Leash Success!!!

Well...GREAT improvement anyways!
I have been putting her on her harness and letting her drag the leash for a while...so far so good. So, yesterday we took a big step!

My father had knee surgery last week and is resting/off his knee for 6 weeks ( ) so, I decided it would be a good idea to take Ike over for a cheer-up visit!!! I put her harness on and put her in the carrier. Now, she had never been to my parents house before. When we got there I got her out and held her for a while, let her smell everyone there and get pet.

Once she got restless and squirmy, I hooked up the leash and let her go.

She was VERY well behaved!!! She didn't get scared or hide, she was calm and cool and gave the house a good smell-down I just walked behind her patiently and let her explore. She seemed to be aware of (but not bothered by) the leash. If she started going somewhere she wasn't allowed I would kind of coax her away.

I thought it was a really good chance for her to be on her harness and out of her element, without being outside yet... Oh I'm so happy it's going well so far!!! I few more visits like that (to new places) and I think she will be ready for some outdoor walking!

The only thing I really need to work with her on is guiding her a little more. Maybe a toy or treats to keep her from certain places.

Yay!

Sounds good!

Oliver wears a herness and actually begs to go outside daily! We have a deck and fenced in backyard, so I picked up one of those plastic covered cable dog tie outs from the dollar store and attached it to the deck... he goes to the door and paws at it, you ask him if he wants to go out and he'll meow in return if he does... then he waits for his harness (we just switched him to a different style one so he's still not happy with the putting on process of it, but once it's on he's fine), then I open the sliding door and pick up the leash hook and he waits to be attached, then stomps out the door onto the deck, hehe.... he makes his way down into the yard to eat grass and watch bugs - it's cute.... he gets an hour outside a day and is always watched while he's out there... usually I can just go out on the deck and tell him it's time to come in and he'll come, or I'll pick up the leash and kinda coax him over, but there's still no really "walking" him on it in the sense that I walk my dog... more like him walking me if he's just on a regular leash haha

My girls tried out the harness for the first time today with mixed results.

Misty was very unsure when I took her outside and set her down on the sidewalk. She did not go more than 5 feet from the apartment door and lasted all of 5 seconds on the grass. When she started to get more nervous I took her back inside. Misty was only about 6 months old when I adopted her and I don't think she had ever actually been outside before so she was more scared of that than getting worked up over the harness.

Greta on the other hand wanted to bolt as soon as I set her down. She wanted to fight the leash from the start and only wanted to take off. I brought her back in because I was afraid the harness would come off and she would take off.

I think I am going to just wait another month until my new house is done being built and let them have outdoor time there where the backyard will be plenty big and fenced in so the harness won't be necessary.