Cat-Scratch Sofa

A young girl adopted a stray cat. To her parents’ distress, the cat began to use the back of their sofa as a scratching post. “Don’t worry,” the father reassured the mother, “I’ll have him trained in no time.”

The mother watched for several days as the father patiently “trained” the new pet. Whenever the cat scratched, the father put him outdoors to teach him a lesson.

The cat learned quickly. For the next 16 years, whenever he wanted to go outside, he scratched the back of the sofa.