Who Uses a Leash for Their Child?

I bought a harness for my son. It looks like a monkey back pack that clips on like a harness, and the tail has the leash. I bought one, because my son is a VERY busy two year old and he loves to walk and run. Its alot easier to keep an eye on him when we have his back pack on. I could give a care what people feel about my son wearing one. It does not look like a harness, and I worry about HIS safety alot more than I care about how other people view it =) Add- Using a harness is nothing to do with being lazy, its for the safety of your child- especially when they do not want to be held and they love to run. Trust me you are not just sitting on yor butt with a kid on the harness- you are running around with them.

1. My dog "hates" my neighbor's dog. Should I introduce them?

This is a tricky situation, but a controlled meeting, where both dogs are calm, given lots of treats and praise for being friendly, and probably kept on leash, may help matters. I would recommend having the meeting at your neighbour's place, or some neutral territory, as your dog has already shown some aggression about her dog trespassing on his territory. If you know your dog is not keen on other dogs in general, let alone one so close to his territory, explain that to your neighbour as well. I had a dog years ago with the same thing - loved people, hated dogs, and a couple of times at boarding kennels, caught dogs' tails and paws through the fences. She stayed away from other dogs, and she was fine. In the end, it may prove just to be an exercise in being neighbourly to let the dogs interact, but if it's closely controlled, it can not do any harm, and may stop things becoming strained with your neighbour. Our dogs bark all the time at the dog next door, she barks back, but when they have been around each other at the off-leash park or have gone next door to say hello, their level of interest in each other is almost zero. It does not stop the barking on a day-to-day basis, though. Hope this helped. Good luck!

2. Is it possible to train a cat to walk on a leash?

Yes but why would you really want to. I would not take my cat anywhere that it might feel threatened by dogs. I know several people who tether their kitties in their fenced backyards well away from trees or objects they can climb since they can fall and choke themselves with the lease

3. My dog goes crazy on a leash when a car passes?

Is she scared or trying to chase it? If she is scared then back her off the road and make her sit and try a treat to distract her. If she is chasing then have her sit stay and use a pinch collar to reinforce your commands. A dog that chases cars is not under the owner's control so your total control needs work.

4. Do you walk your dogs off the leash?

I am lucky I live in a rural area that has miles and miles of bush and places to walk my dogs off leash. I believe this is so important for my dogs to often get a run off leash sometimes but my dogs are also well trained. I have a friend that even bought a farm just for her dogs so she has a place to run them off leash. We really are not doing our dogs a service living in fear of them and being so afraid to even walk them, we spend too much time working and locking our poor dogs away and only interacting with them for a couple hours in the evening. Too many dogs never get walked it is very sad. Most City's have past bylaws that are way to restrictive on our dogs.I would like to see laws more like over in europe where dogs can come in restaurants and stores etc.

5. Anyone have luck training their cat on a leash?

Yes! My cat walks on a leash quite well. We had bought a harness for her and she hated it. We had no choice but to return it, so we bought her a collar and a leash. People say it is best to have a harness for a cat because that way they wo not get choked if they try and escape and you have better control of them. For my cat, this is not the case. What I did was put her collar on for awhile to let her get used to something being around her neck. Once she was not rolling all over the floor trying to get it off, I attached the leash and started to walk her around the house. After a few tries, they get used to it. When I walk my cat outside, she usually walks in front of me or right beside me. She tends to veer off at times and all I do is give a gentle tug on the leash to direct her the right way and she responds. The thing that is different about walking cats is, they tend to stop and want to explore a lot more than dogs do. Also, a lot of cats who have not been outside before are not used to automobile sounds, children sounds and dogs barking. When you take your cat outside, let him walk around the yard so he can get used to the groove of walking outside with you. Bring some treats along and reward him with some when he walks with you! If you really want it to work, it will! It just takes time and patience...different for each cat.