Wednesday, October 16, 2013

You Can't Teach a Middle-Aged Cat New Tricks

But you can try.

I guess I knew it wasn't going to work, but we've had so much fun taking Wylla out for walks,  I thought I would try to harness up Charlene, and see what happened.  I had fantasies of Wylla and Charlene walking side by side down the sidewalks of Tacoma wearing matching harness and leash sets.

Years ago, when she was just a teen, I bought a harness for Charlene. We tried putting it on her a few times years ago, but never with success. The harness is adjustable, so after a little tweaking, I was able to make it fit our full-grown Bean.  I slipped her into it, and snapped the buckles.

Once it was on,  she flopped a very dramatic flop on the living room rug.


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After a few minutes, and with some encouragement, I managed to get her on the front porch.

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And I attempted to snap on the leash.

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Paws were raised.


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Once the leash was on, it all became a game.

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And our walk went no further than the welcome mat.


37 comments:

  1. drama queen....though mom has tried that on us and there is a lot of falling over here too. :) she does put a harness/leash on foster kittens though

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  2. I had a Basset Hound that always wore a collar, but the day I snapped the leash on, you would have thought I was beating her to death. She soon learned that the leash would not hurt her, and in fact meant that we were going for a walk. Silly furbabies! At least Charlene had some fun playing!

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  3. Well, yay for getting her on the porch! Maybe a few days from now she'll make it down the steps and flump on the walkway instead :)

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  4. Well, it would've been cute. My husband's comment on this sort of activity is, "Going to take the cats out for a drag?"

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  5. So you won't be Freya this Halloween
    http://depositphotos.com/2064763/stock-photo-Freya-Norse-goddess-chariot-cat-boar.html

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  6. That's OK, Bean. You're good at so many other things.

    Tina & The Kittyboyz

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  7. Haha! So funny :)

    Well, at least Bean looks awfully cute dramatically flopping and playing on the welcome mat!

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  8. I would love to get a leash on my Moo. She loves to sit at the screen door and watch me outside as I garden, it would be nice if I could leash her up outside and have her keep me company. Having cat smells around my garden might actually keep the wild bunnies out. Alas, the only one to keep me company is when my neighbor's wayward rabbit sneaks over into the yard.

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  9. Don't give up yet! When I tried to put a harness on my one cat, she crouched there stiff as a board, wouldn't move at all, yowled in protest, and when I tried lifting her up a little to demonstrate that she could still move, it was like moving a bag of cement. By comparison, Bean is ECSTATIC.

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  10. Our Thor-kitty flops over on his side and wiggles pitifully if you put him in a harness, he'll cry and squirm and if you try to stand him up he just flops over, limp. But if you get up and leave the room he will look up, stand, walk normally until he reaches you, then flop over again and start crying and pretending he can't walk.

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  11. I bought a leash and harness with the idea of walking my fat boy Lincoln to get some exercise. I did the slow introduction, all the recommended stuff, to no effect. Putting the harness on him simply immobilizes him. He drops to the ground and will not move. It's actually pretty funny.

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    Replies
    1. These "non-success" stories are cracking me up! :)

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    2. Me too !!! especially as I experienced with it a few years back with my Zoe ..... and French cats act just the same :-)))

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  12. Oh that "I am full of NOPES about this" flop is one of my favorites. Never fails to make me giggle.

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  13. Not sure if you saw this, but Wylla and Charlene made it on Buzzfeed: http://www.buzzfeed.com/copyranter/the-best-cat-gif-post-in-the-history-of-cat-gifs.

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  14. Not sure if you saw this, but Charlene and Wylla made it onto Buzzfeed: http://www.buzzfeed.com/copyranter/the-best-cat-gif-post-in-the-history-of-cat-gifs

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  15. At least you gave it the ol' college try. You could always get the girls a cat stroller if you want to include Bean and aren't patient enough to let Wylla walk at her own pace.

