Another one of our "cast of thousands". This is Monte. He and I have a love/hate relationship. I am the human, and as the human, I am the boss. Somewhere along the line, Monte missed that lesson. His main goal in life is to escape from the hell that is the air-conditioned, comfortable couched, bottomless food bowl house that we call home. Being a teacher, I have the "teacher voice". That and a pop on the head pretty much taught him that running out the door when it is opened is not a good idea. The reason that I am such a cruel jailer is that 1) he has no fear of the street, 2) he likes to chase birds and 3) he picks fights with one of the outside cats (not Our Sister of Perpetual Aggravation-the other one, Carmen. NO ONE picks fights with Our Sister of Perpetual Aggravation). Before you cry "cat abuse!" for the remark about a pop on the head, I have to tell you that I have a minor in psychology and understand behavior modification. When I first arrived at his house and found that he was a pretty accomplished escape artist, I used continuous conditioning, popping him everytime he neared the door that I was entering or exiting. That, along with the "teacher voice" NO! a few times, and he reined in his desire to escape. He's a pretty quick learner, and soon, the pop was no longer necessary and the teacher voice alone did the trick. Occasionally, he needs a little reminder, but not very often. But even with our escape situation, he still loves me, and insists on sitting on me as much as possible, despite the fact that I am highly allergic to cats. Come to think of it....maybe he doesn't love me so much after all.