Moogie's harness training
 

I'm trying to train Moogie to "walk" on a harness. Now that the weather has
been getting nicer, I'll take him out onto the deck and hook him to a light
leash. Unfortunately, the harness seems to have some mystical qualities to
it that render Moogie unable to walk, so he just rolls around on the deck.

Today I hooked him up to the leash and set him in the middle of the yard. At
first he just fell over and started to roll. But then he saw A BIRD! Whoah..
what is THAT?? His little eyes got all big and round, his tail stood up..
that was the biggest fly he had ever seen! And, whoah boy, there goes
another one! Apparently the presence of said birds sapped the harness of
it's mystical powers, because suddenly Moogie was standing. And walking!

Walking slowly, but yep, he was actually walking. He'd take a few steps then
fall over again.. roll around for a while then stand up. Then he spied a
squirrel in the next yard and if you thought the birds made him walk, well,
squirrels made him RUN! Whoosh.. off he goes at full speed toward the
squirrel. Unfortunately, he was still tethered and the few seconds it took
to get to the end of the leash did not allow his Meowmie enough time to
follow so he came up short and did a backward somersault, coming to rest at
my feet.

Then he couldn't walk again, so I had to pick him up and carry him indoors!

Stacey :)

(p.s. The not-so-little-anymore-sh*t has taken to sauntering outdoors when I
go out for a cigarette... something he must have done last night before I
went to bed.. because when DH got home, he was met by a chilly Moogster
sitting, untethered, on the deck. Geez!)

On Fri, 16 Apr 2004 03:47:43 GMT, "Stacey"
wrote:

I'm trying to train Moogie to "walk" on a harness. Now that the weather has
been getting nicer, I'll take him out onto the deck and hook him to a light
leash. Unfortunately, the harness seems to have some mystical qualities to
it that render Moogie unable to walk, so he just rolls around on the deck.
snip

I gave up on getting Sammy on a harness after several days of watching
her become paralyzed whenever I put it on and switched to a collar.
She only goes out on supervised excursions, and only wears the collar
when she goes out. So, now I whenever I pick up the collar and rattle
the tags she comes running and waits patiently while I put it on her.
--
Steve Touchstone,
faithful servant of Sammy, Little Bit and Rocky

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On Fri, 16 Apr 2004 03:47:43 GMT, "Stacey"
wrote:

I'm trying to train Moogie to "walk" on a harness. Now that the weather has
been getting nicer, I'll take him out onto the deck and hook him to a light
leash. Unfortunately, the harness seems to have some mystical qualities to
it that render Moogie unable to walk, so he just rolls around on the deck.
snip

I gave up on getting Sammy on a harness after several days of watching
her become paralyzed whenever I put it on and switched to a collar.
She only goes out on supervised excursions, and only wears the collar
when she goes out. So, now I whenever I pick up the collar and rattle
the tags she comes running and waits patiently while I put it on her.
--
Steve Touchstone,
faithful servant of Sammy, Little Bit and Rocky

[remove Junk for email]
Home Page: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/index.html
Cat Pix: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/animals.html

Tee hee - just love your description of Moogie learning about leashes.

We have very recently bought a harness for Spock to take him outside
with (Persephone is more of a home-body and gets spooked by being
outside). When we first put it on Spock (inside), he had the same
mystical problem - "this red thing has cut off all my legs, person, I
can't walk so you must carry me everywhere" Now, however, after a
couple of trips outside, he has got the hang of it and is even
starting to associate the harness with being allowed outside.

Tish - walkin' a cat on a leash in the country and gettin' strange
looks from the neighbours!

"Stacey" wrote in message .. .
I'm trying to train Moogie to "walk" on a harness. Now that the weather has
been getting nicer, I'll take him out onto the deck and hook him to a light
leash. Unfortunately, the harness seems to have some mystical qualities to
it that render Moogie unable to walk, so he just rolls around on the deck.

Today I hooked him up to the leash and set him in the middle of the yard. At
first he just fell over and started to roll. But then he saw A BIRD! Whoah..
what is THAT?? His little eyes got all big and round, his tail stood up..
that was the biggest fly he had ever seen! And, whoah boy, there goes
another one! Apparently the presence of said birds sapped the harness of
it's mystical powers, because suddenly Moogie was standing. And walking!

