When I got one of my cats, Shade, a few years ago, I harness/leash trained her... sort of. She has no issues with me putting the harness on her, no issues with going to unexpected or unfamiliar areas while wearing a harness/leash. The two issues I have:
- She can slip out of the harness if she really tries. She's not afraid of unfamiliar areas and is happy to go outside or to work or to Petco, but I took her to the duck pond once and she freaked out and slipped the harness. Apparently she's terrified of quacking ducks. I've tried adjusting the harness, but I can't find a way to make it so she can't escape it if she really wants to. I'm not sure what good the harness is if they can slip out?
- I was sort of under the impression I could actually take Shade for walks, but she doesn't want to walk? When I take her out she either wants to roll across every inch of the sidewalk/floor (which honestly, is what she does in a new place whether she wears a harness or not) or she finds one thing she wants to sniff at for a half hour and won't go anywhere else. Can you actually take a cat on a walk, or can you only take a cat on a supervised exploration mission? Not sure if the walking part is something I actually have to train her to do or if cats just don't do that, haha.