Harnessing Freedom

First we brought you the Buddy Stroller.  And, as if that weren't enough, now we've finally approached (if not gone off entirely) the deep end.  (Actually, Sean argues that we were already there with the Buddy Stroller, and he may have a point there.)  Now, we've bought them harnesses, with little retractable leashes to go with them.  

At first, the idea was for Otto and Wanda to have matching plaid harnesses in different colors--Otto's in green and navy blue, Wanda's in pink and white.  Otto got the "medium dog" sized (yes, you heard that right), and Wanda got the "small dog" sized.  Only problem is that Wanda is apparently not as small as a small dog (see previous post about why the other buddies shouldn't have mush all the time), plus she's made it abundantly clear now that she has no intention of being led around on a leash like a common animal.  Otto on the other hand just saw one word in all these crazy harness shenanigans:  FREEDOM.  Now he can go outside with the Big Buddies without Big Buddy Girl having a conniption (which is rarely any fun for anybody).  

But now, Reggie wanted to go out in the harness, too.  And guess who is also way bigger than a small dog?  And who balks at the concept of having to wear hot pink?  So back we went to the pet store to get Reggie his very own manly red plaid harness in medium.  

And then, this past Saturday, we took the cats out in the back yard with the harnesses.  Otto "got it" right away, purring like crazy to get to hang out with the Big Buddies on the back patio.  Reggie took a little more coaxing.  At first he was afraid to move with the harness on, and kept "commando crawling" whenever he felt the urge to go from thither to yon.  We picked  up some small sticks and started playing with him, which distracted him just enough to be able to relax and enjoy being outside.  I really do think that, with a bit more practice, Reggie is going to be an old hand at this himself.  

And someday, when they're both really good at it, we'll be able to take them on walks.  Now if we can just seem to locate the neighborhood Cat Park...