our childhood. Few children would have thought of using a hammer. Few children would have realized that there is a supply of chocolate in the toy in the first place.

Now I am going to wonder what I would have done. I might have refused to play since I am not a performing animal and I would not have wanted to do "tricks". That is my stubborn side. I will do without the chocolate if it takes too much for me to get it. They would have needed to give me the chocolate before I would play.

Having the game release a treat would keep many animals playing for hours. I think we may be onto a good idea here. It would solve a lot of problems of bored animals at home alone. It could even record the owners voice saying something good when the animal wins.