Legs Extended

First, we need to gain the cat’s trust.

To do that, the cat should be in control. When we reach out to pet the scared cat, the cat is unable to stop us.

Imagine you are kidnapped, you are afraid of your kidnapper and that person touches you. Instead of learning to trust your kidnapper, you will become more scared of him.

This is why the cat needs to be the one to initiate and touch us.

We wait until the Petting Sequence before we start touching the cat. For now, we will use luring (with treats) and distracting (with toys) to get the cat to touch us.

We start by luring the cat across our ankles. As the cat gets more comfortable, we have the cat walk across our shins, knees and thighs.

Why do we do this? Legs Extended

This puts the cat in complete control because when the cat touches us, he always has the ability to step back and stop. By giving the cat control of the situation, he will learn to trust us and gain confidence. We start with our legs extended and lure the cat across our ankles because that is the furthest point from our torso (the big scary part of the human). The ankles are also the lowest point of our body so that it is both physically and mentally a lower hurdle to overcome.

We have the cat walk all the way across to the other side because it makes the "touch” quick. The cat is lured by the treat (or distracted by the toy), touches us, then by the time he realizes what happened he walked to the other side and is no longer touching us.

Why do we do this? Four Paws Up

Once the cat is comfortable walking across our thighs, we work on getting the cat used to prolonged to touch and introduce the cat to being on our lap. We remain in the legs extended position because the cat is used to us sitting that way. Every time we change our body position the cat becomes hesitant again until he gets used to it. So Legs Extended Four Paws up is the transition step to us sitting crossed leg.

Prepare for Legs Extended

We continue slow blinks until the cat is willing to eat treats in front of us. Once we can start luring the cat with the treat, he is ready to be lured across our ankles.

How to lure with treats (all stages)

When you lure a cat for all of the steps in SSL, keep your hand and the treat low and follow the contour of your body. This will get the cat to move forward instead of reaching upward. We also keep the treat low so that it isn’t coming at the eyes of the cat, which would be scary for him. Most people don’t realize their hand is too high. The best way to ensure your hand is low is to skim the floor and your legs with your knuckles as you lure with the treat. If you are using a squeezable treat, make sure to keep it flat of pointed downward. Many people have their hand low, but the squeezable treat is angled upwards, which makes the cat reach upward instead of move forward.

Crossing Legs Extended Tutorial

This is a vital step in gaining the cat’s trust because the cat will be the one to touch you. We start by cross the ankles, then shins, then knees and finally thighs. Don’t cover your legs with a blanket because the cat won’t realize that he is going over the human’s legs. Then later on when you remove the blanket you will find that you have to start all over again and wasted all your effort. If the cat’s claws are so long that you feel them when the cat is just walking across your legs, try to wear sweatpants over jeans in order to protect your legs.

Crossing Legs Extended in Action

Make sure to have the cat walk all the way across your legs (all four of the cat’s legs step over to the other side) then lure him back the other direction. It is completely normal for a cat to stop when his chest touches your leg and to stay at that point for a whole week before being willing to put a paw on your leg to start stepping across.

Complement each step with play

We complement each step with play. We get the cat used to us/that position using a wand toy for distraction. While doing the Legs Extended work, for adults start with the treat to lure the cat across then finish up with some play as demonstrated in the video below. Use the wand toy linked in the Setup section.

By combining both treats and play, the cat will progress more quickly.

For young kittens, we switch the order and start off with play to warm up the kitten then finish off with luring with the treat. This is because kittens just love to play and won’t be able to help themselves but to chase and jump after the wand toy.

Four Paws Up on Extended Legs Tutorial

Ideally have all four paws on your lap, but for adult cats (especially the larger ones) you may have one paw still on the floor. It’s ok to have 3 paws on you. As long as the cat immediately walks up to your lap, puts 3 paws on you easily and is very comfortable the whole time, you can then move on to the next step.

Make sure to have the cat start at the ankles and make the L-shape or lure at an angle to your opposite hip. When people can’t get 3-4 paws on their lap, it is often because they are starting to lure the cat up at their knee level. Make sure you lure the cat to start at your ankles.

Four Paws Up Examples

Here is the Four Paws Up with real cats. The second videoshows a cat in the mid-stage of Four Paws Up so you can see how the cat will be a little hesitant or walks off.

Advanced Four Paws Up on Extended Legs: Prepare for Petting Sequence

As the cat becomes more comfortable coming up to your lap, you can position the non-treat hand to get the cat used to having the hand near his face. This helps him overcome his fear of the human hand and prepares him for the petting sequence. Notice how we follow the same rule—we lure the cat to the resting hand. We do not reach for the cat. Use the treat to position the cat’s cheek next to the hand.

Variations

  • Try the Gamers Floor Chair linked in the Setup section.

    You can also have one leg bent and one leg extended and have the cat walk across only the one extended leg. See crossing extended legs variation video below.

  • See crossing extended legs variation video below to have one knee bent and one leg extended. If the cat is still stuck after 2 weeks, you should try to meditate or nap on the floor (fold up a towel as a pillow) and place a trail of dry treats on the floor and across/on your legs.

    You can also first try to lure the cat around your feet (so the cat doesn’t touch you) using treats and the wand toy. This requires you be flexible enough to reach that far.

  • See crossing extended legs variation video below to have one knee bent and one leg extended.

  • Coming soon

Crossing Extended Legs Variation

This variation is useful for people who have back issues and can’t sit with legs extended for a long time. It is also good for when a cat is stuck for 2 weeks and still won’t cross over your ankles—the cat keeps stopping short when his chest touches your ankles. It’s also useful for a tripod cat.

Lure cat across just beyond your feet

This variation is good for when a cat is stuck for 2 weeks and still won’t cross over your ankles—the cat keeps stopping short when his chest touches your ankles. Do this until the cat is comfortable and quickly comes up to be near (but not touching) your feet. It may take a few days or a week for the cat to be comfortable. Then you can try luring the cat across your ankles again.