Harness and lead training

[Naomi]

A friend of mine has lent me her cat harness & lead set to start getting Moli used to it.

We started this morning and Moli had no objections at all to having the harness put on her. We went outside in the driveway and she just sat and stared at me whilst i called her and pulled gently on the lead to encourage her to come to me. She came to me so had a great big fuss. She walked a little bit infront of me whilst I walked around the drive then she decided she wanted to go out the gate. Off we went and she walked lovely on the harness and lead for about 3 houses then started to jump about on the end of the lead so I took it off her.

I was well chuffed with her and it didn't take her long to get used to it either I thought it would take us ages to get that far :D

[Hreow]

I think that proves she's an excellent choice for a PAT-cat.
I've managed to find everything, and I think I can escape tomorrow at lunch-time, so you'll have a parcel soon.

[yola]

Well done Moli, as ever girls are more adaptable to new concepts and challenges than boys ;) !!! I've too just started this with Darcy. He's such a 'monkey' for running off out of the garden that I've decided that he stays on the lead until he learns that vaulting the garden wall is not an option. Thing is he just sits and glowers at me when I put it on him. He refuses to move!!

Siwwy cat!! :roll:

[CJK]

I got Mr darcy and princess a harness last week. Well, one each lol
Mr Darcy wont even step outside the back door, I lift him out and he jsut stnads there on tippy toes thinking why am i here. And princess is a madam, pulls on the lead, tried jumping fences and is determined to go where she wants to. Going to get them a retractable dog lead each to give them some more freedom.
Neither actually mind the harness being put on though.

Good luck with your harness training!

[Hreow]

The retractable dog-leads are very good! Unless you have a labyrintine garden to wind it round at great speed. I bring the short lead with me so I can keep Rover on *something* while I crawl around on hands and knees to untangle fifteen bushes, two trees and one of my legs...

Could you convince Darcy to move by offering small bits of treats? Or is he too clever for that? :-) Just read the other thread - he is. :-) Magic shoestring? Mouse on a fishing-rod and line? Rover fetches and follows sticks, but he's odd.

[dinahsmum]

It will be lovely if Moli gets to be a PAT-Cat.

[Naomi]

Thanks Hrewo.

Moli made me very proud today. On the way back from the vets she did nothing but jump about in the carrier so I took her out and she walked the 5 mins from the play park to about 4 houses up from ours without so much as a jump or a twitch. She did pull back when a bus stoped but I think that's acceptable :D When we got the 4th house from ours she started acting the loon, jumping around and playing up but I think that might have something to do with the 4 rather large, loud lads that were kicking the football across the road at us :roll: I didn't half get some funny looks from people mind. One woman nearly drove her car into some bollards cos she was so busy looking at me and the cat instead of the road :lol:

I also noticed that in the vets they have retractable leads designed for cats.

[Booktigger]

Sounding good!! I have never had any luck with harnesses and leads, and no luck with retractable dog leads either.

[Hreow]

Thanks for the tip of the cat-leads! I'll badger my vet's for some more information on those.

Moli is a real super-cat! Rover's opinion on cars (let alone busses!) and people of any size, is an extra-large bottle-brush tail and the cutest of crest of hairs down his back. We tend to stay well clear, as they upset him so much.

[Fran]

Thanks for posting this Nae...it is inspirational :D I am hoping to harness and lead train my meezer and Ori babies when I get them so this is very encouraging indeed! I was in stitches at the lady who nearly hit the bollards whilst looking at Moli :-D

[Kazz]

Whats the criteria for a PAT cat? why not give your contacts at PAT a ring and ask them to check her out informally so you can concentrate on the things you need to.

[dandysmom]

Well done Moli, as ever girls are more adaptable to new concepts and challenges than boys ;) !!! I've too just started this with Darcy. He's such a 'monkey' for running off out of the garden that I've decided that he stays on the lead until he learns that vaulting the garden wall is not an option. Thing is he just sits and glowers at me when I put it on him. He refuses to move!!