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  16. LOLOL!!!!! Bean's look in the third pic from the top is like..."Seriously?? Wylla might fall for this harness stuff, but not ME!" ;)

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  17. Nefer squawks and struggles like anything when putting the harness on, but once you get her outside, he forgets about it and walks around, sniffing everything. Sora, on the other hand, crouches and shakes in fear when you harness him, and then refuses to move. He's interested in the outside when unharnessed, but when harnessed you couldn't get him out there for the world.

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  18. Well someone has someone trained pretty good. I'll let you figure out who's who.

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  19. Baby, er, middle-aged steps. :-)

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  20. With those Floofy paws, who needs a walk??! Really!
    Queen Charlene is all about kittens and not leashes.
    At lease she didn't try to take your hand off like my cat, Badfinger, did the one and only time he was in a harness. Now Dudley the Maine Coon would go out on a leash but ONLY to take a dirt bath or eat grass. There would be no walkies.

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  21. Considering Charlene's take on The Flop I think that she is more of an arm chair traveler then a true Adventuress.No doubt she much prefers to have Wylla tell her all about her "out and about" exploits when she returns from the Great Outdoors.

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    1. Charlene's (ahem) stance on traveling in general makes this not an extreme surprise...

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  22. I attempt to leash-train every foster cat who comes though my home. I'd say about one in twenty will put up with it. The cats who tolerate the harness really enjoy it, and the cats who don't, really, REALLY don't. You're batting 500 with your two, so congrats!

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  23. Charlene, I love you! And I think you're right: the harness and leash are awfully cute, but you should hold out for sparkles ;)

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  24. My older girl, Daltrey, goes to "flat cat" as soon as she gets a harness on. when she gets outside, she's interested, but she'll kind of walk-crouch-crawl. So I've had "cat stroller" on my wish list for some time now. :-) yours, darin.

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  25. Charlene knows that a queen's subjects must come to her. She has no need to traverse the outside world to gain followers!
    Cute halter though.

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  26. I had to take it VERY slow with my adult cat. Put the harness on, give him a treat, take the harness off. That a couple of times a day until he didn't mind it... and didn't mind the harness being taken on and off. Then, same thing with the leash. Then, little walks around inside the house and lookit! there are some crunchies in your bowl. Aren't you glad you walked with me in this direction?

    Then, going outside where he didn't need encouragement anymore since he loved it so much.

    The key is patience, gradual changes and positive reinforcement all the way!

    The whole process took a couple of weeks. I also found that my cat greatly preferred the Kitty Holster to the strap-type harnesses. I certainly did because it was MUCH easier to put on and take off.

    http://www.kittyholster.com/?gclid=CKep_PmbnLoCFcyZ4AodRAoAcA

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  27. Oh, I really needed this today! Thanks for the good laugh :) Charlene, you are doing the flop that our five do. Soooo dramatic!

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  28. I love seeing all of Bean's front & back paw toe- floof!

    A harness shall not contain such major floofability!

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  29. The third pic is the best. "Why are you trying to ruin my entire life? Things were going so well."

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  30. Ok, 23 minutes for Wylla and 23 hours for the Bean. You just have to have patience. Rome wasn't built in a day and it's going to take several lifetimes to get Ms. Charlene walk in a harness. Mary A

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  31. The only time I tried to put a harness on a cat, he proceeded to turn himself inside out, or an approximation thereof, and managed to wiggle out of it in seconds flat. It was pretty impressive in its own non-helpful way. Charlene clearly Does Not Approve of the concept of harnessing, does she?

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  32. Oh, Laurie! I hope it helps to realize that your walk failure with the Butterbean has given so many of us great laugh today, and that you are SO not alone with your recalcitrant kitty.

    We're trying to train Keith to a halter and leash, but first we have to get him to stop chewing his regular collars in two.

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  33. I wanted to upload that first pic on ICHC and slap a big NOPE on it, and then send it to you, but it's not downloadable. It's the thought that counts! :-D

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