Has *anyone* managed it ?

Really ?

I have a bunch of photography stuff on the dining table at the moment which has some sort of magnetic attraction for Inky and Doodle, who do know that the table is off limits.

You can skip the next 2 paragraphs if you have bengals:

They are suddenly all over the table and looking for things to knock off onto the floor or otherwise bugger about with.

They mostly get down when they are told, reluctantly, but if I turn my back for 5 minutes I don't have to go searching for a cat - they will be in the light tent ( now taken down ), trying to do a running slide - head first - under the light tent ( now packed away ) or most recently sat on the bag containing the light tent. or playing Will It Bounce with the cameras/lenses/other bits and pieces.

Has anyone actually ever trained their cats so that Down means down, and not just "down until the next time I blink/turn around/look away"?

What? Do what you want them to do? Wrong forum methinks, if we wanted a complying pet we'd have gotten a dog , or a terrapin ;-)
I feel your pain, I have handed out nibbled essays... The shame, the shame [note to self: never mark assignments in front of a bengal]

You should have done this as a poll!

Nope. Occasionally they might do as I say but not without a major sulk/strop.

To be fair though, all that stuff you had on the table sounds like Bengal catnip!

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Clare
Hendrix and Jagger, Brown Marble Boys (born 18 August 2013)
Hampshire, UK

.... and some stuff has just bounced.


Apparently it had nothing at all to do with Babbage.

I've yet to be successful but I do keep trying

Sometimes pulling out some toys will offer enough distraction that Diesel will leave the other stuff alone but it's hit or miss. We had a chirping smoke detector the other night and I had to get the 8 foot tall ladder out to reach it. Silly me left the ladder unattended to grab a battery, I came back to Diesel at the top of it trying to figure out how to jump onto anything/everything in the room. After MUCH protest I got him down but as I climbed back up it to put the smoke detector back he followed me then while I was trying to close it up to put it away he was climbing it again.

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Dallas, TX USA
Diesel - snow Bengal born 09/01/2013 adopted Feb 2014
Tuck, Chloe, Buddy, Lewis & Tia - rescue kitties
Clyde, Bleu & Coal - Great Danes

Oh goodness me no!!
They can be the most strong willed, stubborn little bumpots ever!
Alex sometimes goes on an annoyance loop, where he'll do something over and over and over until he gets whatever reaction he's after.
Mostly tearing through the apartment and across the bed, next to my head. Then off again at a great rate of knots.
Funny, unless it's 5am, which often it is
Or if we're on a walk and he wants to go some place, he'll try every angle if I tell him no. It's quite amusing really.

Cranberry - You will NEVER win against a bengal. Damage limitation is the best you can hope for!

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Melissa

UK
Oscar - Rescue (Rascal!!!) Bengal

Grace does not have the naughtie gene and listens but will not remove herself from lounging on the kitchen counter or dining room table if she is comfortable there. I can tell her to get off and she just stares at me. Why? she wonders. This is the perfect surface for me. Generally she does not knock things to the floor so she is the good girl.

Blondie on the other hand pushes everything to the floor on every surface she can get up on, even full glasses of water. Then she will hop around and pester me as I pick everything up, only to do it again. If she wants something like her dinner, everything goes on the floor and she becomes a major pest until their food is in the feeding spot. I know, I am rewarding bad behavior and I should play with her more...but sometimes life (work) becomes all consuming and I can't devote the attention to them that they crave. I try to make it up to them as soon as the opportunity arises. Overall they are such good girls and in my eyes can go on what ever surface they want.

Cranberry, YOU of all people know you cannot control bengals. It is IMPOSSIBLE. They will always get into the things you absolutely do not want them on. Mine comes over to my computer keyboard as I'm typing. I pick him up and put him back on the floor, only to have him jump up again and again and again. It's just a cat's nature not to obey. They actually do understand what you are saying, but they are not going to obey! That is rule #1 with bengals.