January 18, 2016
This is a post about training your cat to walk on leash outdoors, especially in a new environment with more distractions.
After testing the waters walking the kittens behind our local veterinary clinic by myself and then taking the kids and the cats to our neighborhood park, we thought we’d really test them today by taking them to Lake Poway.
While Gretel the Savannah (right, below) was much more skittish than Ginger the Bengal, which is her usual MO, she let her curiosity get the better of her and faced down a few dogs (from afar), and seemed to really enjoy much of the hike.
Check out how fast they can go when they’re not putzing around in the bushes:
The old man was even there to wrangle a cat or carry the occasional cat carrier.
My eldest daughter’s really my co-pilot on the walking front though. Here you see her walking Ginger, who has much less fear than Gretel does. They are pros at this.
Look at them in action!
Ginger also tolerates the occasional snuggle very well.
But the most exciting event happened when we saw some horses navigating a steep downhill. The kittens had never seen horses before.
Then the next very exciting thing happened. Our cats came upon this apparent raw meat:
A beautiful osprey. Read more about our local ospreys in a fantastic article in the Union Tribune here.
But wait – it had a gorgeous trout in its talons still as it flew away!
The kids couldn’t believe it – they had never seen anything like it in real life. Enjoy your sushi, flying friend. I will continue to eat mine with white rice and soy sauce, thanks.
Happy Sunday, and thanks for looking! xo
