I "walk" one of my cats, Marbles.  He does a little more than roll and
eat grass, he sniffs around bushes and stuff, too.  I mostly just do it
in my yard, I don't really attempt to take him anywhere.  After awhile,
he will just lay down and watch birdies and I can read or something.
It's sort of relaxing.

I know of a few people (on this ng) who can actually get their cat to
walk but not many.

As for the "creating a monster," with them wanting to go out all the
time once you do that, I have the same issue.  I only do it on weekends
and then it takes him about 3 days to get over whining at the door to
go out.  Sometimes I don't know if it's worth it really.

Marbles wears a walking jacket which I learned about on this ng.  Pics
of him looking handsome in his red jacket can be seen here:

http://photos.yahoo.com/maccandace

Candace

LOL

Maybe you could use his great desire for the outdoors to teach him to
walk. I bet you wouldn't mind walking around the block a few times;
oppossed to the grazing.

when he whines to go back out, take him back out, but tell him, "We are
going for a walk".

When he does not walk, and will not follow; bring him back in after a
few mins.

The goal is to teach him that his ticket to being outside is to
co-operate or...try to learn what you are trying to teach him. Prod him
a little bit.

Pick him up and carry him 50 yards from the house, then put him down;
try to get him to go further with you. If he won't, you could at least
expect him to follow you home!

Who knows, maybe even back home and even past your house?

I'd like to hear how it goes with you.

One of my cats was kind of like that on leash. Would walk a few steps,
then just sort of ...plop.  Otoh, another one, Demelza, really got the
hang of it & would take a walk. I only walked her around the perimeter
of the house or in the backyard - usually sniffing at the plants that
border the neighbor's yard, or sniffing at my flower garden.  After
she'd walked around & explored enough, she'd then find a comfy place to
lie down - sometimes in the middle of the yard, sometimes over in the
shade of some hostas.  I'd usually take a book out with me, so that
when she got to this stage, I'd sit on the lawn & read.

Also, I've had out 3 times in about 1 1/2

Heh.;-) This is why I mentioned all of the above about Demelza in the
past tnese. <g> Demelza's now several years older but still around, but
I no longer take her for walks.  She'd repeatedly (like every 5 - 10
minutes!) go to the door & meow like crazy all day, begging & begging
to go back out. Since I took her for walks in the summer, & she was
therefore meowing/begging at an open door (at a closed a screen door),
I figured it was probably driving the neighbors almost as nuts as it
was driving me. As a result, I stopped taking her out for walks.  She
continued to beg for a while, but then appeared to forget about the
whole idea.  Sorry that I don't have some other great solution for that
problem.

I'm lucky in that I have a screened porch where the cats can spend a
lot of time; the screens run from floor to ceiling, so the cats can see
easily out. So they still get fresh air & can see a bunch of the sights
of the immediate neighborhood.  

Cathy

Suddenly, without warning, GrapplerGurl exclaimed (01-Jul-05 2:57 AM):

Pressure and release is a training method for horses I've adapted for my
kitty, with good results.

I will gently pull her away from the grass each time, and gently
encourage her to walk by applying some pressure to the lead  if she
doesn't walk, then enough pressure to essentially force her to take a
step or two, then some slack, then some pressure to encourage her to
walk forward.  If she still doesn't, a bit more pressure to force a step
or two, then rinse and repeat.  Eventually she figured out what the
pressure meant, and the "force" bit - probably too strong a word - was
no longer necessary.  With Meep, this never degenerated to a sulk or
refusal to stand.

If that happens, use a lighter method:  keep steady pressure 'till the
cat stands up, then immediately release the pressure, then praise her.
Use the same amount of pressure to encourage forward motion, again
giving slack and praise as soon as she takes a step.

Always use only enough pressure to get the response you want.  Now, I
can just click the button on the flexi, and she'll stop grazing and move on.

We've never walked like a dog though - I can suggest a direction, but
really it's up to her.  She's learned commands like "back to the truck"
though, for when we travel.

jmc

You will do NOTHING except frightening you cat out of his mind if you
go take him out 'jogging', and don't think that you won;t. We tried
that with our Chester down by the lake, and he even tried to climb back
into his kat-karrier! The one little thing in his world that he truly
hates! (well, he hates little dogs too!). Your cat seems to do well
enough now and then with his lease, but my advice is not to push it to
the next level. You must resign yourself to this one fact, Gurl... You
cat is a KAT. He is not a dog. If you want a dog, I can recommend a
breed with which you and he both will have HOURS of nothing but
exhilaration and companionship.. He will live under the couch. You will
tell your husband that "HE'LL get used to THEM"! LOL...!!

                                IBen

Thats what cats do:) and sniff around a lot. They enjoy it !

Perhaps when he has more outings he will do more.  If you read Karen
Pryors Clicker training your cat , it tells you how to get your cat to
walk  leash and harness.   You start by getting the cat to touch the
end of a stick and click and treat when he does it , he'll soon follow
the stick and then you go on from there.

A lot of cats that have outside access tend to prefer to go in and out
frequently.  Is it possible for you to fence your yard if you have one
or have a run so he can go in and out as he chooses?
   Alison

We walk our two cats (one of them is Kady, who has been discussed here
recently.)

The older one, Koko, doesn't bug us to go out all the time. I think it
is because she associates her walk with a specific event. In our case,
it is the nightly walk of our Cocker Spaniel. If you only walk your cat
at a certain time of the day or in connection with a specific event,
such as after his feeding, he won't bug you all the time to go out. Kady
at this point is not really interested in going out for a walk although
she does.

When outside, the cats do walk some. Mostly they sniff and investigate
things, chase bugs, etc. They like climbing trees also. I let them go up
partway, then use the leash to coax them back down.

When walking, you need to keep coaxing them with a phrase, repeated
constantly, and accompanied by a tug on the leash. If they flop down,
pick them up again, saying the phrase, such as "Come on lets walk" or
something like that. Eventually they will walk with you some. But don't
ever expect them to walk like a dog does (at least Koko has not reached
that point in a year.) There may be some exceptions, however. I think
that maybe cats that grow up with a dog in the house tend to behave a
little bit like dogs, so perhaps we are getting farther with our cats
than non-dog owners would. Koko has been out with Gabby, the Cocker, at
the same time, and has seen what walking on the leash is all about.

We also walk our cats every night. Repetition is the key. I doubt that
walking them every 2 or 3 days will instill any kind of learning. If you
can get them to walk a little on their own and not bite at the leash or
harness you have made good progress.

Rich