Makes noise now...

Repeat after me, please:

"I'll be damned."

Thanks.

Loud bell, schmoud bell, Foot Foot went for Jupiter yesterday after managing to take the stairs, come down the hall, and parade through the kitchen without making one single solitary noise. Not the first jingle. I should probably let you in on something: She learned how to move without her first collar, the quieter one, making a sound. But this one? It's like Christmas, people, that's how jingly this collar is. Foot Foot outwitting that bell should not have happened, but it has.

However, should she jump over something, say a barricade at the base of the stairs...

...she still makes a noise.

About that configuration - the box against the gate isn't there to support the gate as much as it is to keep the gate from crashing all the way to the floor. If the gate goes over (which it already has during Foot Foot's dash back up into hiding after going for the kitten), it only pushes the box over into the side of the hope chest, which you can see to the right of the picture. It is as ugly and rigged as the devil's tail is long, but it works. No kittens with gates slammed down upon them (close call was scary enough), no evil cats caught and pulled all the way to the floor (not pretty), no dogs bopped on the head (ditto), and no additional loud noises in highly chaotic moments (thank the gods).

So check mate, you calico demoness, with some gotcha on the side. Who's training who now?