Harvey is still demanding very loudly everyday to be let out. I am not
letting him though. I would like to harness train him so that he can go
out, but it is not working out.
This has been the case so far:
I attach the harness to Harvey and his butt immediatly hits the floor.
Take harness off and butt raises off of floor. Try gently tugging lead
and long claws extend from Harvey's paws. Stop gently tugging lead
claws disappear.
Anyone have any advice on how to make this work?
Skritches,
KittyLady and Harvey who wants to go out very badly
~*LiveLoveLaugh*~ - 13 Jun 2005 22:03 GMT
> Harvey is still demanding very loudly everyday to be let out. I am not
> letting him though. I would like to harness train him so that he can go
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> Skritches,
> KittyLady and Harvey who wants to go out very badly
Put it on him, and leave it on. Give him treats w/it on. Let him get used
to it. When I get Oscar's (rescued runt Siamese) harness out, he starts to
purrrrrrrr like mad. He knows what it means now. At first, he would lay
down and not move. Then he walked around a wee bit in a crouch. It took a
while!! :o)
Skritches and skratches to Harley... ,,,^..^,,,

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Christina Websell - 13 Jun 2005 23:21 GMT
> Harvey is still demanding very loudly everyday to be let out. I am not
> letting him though. I would like to harness train him so that he can go
[quoted text clipped - 8 lines]
> Skritches,
> KittyLady and Harvey who wants to go out very badly
This is only an idea. I have no experience in harness training kitties, as
mine are safe to go out and therefore never needed it.
I do, though, have a lot of experience with lead training puppies. This is
what I suggest.
Put the harness on your cats while they are in the house. They might not
like it and will probably roll around trying to get it off, but ignore it.
Leave it on until they have forgotten it's there and then attach a lead
which will drag behind them and they may not like it at first. Ignore this
too, but provide reassuring words at all stages.
Pick the lead up. It's a good idea if you let them get a little bit hungry
and take them to the food with their lead and harness on with you holding
the lead. Take it from there, slowly. Next step, looking out of the front
door with harness and lead on. Then a little trip into the garden. Etc.
Hope it works for you.
Tweed
Cheryl Perkins - 14 Jun 2005 00:40 GMT
> Harvey is still demanding very loudly everyday to be let out. I am not
> letting him though. I would like to harness train him so that he can go
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> claws disappear.
> Anyone have any advice on how to make this work?
Put harness on as part of regular life, like a collar (although in fact,
I didn't leave it on all the time). Let him discover indoors that the
harness does not anchor him to the floor. Then attach one end of the lead
to the harness and the other end to a stationary object indoors; let cat
adjust. I did this while desperate for a way to cut out a pattern on the
floor of an apartment with no cat isolation area except the bathroom, the
door of which was showing the effects of determined exacavation efforts.
You may consider cutting out a pattern within sight of a cat who can't
reach it cruelty to cats.
Finally, allow cat out in sheltered area on leash and harness. Never leave
cat unsupervised (you will be astonished how easily the cat will manage to
get tangled in a bush or fence you could have sworn he couldn't reach). At
this point, the cat generally makes the connection between Out and
Harness.
I have to confess to a 50% success rate. Well, 100% at wearing the
harness, but Betsy is just humouring me. I can tell, because she always
wriggles out of it when she wants to go inside!

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Cheryl
Cheryl Perkins - 14 Jun 2005 11:52 GMT
Following up on myself -
in my experience, cats don't walk on leads like dogs are supposed to.
Cats like to mosey along sniffing, and not actually get anywhere. This
gets very boring very fast, so I loop the lead over the clothesline at a
length which does not all her to get over the fence, and let her wander to
the limits of the lead while I dig up dandelions or something.
Cheryl
KittyLady - 14 Jun 2005 14:03 GMT
Thanks Everyone for the advise. It never crossed my mind to just put it
on him like a collar. I have a nice yard out back for him to explore in
but it is not safe enough to leave him in alone. He is such a good
climber that he would be up and over the fence in no time.
Skritches,
KittyLady and Harvey who still dosen't understand what the harness is
for.