I confess to surprise when a friend told me recently that he had found his small terrier waiting patiently outside a mousehole.
As a rule, dogs do not act in that way. They are creatures of impulse, and, unless specially trained for the purpose, they have none of the forethought and studied self-interest which is characteristic of the cat.
A dog will forgive an injury at once, and return to lick the hand that beat him, but if you chastise a cat on Monday, there is no use in trying to make friends on Wednesday. Long personal experience has rendered cats impermeable to advice and instruction. They prefer to go their own way and remain independent.
There is an old legend in connection with the cat's habit of washing its face after a meal, which suggests that this is the only subject on which the animal was ever known to accept advice.
Once, when cats were very innocent, one of them caught a sparrow, and was about to devour it. Thereupon the sparrow said: "No gentleman would eat his dinner without washing his face first." Puss, struck by the suggestion, raised his paw to wash his face, and the bird escaped. Sparrows, needless to say, have never been able to have that argument since.
The Irish Times, June 16th, 1931.