Cat-Walking

My cat is desperately imploring me to take him outside. He's a humane-society rescue, we've been together now for 2 1/2 years. When I got him, I decided that he'd be an indoor cat because I lived in the woods and wasn't keen on him being eaten by eagles or coyotes - both of which were regular visitors to my backyard. It wasn't fair for him to never go outdoors, though, so I leash-trained him. Now he loves going outside for walks. Quite a sight to see a cat going for a walk through the neighborhood here in our new city, we've gotten a lot of stares from passersby and more than a few people have stopped to inquire and chat awhile. Note - a cat on a leash is quite a conversation-magnet!!

It was interesting training him. Pretty much a mutual training, I think. Should you ever be interested in leash-training your cat, the first and most important element is establishing trust. He/she absolutely must trust you. Affectionate cats are better candidates than their aloof relatives. Get a harness that fits correctly. Attach it to a leash. Then let this setup become an interactive play-toy. Get him to chase it, play with it, hunt and capture it, chew on it, whatever he likes. After awhile of playing with it like that, he'll be comfortable with it. Then you can put the harness on. Just put it on, be lovey when you do it, then praise him for putting up with your fumbling. Let him wear it around the house for awhile (even if he doesn't like it), then take it off, toss it on the floor and ignore it. Praise him for his patience with your wierdness, give him a treat, then go on about life. Do this a bunch of times. Pretty soon he'll resign himself to the fact that his human does strange things, but they don't hurt and aren't scary anymore. Then one day, after you've put on the harness, attach the leash. Just let it go loose and see what he does. If he's mellow, you can try walking him in the house. If he's frisky, go along with it and play. He'll probably like chasing the end of the leash. Lots of luvins, and if he likes treats, those too. Do this a few times for short periods of time, until he trusts that he's going to be rewarded for his efforts.

He's an indoor cat, he's probably going to want to go outdoors. Put his leash and harness on, give him some luvins or a treat, then open your door. Keep ahold of the leash :) He WILL want to explore this new territory! Here's where he trains you... just go wherever he wants to go, and you do the work of keeping him untangled from things. If he gets spooked about something, don't yell at him. Do what it takes for him to understand that you can be trusted to keep him safe. If he wants to go back in, that's OK. He might want to find hidey-spots... just be gentle, pick him up and carry him to somewhere else to explore. Take him outdoors like this for as long as it takes for him to be confident. After while, he'll be familiar and then you can start asking him to do things that you want him to do. Take a few steps the way you want to go, and if he follows that's great and if he lays down, just stop. Here's where you get to outlast him. Just stop. He'll eventually get up and want to go somewhere. Keep trying to get him to go your way, and when he does, reward him. Won't be long before he'll have the idea and he'll go "your way, not his way." Find the words you want him to learn and use them frequently - like "This way," or "Come" or whatever. Gentle, consistant voice.

This process took me 2 weeks. Cats are independent and want to believe that everything they do is their idea. The more they trust you, the more they'll "tolerate" your ideas. Pretty soon they'll realize that your ideas can be fun too. The more you do things together, the more willing they'll be to try new things and the better they'll get. My guy loves to trot down the sidewalk for about 50 feet, then veer off toward the street or into someone's yard. I just stop, and don't let him go there. The words he understands are "This way." I say that, with gentle pressure on the leash, until he refocuses and we get back to walking on the sidewalk. I let him explore wherever he wants though, within leash range.

A couple weeks ago, it was hot out... was my weekend so I was staying up late. He asked to go out, and I decided that sounded pretty good. So I rigged him up, grabbed another beer and we took off. Was about midnight. It didn't occur to me until after the fact that it probably wasn't a great idea to be walking around town with an open container, but it was a blast walking the neighborhood at midnight with a cold beer and my li'l buddy :) Glad I didn't have to try to explain my open container to the party wagon!!!

LOL... !!!! Can you tell I don't have an exciting social life? :) That's OK, though... not looking for one. Like I said in my profile... been there, done that. It's not so bad to focus closer to home and enjoy some of the simpler joys of life. Wish I'd understood this better a few years back.

Challenge for the day: Identify someone with whom you'd like to build a safe and trusting rapport, and find a way to communicate your sincerity to them.