I have been training Maple on the harness and car for a few weeks now, but today was truly a test of how far we've come. I have been testing out several cat backpacks, but only one is truly capable of standing up to a full hike, and so we tested it for the first time. Now, I don't know what all of your experience has been with a kitten, but getting her in there ... not easy. But all cat packs have an internal leash that clips onto a harness, so once she was in, she wasn't getting out. Our hike was only a quick walk down the street, and she loved it.
Her head was popped out of the bag the entire walk, she was so in awe of being carried around. On our walk, we met an older dog and I took the opportunity to socialize her briefly. She's been surprising open to the experience; this is the second time I've done so, with much bigger dogs, and she's been unperturbed with the experience. A win for that goal!
After our short walk, I decided to give her some harness-only time and stretch her legs. We don't stray far from the house so that she can keep to familiar territory. One of the challenges I've had in training her on her harness is that she had gotten used to vinyl floors and concrete, so when I try to put her on the rocky areas of my front yard, she stops exploring and tries to get back to concrete. Not necessarily a setback, but we'll keep working on it. My front yard has some grassy areas - and by that, I mean I've let it run wild for the last year with wild grasses and debris. When I put Maple on that, she became very curious, burrowing into the tall grasses and being cute. This is what I wanted to see! Altogether, we were only outside 20 or so minutes because it was getting warm outside.
The fun didn't stop there. We had two separate car trips: one a quick jaunt to the butcher shop, the other a much longer one while we picked up a friend from the airport. She wears her harness whenever we go outside, but in the car she acts much more uncertain and gravitates towards my lap even though the backseat offers a lot more grip for her. The first trip was about 30 minutes, but the airport trip took over two hours. I left to get something from the gas station, and it really stressed her out when she couldn't see me: crying and panting behaviors. I'm going to have to be more mindful of that in the future so that these activities don't become too much for her. Seeing me through the window seems to be fine, though.
Looking forward to giving you all the next update!
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