Harness Questions

I just bought Seamus a harness and leash, and my goal is to by this summer be able to take him to my parents' house with me and let him enjoy the backyard... I don't plan on walking him outside much other than the yard, because this is a relatively busy city street. I'm giving it so much time because I do live in the city and he is very sensitive to sounds like sirens, loud cars, etc. He is wearing the harness for the first time now and is very, very grumpy... for how many hours a day and for how long should I do harness without leash before jumping to leash training then braving the outdoors? I am thinking I will get him microchipped before even taking him out as well, just to be on the safe side...

I started Jack as soon as we brought him home--10-12 weeks old (stray). He wears his harness really well now--as long as he's doing well with it I leave it on all day (with supervision). I tried attaching the leash but all he did was lay down so I went back to just the harness. Although I put the harness on this week and he had a fit (his herpes was acting up so I don't think he was himself). Will be wearing it tomorrow though.

Leslie

Thanks for sharing your experience... I left it on a couple hours, but he literally wasn't moving... and when he did, he'd slink from one spot to another just barely moving. It was dinner time and I know he had to go potty soon so I took it off. We'll do this every day after work til bedtime until he gets the hang of it I guess and just see how it goes.

Good luck

Jack took to wearing the harness really well--never any laying down or slinking.

Leslie

We have two guys who learnt to walk in harness very fast. Before Christmas we took another cat but he got totally confused when I put the harness on. He was still in isolation, and starved for companion, so he was not lacking the motivation, and tried to stay with me despite the harness. All he could do was roll like a bobbin. It didnâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t get much better when he got out of his isolation room, he was totally disoriented, falling over the moment he tried up.

However, he is a very happy-go-lucky guy. He likes a lot of things, so it was very easy to think of things to teach him the skill. First thing I tried was to take Da-Birdie out when he was wearing the harness. Kind of cruel but soon enough he was crawling and then taking a couple of hunching steps after the toy. Now he is able to nearly dash and forgets the harness is there. Itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s snowy time, so we have not gone outside yet to try for real if he will actually walk by my side. (He was a rescue from streets, so he will not go out for quite a few months yet anyway).

Outside with his two brothers I have occasionally used an interesting twig to get them to walk a straighter line (not as a whip but dragging it in the ground in front of them ) Itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s been all about associating the harness with great things thatâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s worked with us. When the two others hear “Who wants to go for a walk?†they line up to back door and crane their necks for the harness.

I just recently started putting the harness on my two. Lucius took to his harness fairly well, no slinking or anything. Geran was another story, he slunk around everywhere and stuck to the walls like glue. Once I get some refills for da bird I'm going to see if I can get him to play and get used to it.

I just put the harness on and took them right outside. They were all fine with it.

I tried this for my very overweight cat Estelle. She rolled around like a seal and refused to get up.

Originally Posted by lauraG

I tried this for my very overweight cat Estelle. She rolled around like a seal and refused to get up.

Click to expand...

Hahaha...Lol...I can imagine that sight too!

My kitties all took their harnesses fairly well; some slinking for the first couple minutes it was on, but after that they were fine.