Walking slowly, but yep, he was actually walking. He'd take a few steps then
fall over again.. roll around for a while then stand up. Then he spied a
squirrel in the next yard and if you thought the birds made him walk, well,
squirrels made him RUN! Whoosh.. off he goes at full speed toward the
squirrel. Unfortunately, he was still tethered and the few seconds it took
to get to the end of the leash did not allow his Meowmie enough time to
follow so he came up short and did a backward somersault, coming to rest at
my feet.

Then he couldn't walk again, so I had to pick him up and carry him indoors!

Stacey :)

(p.s. The not-so-little-anymore-sh*t has taken to sauntering outdoors when I
go out for a cigarette... something he must have done last night before I
went to bed.. because when DH got home, he was met by a chilly Moogster
sitting, untethered, on the deck. Geez!)

Tee hee - just love your description of Moogie learning about leashes.

We have very recently bought a harness for Spock to take him outside
with (Persephone is more of a home-body and gets spooked by being
outside). When we first put it on Spock (inside), he had the same
mystical problem - "this red thing has cut off all my legs, person, I
can't walk so you must carry me everywhere" Now, however, after a
couple of trips outside, he has got the hang of it and is even
starting to associate the harness with being allowed outside.

Tish - walkin' a cat on a leash in the country and gettin' strange
looks from the neighbours!

"Stacey" wrote in message .. .
I'm trying to train Moogie to "walk" on a harness. Now that the weather has
been getting nicer, I'll take him out onto the deck and hook him to a light
leash. Unfortunately, the harness seems to have some mystical qualities to
it that render Moogie unable to walk, so he just rolls around on the deck.

Today I hooked him up to the leash and set him in the middle of the yard. At
first he just fell over and started to roll. But then he saw A BIRD! Whoah..
what is THAT?? His little eyes got all big and round, his tail stood up..
that was the biggest fly he had ever seen! And, whoah boy, there goes
another one! Apparently the presence of said birds sapped the harness of
it's mystical powers, because suddenly Moogie was standing. And walking!

Walking slowly, but yep, he was actually walking. He'd take a few steps then
fall over again.. roll around for a while then stand up. Then he spied a
squirrel in the next yard and if you thought the birds made him walk, well,
squirrels made him RUN! Whoosh.. off he goes at full speed toward the
squirrel. Unfortunately, he was still tethered and the few seconds it took
to get to the end of the leash did not allow his Meowmie enough time to
follow so he came up short and did a backward somersault, coming to rest at
my feet.

Then he couldn't walk again, so I had to pick him up and carry him indoors!

Stacey :)

(p.s. The not-so-little-anymore-sh*t has taken to sauntering outdoors when I
go out for a cigarette... something he must have done last night before I
went to bed.. because when DH got home, he was met by a chilly Moogster
sitting, untethered, on the deck. Geez!)

Stacey wrote:
I'm trying to train Moogie to "walk" on a harness. Now that the weather has
been getting nicer, I'll take him out onto the deck and hook him to a light
leash. Unfortunately, the harness seems to have some mystical qualities to
it that render Moogie unable to walk, so he just rolls around on the deck.

Today I hooked him up to the leash and set him in the middle of the yard. At
first he just fell over and started to roll. But then he saw A BIRD! Whoah..
what is THAT?? His little eyes got all big and round, his tail stood up..
that was the biggest fly he had ever seen! And, whoah boy, there goes
another one! Apparently the presence of said birds sapped the harness of
it's mystical powers, because suddenly Moogie was standing. And walking!

Walking slowly, but yep, he was actually walking. He'd take a few steps then
fall over again.. roll around for a while then stand up. Then he spied a
squirrel in the next yard and if you thought the birds made him walk, well,
squirrels made him RUN! Whoosh.. off he goes at full speed toward the
squirrel. Unfortunately, he was still tethered and the few seconds it took
to get to the end of the leash did not allow his Meowmie enough time to
follow so he came up short and did a backward somersault, coming to rest at
my feet.

Then he couldn't walk again, so I had to pick him up and carry him indoors!

