"rather than control their animal in the first place"
Dogs are expected to be kept on leads when taken for a walk. Why is that?
Perhaps because it is well known that they may scrap with other dogs if an opportunity arises and are (generally) large enough to damage an adult if they bite or jump up at someone.
Cats are far less often "walked" (and I doubt many are taken on a lead). They are born roamers (*) and can be out for days at a time (OK, hopefully not, and as an owner one does get a bit anxious) but at least several hours. Whether they just find some nice spot that is out of the wind, gives them a vantage point for catching mice etc, or just somewhere in the sun/shade where they can doze, I know not. Most likely a mixture.
Even over the winter my cat would tend to want to be out for longer periods than I expected, or go out late at night and unless feeling esp. cold, or in awful weather, would probably linger at least 20-30 minutes longer than I wanted when I was calling for her to come home (or if it was past 23:00, walking in the road to see if she'd get the hint).
I have walked my cat around the estate from time to time (was great excuse for exploring the first evening, knowing that it was sufficiently 'strange' and 'new' that she would not hesitate to follow me home that time but she has a will of her own, and will decide on any walk we go on, just where she will and will not follow / precede me.
As for "control their animal" - I have no way to stop her from jumping a wall, injuring herself, finding herself face-to-face with a dog, or cat (though she might have a clue as soon as she steps on their territory), and unless there is a fight in an easily accessible place, little I can do to stop her. A cat, once ready to fight, seems to have enormous energy and capabilities for escaping the hold of a human by flexibility and/or dishing out severe pain via teeth and claws.
I have a lot of admiration for dog owners who have control without needing to show aggressive traits to keep their dog(s) in check. Massive credit to one dog owner who I met on a Sunday morning some weeks/months ago.
I had taken Sophia for a walk (she is a bit elderly now, so we don't go so far) and came from a grass section via an alley onto one of the roads in the estate.
I was walking at moderate pace while she went rushing through the undergrowth of some garden, oblivious to my location. I reached the crest of the hill and saw a chap with 4 large (sleek, 'dashing' like greyhounds) dogs on his way towards me. Cat ran to catch me up and stopped in absolute panic when she saw the 4 dogs. I fully expected the dogs to pull away from owner but without a word, perhaps just a twitch of his hand, all 4 sat and stared.
Not a single bark (was expecting bedlam to wake the street instead of complete calm, which was good as it was only 8:15 and I know some would hate 4 loud dogs waking them that early). My cat still froze, but I walked on a bit, thanking the dog owner for stopping and commenting on how well behaved his dogs were. We chatted briefly, and I then moved back to the pavement ready to turn the corner into road on route back to my home. Quick call to encourage Sophia to follow and she walked close to the wall as far away from the dogs as possible, still wary, but the dogs were like bronze statues and didn't move. Once she was on her way around the corner, I nodded to the dog owner and he carried on walking, again no sound from any of the dogs. Meanwhile cat decided to take refuge for a minute or two in a garden before continuing down the road with me.
No way could most people train a cat to act on command, stop instincts like those of fighting, or to block a reaction if a "stroke" was actually more of a "smack" and one they decide needs a "first warning" with claws out, to give a quick "I didn't like that, leave me alone" message.
If a cat is provoked (and I suspect that's how they see a lot of human "attention") by someone doing something they dislike, their reaction is swift and not usually very restrained. A noisy "miaaaoowww" might be their signal along with some tail swishing, but if that attracts a grabby hand and their tail is pulled, heaven help anyone (including innocent parties) in paws' reach, it's time for claws and an aggressive (arched back) stance, complete with snarls and spitting depending on the cat.
Intended to frighten, you've been given the last warning at that stage.
I will be first to admit, some cats can appear friendly and then snarl, but I suspect in many cases they have been hurt by owners and this is part of their revenge (unfortunately, on the human race in general, not their owners in particular).
- I feel very sad for any "house" cats where owners consider them such precious belongings they don't appear to have the well-being of the cat in their head, just their own selfish wishes!