Harness and lead training

Naomi · 24-05-2006, 06:47 PM

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 · 24-05-2006, 07:19 PM

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 · 24-05-2006, 08:35 PM

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 · 25-05-2006, 06:50 AM

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

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.

).

Snoof · 25-05-2006, 06:33 PM

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

dandysmom · 25-05-2006, 09:08 PM

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)

Hreow · 25-05-2006, 10:47 PM

If you're waving chicken about, he'd go with you and not look back even once.

However, I'd tell Ninja about the "affairs" you're having behind his back! Fair trade?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snoof

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

DM: More flavour to wild grass, surely!

I'll see if I can dig the page up again.

dandysmom · 26-05-2006, 01:53 AM

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

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...

Hreow · 26-05-2006, 07:09 AM

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.

If you're not odd *before* you get a cat...

Hreow · 30-05-2006, 05:49 PM

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...

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