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Haku the Reluctant Cat Adventurer

2/21/2019

Will Haku Ever Love Adventuring?

Well, he actually does. Mostly in his backyard, but sometimes Haku really enjoys himself on longer adventures too. I've run into a whole lot of roadblocks though with his wider adventure training recently though - most especially because of his anxiety about leaving behind the place that he calls home.

To be fair, hoping in a car has never been Haku's happy thing. He was quite ill as a kitten (which we didn't know when we picked him up from his breeder), and he both threw up and had diarrhea within minutes of getting into the car for our 6 hour drive home that day. (Turns out that a special raw food diet is our best weapon with his tummy and allergy issues). And even though he doesn't normally get sick on car rides anymore, I'm pretty sure that it's still hovering there in the back of his kitty mind.

Training Haku to go further than our lanai was a long, slow process. It actually took a number of months of leash training before he was comfortable even adventuring all the way around in our (tiny!) backyard. It was even longer before he was ready to go a little further away from our house, such as down the block a short ways. Finally, about 7-8 months ago, we began going on the occasional park visit. And it's been (was!) awesome - he mostly did quite well with those huge adventures (except for the fatal City Island Park misadventure - no more open spaces with water for him!).

But, somehow, someway, somewhere Haku suddenly decided all over again that he truly hates car rides, and he wasn't even too enthused about those tiny neighborhood voyages to the Turtle Bridge down the street. How did this happen? Who knows! That cat's mind is a complete mystery to me some days... All I know is that I'm now having to slowly and step-by-step go back through nearly our whole harness training/adventuring process with him. And it's working. But - dang! I sure hope it sticks better this time around!
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Is it Really Worth all This?

In a word - yes. I think that it is. My quite large family is (finally!) getting older, and there is the real possibility of travel to wider destinations in just a few more years. If at all possible, I want to bring ShiShi and Haku with me as I fulfill at least some of my travel dreams and explore more of the US - and Canada too. (It is currently quite easy to bring pets across the border there.) Already ShiShi is doing well enough on our expanded adventures that I think my goal of travel with her in a few years is quite realistic. But then there's Haku...

The furthest goal from my mind is to have a stressed out cat who hates going on adventures, or worse yet doesn't even want to go outside. And, far more that those eventual trips across the US and Canada, I want Haku to be comfortable simply exploring around the area where we live. I am a deep believer in the healthiness of sunshine and exercise for nearly everyone, not least of all for my cats. And we've had many, many of times over this past year where Haku simply glowed with happiness after a good time in the outdoors, whether close by, or a bit further away. We just need to find our way back to that happy point again...

When all is well, Haku has a marvelous time wandering around our yard, or even poking around in new places. In fact, after the past few weeks of re-training, he is already excited within the first moment of actually getting his head out the door - but he's still sometimes nervous when he first sees his harness. It looks like I'm going to have to be even more careful this time around as we move through our adventure training process to make sure that he doesn't stress. I'm honestly not sure what set this whole problem off in the first place - maybe a perfect storm of tiny issues with our last car ride/further away but seemingly awesome Adventure at Culverhouse Park. One way or another, we are already back on the road to bigger adventures.

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Training Now - and What's Next

1. Treats, treats and more treats! *** This is super effective with Haku, who has simply never met a food that he didn't like. Since he had begun running to hide whenever his harness came out of the cupboard, I started getting out the treat jar first, and basically give him another treat with every move I make relating to his harness or leash.

2. We are staying mighty close to home. The first few weeks of this his worried behavior we only voyaged as far as our own back yard. Now we are slowly going wider, and just a few days ago Haku went on a 'family' walk all the way around our one mile block (mostly in the stroller). Definitely no car rides again yet, though!

3. Each time that I want to expand his adventuring repertoire a bit, I'm making use of the buddy system with ShiShi. I also add in as many other family members as I can grab - he's a lover boy to the core, and does best with new things if there is LOTS of family support.

4. I'm re-learning my own patience with this process. Right now is the best time of year to explore the many parks around us, but I'm reigning it all back until Haku is super comfortable with exploration and adventure again. That one mile stroller walk held zero stress for him, and he even did great with our Putting on the Cat Harness photo shoot 👇 - a minor miracle! Hopefully, before I know it, we'll be back on the adventure road again.

***I use freeze dried liver for motivating Haku or ShiShi whenever I am doing any kind of training. The liver treats are particularly beloved and can help if something is mentally or emotionally difficult. Also, the dried liver is the perfect texture to break into minuscule pieces - that way I can treat a kitty as many as twenty times without worrying about the extra calories or a sick tummy. These particular treats are marketed for dogs, but my cats adore them, much as they adore the beef liver that I add into their regular meals. ***

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Putting on a Cat Harness (with lots of treats!)