Siwwy cat!! :roll:
Yola, don't think I agree with you on this one: I've had 5 harness & lead trained cats over the years...3 boys (Siamese, Aby, Pura) who all took to it instantly, and 2 moggy girls who did also...although Misty"s idea of a nice walk was from the basement door to the end of the driveway...approximately 10 feet...and than sat & basked happily in the sun! It is very funny to watch the expresions of psssersby who suddenly realize that the animal at the end of the lead is ...a CAT!!! Have not taken Leia out...she is shy with strangers, traffic is worse these days, and...I'm getting a bit old for it:roll: :-D

[dandysmom]

By the way, what is a PAT cat?

[Naomi]

PAT is a voluntary organisation in the UK (Pets As Therapy) where pets are used to visit elderly people in Nursing Homes, hospitals etc here's the website http://www.petsastherapy.org/

I used to do PAT work with my staffordshire bull terrier and everybody loved him :D

It's very rewarding when you see peoples faces light up when they see you coming. Mind you they couldn't miss you with the pets wearing bright yellow coats and the volunteers wearing bright yellow or orange t-shirts :D

I'll get onto the local co-ordinator this morning Kazz, thanks for that.

[Naomi]

Just out of curiosity, those who have already trained their cats to walk on the lead, do you take them out everday on the lead when training or not?

[dandysmom]

I always took mine out daily..after dinner when it was still light out and mid day when it wasn't. They got to expecting a walk & were miffed when the weather was inclement...except Sultan, who would walk in a light drizzle just to prove his point! lol

[Hreow]

Rover gets walked three to five times a day - think that means I'm dog-trained for the time that we'll have one of them as well. :-)
Length of the walk is until I have to go to work or do other things, or when Rover's had enough. He's sometimes just out and back again, but we've been out for over an hour at times. On a lead is the only opportunity he has to go out, so it feels fair to me.

[Naomi]

Right will make an effort to take her out tomorrow as the weathers been a bit yukky today.

Had an email back from the Co-ordinator of PAT, all assessments are now done by a vet nurse or a vet so she says I've got to wait till Moli's 12 months old and then she'll find a local vet nurse or vet who does the assessments for them. In the meantime I think I'll just do the same stuff that I did with Jasper :D

[Snoof]

Oh, that's so lovely Nae :-D I want to train one of the kittens up to be a PAT cat and I suspect the female will be more susceptible to it... But we'll see. I may end up having two ;)

Don't think either Ninja or Sweep (the two of them have come to an agreement, it seems, but unfortunately the bloody catflap was postponed again so we're still waiting to take Sweep in - am pondering setting things up in the room I plan to keep him in and just seeing if I can get him in there and then to the vet's) are young enough to get used to it - as you all know Ninja, at least, will never be socially "ready" for it, and I think Sweep may become a very pleasant housecat but will not be that sociable either.

[carternm31]

Hate to sound dumb, but why do some people put their cats on leads?

[Naomi]

Well I'm doing it cos I want Moli to be a PAT cat and she needs to be on a harness and lead for that so she doesn't run off. This is getting her used to it.

I don't know why others do it.

[Snoof]

Some people do it to allow their cats time outside without giving them free reign (in some cases because they live in dangerous areas or because they have pedigree cats who could very well end up stolen). I have never done it to any of my past or present cats, but when I get two kittens I will lead-train them and I would like one or both of them to become PAT cats.

PAT cats visit places like nursing homes where the residents can't keep pets (or aren't allowed to) in hopes of brightening some lives with the present of a loving pet. They have to be on harness-and-lead as per PAT regulations.

[dandysmom]

I trained mine because I live on a heavily trafficed main road, for many years DC didn't have a leash law for dogs & there were scary free-roaming packs, also live near the parkland and opossums, raccoons and the occasional fox roamed in the neighborhood (NOT something you'd want your cat to meet!!). This way they got to enjoy the outdoors safely, and it was a pleasant bonding thing for us.