Stacey :)

(p.s. The not-so-little-anymore-sh*t has taken to sauntering outdoors when I
go out for a cigarette... something he must have done last night before I
went to bed.. because when DH got home, he was met by a chilly Moogster
sitting, untethered, on the deck. Geez!)

LOL! We've been using a harness and leash on Oliver since he was a
little mite and now he is very good about it. The other day I asked him
if he wanted to go out and went to get his leash. It wasn't where I
had last put it. So I looked at him and said "wheres your leash?" but
he didn't answer. 15 minutes later I was still hunting around when I
asked him again. Where's your leash? This time he meowed and I took a
closer look. He was laying on it the whole time. Now when I ask him if
he wants to go outside I always watch where he runs because he always
knows exactly where the leash is!


--
Margaret Fine

Stacey wrote:
I'm trying to train Moogie to "walk" on a harness. Now that the weather has
been getting nicer, I'll take him out onto the deck and hook him to a light
leash. Unfortunately, the harness seems to have some mystical qualities to
it that render Moogie unable to walk, so he just rolls around on the deck.

Today I hooked him up to the leash and set him in the middle of the yard. At
first he just fell over and started to roll. But then he saw A BIRD! Whoah..
what is THAT?? His little eyes got all big and round, his tail stood up..
that was the biggest fly he had ever seen! And, whoah boy, there goes
another one! Apparently the presence of said birds sapped the harness of
it's mystical powers, because suddenly Moogie was standing. And walking!

Walking slowly, but yep, he was actually walking. He'd take a few steps then
fall over again.. roll around for a while then stand up. Then he spied a
squirrel in the next yard and if you thought the birds made him walk, well,
squirrels made him RUN! Whoosh.. off he goes at full speed toward the
squirrel. Unfortunately, he was still tethered and the few seconds it took
to get to the end of the leash did not allow his Meowmie enough time to
follow so he came up short and did a backward somersault, coming to rest at
my feet.

Then he couldn't walk again, so I had to pick him up and carry him indoors!

Stacey :)

(p.s. The not-so-little-anymore-sh*t has taken to sauntering outdoors when I
go out for a cigarette... something he must have done last night before I
went to bed.. because when DH got home, he was met by a chilly Moogster
sitting, untethered, on the deck. Geez!)

LOL! We've been using a harness and leash on Oliver since he was a
little mite and now he is very good about it. The other day I asked him
if he wanted to go out and went to get his leash. It wasn't where I
had last put it. So I looked at him and said "wheres your leash?" but
he didn't answer. 15 minutes later I was still hunting around when I
asked him again. Where's your leash? This time he meowed and I took a
closer look. He was laying on it the whole time. Now when I ask him if
he wants to go outside I always watch where he runs because he always
knows exactly where the leash is!


--
Margaret Fine

When I first got Betty, I tried the harness on her. She got over the
falling over and rolling around thing after a while, but I was never
able to train her well on the leash. She didn't seem to get the
concept of my not wanting to follow her under cars and through bushes.
I don't think she's a constitutional sort of cat, so I haven't tried
since. I sometimes carry her outside to get some fresh air, but she
doesn't seem to think much of it. She's an indoor creature.

When I first got Betty, I tried the harness on her. She got over the
falling over and rolling around thing after a while, but I was never
able to train her well on the leash. She didn't seem to get the
concept of my not wanting to follow her under cars and through bushes.
I don't think she's a constitutional sort of cat, so I haven't tried
since. I sometimes carry her outside to get some fresh air, but she
doesn't seem to think much of it. She's an indoor creature.

Stacey wrote:
I'm trying to train Moogie to "walk" on a harness. Now that the
weather has been getting nicer, I'll take him out onto the deck and
hook him to a light leash. Unfortunately, the harness seems to have
some mystical qualities to it that render Moogie unable to walk, so
he just rolls around on the deck.

(snippage)

I tried this with Persia last spring. She, too, can only roll around or
become otherwise paralyzed. The birds won't come onto the patio, nor the
squirrels, so she never really got "un-frozen". She did, however, manage to
crawl under the patio swing and get paralyzed there, causing Meowmie to have
to crawl under the swing and haul her out and back inside.

This is why I bought her a "kitty walk" for the patio :)

Jill