Leash Training Your Rats It is fun to take your rat for a walk on a leash. Leashes allow you to take your rats into new areas that you couldn't normally let them go into safely if they were wandering free. There is really no training involved here. It is just a matter of having an appropriate rat halter that works. A good rat halter is easy to put on and fits securely. A figure eight style halter is an excellent choice for rats. It can be challenging to put a halter on a rat, but once in place a rat will generally accept a halter without much fuss, and will act naturally as if they didn't have it on. A rat cannot be trained to follow you like a dog would on a leash. All you can really do with a leashed rat is follow them around, letting them lead the way. If your rat starts to wonder into an area you don't want him to go, simply hold the leash taught and prevent him from going in that direction. A rat will usually accept this restriction and quickly choose another direction to go. Here, my husband keeps Peanut on the couch by pulling the leash taught so that she can't climb down. We love to take our rats on walks throughout our house. The new smells and sights stimulate them and enrich their lives, and with the leash on, we can follow them from room to room without fear of loosing them. Peanut loves going for walks. One word of caution though, lock your cats up before taking your rats out on their walk. Cats that normally would never look twice at your rats, will now see them in a whole new light with that rather fun looking string attached to their bodies. With the leash on, your rats now resemble one of the many cat toys your cat plays with on a regular basis. They won't realize that your rat on a string isn't a new fun toy you bought for them. It's actually a good idea to lock up any other animals you might have in the house before taking your rat for a walk. Also be cautious to watch and make sure that your rat doesn't chew through his leash while out on his excursion.