[Hreow]

I walk Rover on a lead because I have a main road out front and Rover is terrified of moving cars. He'll run at top speed as far as he can in a panic, and I'm not sure he'd find his way back. There was the time when he ended up in the neighbours garden and just sat in the middle, shouting for help. He was so frazzled that he didn't come when I called, and when the nice lady next door let me walk through her house to fetch him, he ran towards me as quickly as he could as soon as he could see me (high-walled garden) and jumped up for a hug.
I'm hoping to get him more used to traffic - respect is good, blind panic is not - and when we buy a house it will have a nice enclosed garden and no main roads so I'm hoping he'll be able to deal with being out on his own. So far, his sense of direction is worse than mine :shock: and I doubt I can teach him to read maps. :-)

He does get let off the lead under controlled circumstances, so I'd say he'll eventually be ready to be out on his own. It will still have to wait until we move - we're not allowed a cat-flap in this flat.

DM: are there "good citizen" awards for cats in the US? I was reading one or other site about training your cat, and it was helping people working towards something like that. It meant the cat had to sit and stay on command, come when called and a few other things. I was impressed and confused at the matter-of-fact way the site mentioned "sit and stay on command" for cats. I'm happy with 75% recall, 85% "No" (meaning don't go there or don't eat that) and a very variable stay (the last when on a lead, not even going to try without. :grin:).

[Snoof]

I never realised you're working towards letting Rover out on his own, Hreow... Reckon he'd elope with me? :D

[dandysmom]

Hreow, I've never heard of sich a program here..!! Can't imagine how you'd train a cat to do such things? Mine have had rather limited vocabulaties: the ubiquitous NO, WALK, PORCH, CRUNCHIES (dry food), CHICKEN, JUMP, and GRASS (that for Leia who doesn't go outside, but loves to eat grass... (I pick some for her every afternoon when I put the recycling out & fill the bird feeder. I tried some of tht cat grass that you grow in the house, but she spurned it, wants only "wild" grass) :roll:

[Hreow]

If you're waving chicken about, he'd go with you and not look back even once. :roll: :grin: However, I'd tell Ninja about the "affairs" you're having behind his back! Fair trade? :-D


I never realised you're working towards letting Rover out on his own, Hreow... Reckon he'd elope with me? :D

DM: More flavour to wild grass, surely! :-) I'll see if I can dig the page up again.

[dandysmom]

Yes, maybe wild grass is like wild rice; different flavor...like car exhaust, dogs piddling, etc...ICK, but she looks forward to her grass every afternoon & glares when it's rainy & I don't go out:roll: I gave the bought grass to Carolyn to see if Kate would like it; she stared incredulously at it and stalked off with her tail in the air (Kate, not Carolyn!!) You'd laugh to see me in Winter brushing the snow aside to see what I can scrounge up for her...:-D :-D

[Hreow]

If I was there in winter-time, I'd be in the next drift over digging as well. :-) Though more likely to dig Rover out because I want to go in again. :grin:
If you're not odd *before* you get a cat...

[Hreow]

Found the thing on "Feline good citizen" awards. It was in "Cat Talk" by Bash Dibra, not on the web, and the exam itself just included the cat being approachable by strangers, it allowing strangers to handle and groom it, the cat looking wellkempt and the only dressage - the cat should enter it's carrier and stay on command. (Bad enough. :-)) The rest of the circus-tricks were for advanced and therapy cats.
Apparently it's the "Cat Fanciers Feline Good Citizen" award. Never heard of it, but definitively US. Somewhere... :grin:

[dandysmom]

Thanks, Hreow; will see if I can find anything on it...none of mine would ever meet those criteria...especially entering carrier on command and staying....:roll: :-D

[Hreow]

Not the "on command" bit. :grin: He quite likes sleeping there, though. Think he discovered that it's the last place we look for him. Clever cat.

[dandysmom]

Well....he IS an Aby....:-D