When you high five a friend, a stranger, or a colleague, you often do it in order to praise them by celebrating an accomplishment, such as a job well done. But did you know that this simple gesture wasn’t limited to humans? Shelters across America discovered that one of the cutest ways to increase the number of cat adoptions is by teaching them how to high five. We know it sounds a bit odd, but The Jackson Galaxy Project, a charitable project for GreaterGood.org, started this Cat Pawsitive program because they believe that the power of high fives can make all the difference.The program is encouraging shelters throughout the nation to train their felines to high five. If their cats can’t seem to get the gist of it, then the shelters teach their pets to jump through hoops… and they mean this literally.
Rescue workers see this as a positive reinforcement training, which will convince potential owners that these felines are fast learners and also great listeners. The technique also shows that these furballs want to connect with humans.
The process allows cats to learn to have fun, which will undoubtedly make them even more attractive to future families. It also decreases the stress levels that are commonly associated with animals living in captivity at a shelter.
While shy cats learn to be more sociable, felines who are a bit more of a challenge because they’re super energetic, learn how to be a bit gentler when interacting with humans. In the end, it’s all about what’s best for the cat.
With the help of Petco Foundation and Halo pet food, the Jackson Galaxy Project turned a brief period in April, which ended on the 19th, into the first Cat Pawsitive National High-Five Day Shelter Contest, and a lot of shelters were happy to participate.
The high five photos and videos were uploaded to social media pages like Facebook and Instagram using the tags @HaloPets and @The JacksonGalaxyProject. They also used the creative hashtag #CatPawsitive. Once the contest was over, a grand prize winner was picked.
The winner also picked which animal rescue or shelter to give the bowls of food too. The 4 runner-ups received 10,000 bowls of Halo pet food courtesy of FreeKibble.com and GreaterGood.org. But the true winners are the felines who learned to be more engaging.