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My Boring Life as a Cat Walker

2/7/2019

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Who's Really Got the Leash?

This is one of those keeping-it-real posts. Because I try my best to stay real all the time on this blog, but it's also very easy to get into the habit of showing only the most 'interesting' or 'pretty' stuff instead of including the rest of it. And my biggest reason for doing this blog is to share my very real experiences with my cats. I hope that other people can also find the kind of nurturing and heartwarming experience with their own feline family as I have with mine. Really getting to know cats, and getting the very best out of a relationship with cats, can take a whole lot of human tolerance, imagination, patience, and sometimes sheer grit. It's very rarely the picture-purrfect romance that I think it will be - but every once in while, it's even magically better.

When I first started training ShiShi and Haku to walk on leash, I had this vision of exploring long forested trails with them, taking them on occasional day-trips , and even of (maybe) taking my fluffy companions on some outdoor restaurant expeditions during said trips. At this point, however, I've been pretty much disillusioned of all those ideas (although I still dream of them for the far future, after LOTS more training). What I have found, though, during our times outside together has been unexpectedly precious. Cats have none of a human's preconceptions about their environment, and my sweethearts often coax me into seeing beauty in places where I might have ignored it. They also teach me that slowing down and really being present can be the best part of my day.

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Benefits of Cat Walking

The benefits of getting out into the natural world, soaking in some sunshine, are innumerable - for cats as well as people. It's been shown to reduces stress and improve mood. And because stress inhibits the immune system, there can be further health benefits as well. But anyone who pictures going for a brisk afternoon stroll with their cat to improve their cardio is going to become quickly disillusioned.

Walking cats could possibly be said to be one of the slowest-paced activities on the planet - they often seem obliged to stop, sniff and explore each and every tiny object or hiding spot that they pass by in their explorations. In reality, it takes nothing more than a tiny backyard, or any 6 foot strip of grass, or even one tiny tree to make a grand adventure for a cat. They don't really care about spectacular views - they just want to be present in the moment and sniff absolutely everything they can get their noses near - no matter if it's just the same old 'boring' stuff that they already saw yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that.

And why am I telling you all of this? Because I honestly wish that I'd had a clearer idea of what I was really going to gain from all that harness and leash training effort back when I first started.  I was (and am) completely enamored of several totally gorgeous blogs and IG pages devoted to exciting cat adventures in the wilderness. The pictures are always amazing, and are often taken at some stunning location I can only dream of visiting for now, and my heart has been captured at the idea of taking my best furry buddies with me on similar adventures. But, as inspiring and beloved as those adventuring cats (and their humans) are to me, my own cat-walking experience has been wildly different, at least so far.

For now, I've come to the not-so-sad realization that for the most part, cat walking for me isn't going to be about hiking miles with my furry loves, visiting stunning settings or having exciting (to me) adventures with them. It is about the sheer happiness that ShiShi and Haku exhibit when they are exploring in the outdoors - and the peace and wonder that I find in seeing the natural world through their eyes.   Don't get me wrong - I absolutely love our occasional visits to parks, and I'm thrilled with the progress that they are making with longer walks around our suburban neighborhood as a sign of what I hope for in the future, but the bulk of our outdoor time is spent making circles around our quite tiny backyard. Is it boring? Sure! But we are also soaking in the sun and communing with nature - something that I simply wouldn't get around to doing nearly as often if it wasn't for the inspiration of my amazing cats.

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Cat Walking Tips For the Hoomanz

1. Be Patient. And, really, be patient.

2. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. ShiShi and Haku have taught me more about the natural beauty to be found in bugs, lizards, piles of sticks and stray blades of grass than I ever imagined. They enjoy inspecting those stick piles just as much as the flowers I would pay more attention to, and are just as likely to get cozy on a drain spout as choose the 'prettier' spot only a few feet away.

3. Take some time to breath and be peaceful - you might as well! Walking with a cat means LOTS of standing (or sitting) still in one place. Our modern world can be so fast paced - take advantage and slow down for just a little, wonderful while.

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Curious about what a real-life walk around our backyard looks like with ShiShi? Here's a short clip from this past week, made just after we arrived home from a neighborhood backpack/walking adventure. Poking her way around the familiar territory once she is home is her 'reward' for doing such a great job, and a great way to end on a happy, low-stress note.