When I was a young boy my grandfather found out I was setting traps for muskrats. His word of advise for trapping with leg hold traps were if I caught someones dog to throw a coat over it and then sit on it while releasing the trap. If I caught someones house cat his advise was to get a big stick and kill it because that then would tear you up if you tried to release it alive.
I released several cats from foothold traps using the coat method without injury. Cats usually damage themselves badly enough fighting a foothold that it's hardly worth releasing them though. Dogs are often easy to release with very little damage to themselves other than a sore foot,
