I let Fergus and Polly out when I get home from work at 5/6ish. I've always done it without giving them any food before hand so they come back in when hungry and when I rattle their bowls.
We live in a quiet close and so they usually go out in the back garden, hop over the fence or go round the front of the house. Usually they go off for about half an hour then tend to come back spend some time in the garden, come back in the house for a cuddle etc. Fergus is really good and will appear about half 7ish and just sit by his food bowl
squawking at me when I look at him! I tell him he's got to find his sister and then they can have dinner. Polly for the last few days has been playing silly run around games and just won't come in. She's there out the front, in next doors front garden or just round the corner and will come when I call her and rattle the food bowls or temptations, but she just won't come in or let me catch her. This evening, she's in now, but I've just spent the past hour popping in and out trying to get her but she will just run off as though it's a game. She used to do exactly the same in the evenings trying to get her out of the sitting room, she'd hide behind one sofa and then run behind the other and then underneath etc etc. She's knows exactly what she's doing and that she's supposed to come in. It's not as though she's afraid of me or anything because she'll be quite close and sniff my fingers and then do the jump up with her paws in the air to head butt and rub against the fence, but just won't get close enough for me to grab her, or rather she's too quick
!!
So any tips really? I can't be spending an hour a night chasing her with her running off in the opposite direction and trying to get her out from underneath my car, especially now it's getting dark. Should I start getting them in earlier do you think? OH said to leave less biscuits out during the day as then she'll be more hungry to come in in the evenings.
Thanks
Emma