This will be a rather long post...read at your own risk!
My cat trained herself. Once, I had my sewing machine set up on the dining room table. Pumpkin used to get up on the table. She would then knock items off and chase them. One morning, I got up to go to work. I got her food but I didn't see her. I then went into the bathroom to do the morning ritual. Pumpkin came to the door of the bathroom and fell over. I was horrified! It was the middle of National Laboratory Week. I was supposed to give a lecture that week on Mad Cow Disease. I had been researching the topic as well as other neuropathies. My first thought was she had MAD CAT DISEASE! I ran to my black long-haired cat to find....she had managed to wrap black thread all around her back legs. She had knocked a spool of black thread off the table and started to play with it. She had black thread wrapped around herself, the table legs, and one chair. She managed to make it down the hall to the bathroom door when she ran out of thread and fell over. Needless to say, it was a large spool of thread. Since then, she doesn't come near the sewing space. Unfortunately, I still can't make her leave the ironing board alone. It is the perfect height to watch the birds.