Hi!

We recently started harness training our two Bengal boys in order to take them out for walkies :)
We started last week by slowly introducing them to the harnesses: let them smell the fabric, getting them used to the sound of velcro, laying the harness just on top of their backs,...
Now we started with strapping them in the harness (in turns, never together) for a short period of time. We started with 2 minutes and now it's about 10 minutes. When we do this, we immediately try to distract them with snacks and toys so hopefully they will associate it with something positive.
The first day it went quite ok for both of them, just some 'drunk' walking. The next day they both just dropped and pretended to be totally disabled So every time they did the effort to walk towards me, they got a treat! And now on the third day it also was a mix between playing dead and walking for 5 steps Oh, and they also can't jump anymore

Now my question is, if I'm doing this correctly. Gin seems to be motivated enough to go for his favorite treats (but he really thinks he can't jump or walk straight). Tonic isn't so motivated by treats because he feels so strange with the harness on, so I try to let him play with his favorite toy because his curiosity is greater than is hunger but even that seems quite difficult... he will let himself fall after 2-5 steps. Or he just looks at the bouncing toy with sad eyes... Yesterday he did manage to jump to the first platform of the cat tree, so I rewarded him with pets and treats! :) But after that jump he just dropped again.

So is this a good way of training? Should I just continue with rewards whenever they walk, run or jump? Or is it better to let them adjust to it on their own? I mean: let them wear the harness supervised for eg 1 hour daily in order for them to discover that they will not die from wearing it. Or will this 'ruin' the positive association?

I dunno, sounds reasonable to me what you're doing. But it sounds so funny. If you were to video-document this process and edit it properly it could be youtube gold for sure!

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The little monsters 3

You are absolutely doing this perfectly. This can be typical cat behavior when they have something around them that is not familiar. Cats either drop to the floor as if they are now paralyzed and can't get up and walk. Or they fight the harness and try to get it off. Or, they are fine with it from the start. Yours are obviously in the first group. It can take weeks to get them used to a harness and it is so important that they are used to it before you take them outside on a leash. Treats are the way to try and get them up and walking with the harness. And trying to extend the amount of time they are wearing it helps, too. It may take some time with your babies ... every cat is different. The first time I put a harness on mine, he just tried to look down at it and walked around and we were out the door in two minutes with no issues. Yours need a little more time. Just keep at it and eventually, they will get used to wearing it. Mine will jump up the highest platform of his cat tree once I take the leash off and he's still wearing the harness -- so cats can still jump wearing the harness. I'm sure this is amusing to watch your kitties, but don't give up and just keep doing what your doing. Toys and treats are the way to go until they simply realize they can do everything while wearing the harness. Just make sure the harness is not too tight. You should be able to put a finger under the straps. The other day, I twisted the chest strap on Raiden and he did the "lay down and act paralyzed" thing until I fixed it on him.

A photo of Tonic in full -disabled- glory

Oh that poor baby! LOL. Hang in there. Mine got out of his harness yesterday on our walk as I was tangled up in a wire decoration just as the noisy UPS truck came barreling down the street and stopped at the house we were at. Took me an hour to find that he was still in their yard challenging another cat to a brawl, which ensued. I managed to catch him and carry him home and he is fine, but he is not getting a walk this morning and he is really upset about it. The challenge for YOU is going to be walking TWO cats. And I'd make sure not to have a leash more than 10 feet. Raiden can manage to get himself into a ton of trouble with the 10' footer we use. Keep doing what you're doing. The fact that Gin is doing well is awesome. Tonic will follow at some point.