...I was shocked!! I had begun thinking that he didn't know what "no" meant, even tho' I'd reinforced it with a thump on the behind (say, when he got into the trash). Well, last night I wouldn't let him into the trash again, said "no" and he took off... Then, later in my room, he was trying to get into this hanging basket that I keep stuff in and I said "NO!" Well, he just looked at me, then went back to what he was doing, then I said "no" again with the same results. So, I put my fingers under his front paws (he already had them on the basket, stretched from the window sill) and lifted him up and away from the basket... he turned, looked at me and SCREECHED! Just a short, loud burst... almost like a cough or a sneeze, but not quite. I was so shocked I couldn't think of anything to say... :) So I said "time out!" and put him back in his cage... Well... my question (thank god you are all saying) is this: Did I handle that the right way? How do you handle a little temper venting? He's only about 4 months old. Mike [Posted in FML issue 0635]