Scratching posts

[TheCakes]

Has anyone had any success getting their cat to actually scratch the post, as opposed to the sofa, laundry basket, rug etc?
The lady told us our little guy was scratch post trained, which was probably true in so fat as there was no other furniture in the room he lived in with his brothers and sisters - just loads of cat trees.
I don't mind him getting his claws into the laundry basket. It's better than my arm, which his other favourite, but I'd like my sofa to last a few more years yet.
Am I kidding myself?

Yes, but only because when Mr T was a kitten, D and I both spent A LOT of time dangling a fishing rod toy over the post. Mr T would pounce on the toy, then find his claws were embedded in the post, and would have a little scratch. He also used to climb up the post and stand on the top like a tiny godzilla. We did this twice a day for a good month or so, with plenty of dreamies for good scratching behaviour.
The other thing was that we had the post right in the middle of our living room while we were doing the post training, then gradually moved it into the corner as Mr T got better at using it.
He does scratch the sofa once in a while, but it's an attention thing when he's bored as he knows it will get a rise out of mummy when she's watching TV, actual claw sharpening is reliably done on the posts (we how have 3 in different areas of the house). The other thing that helps is to put the post right in front of whatever surface he is inappropriately scratching.

We've had 3 different cats over the years and managed to mostly stop them scratching the sofa. I think this is largely due to our involuntary yelps whenever they did it, combined with providing alternatives (have you tried one that goes flat on the floor? Our current cat prefers those) and shutting them out of the living room if we're out.

Our cat likes the flat cardboard ones from tescos too but uses his extra tall one like a tree trunk.

I think some of them cotton on quicker than others. Stair carpet is also popular.