The Gentle Leader
I love our dog. I really do. But up until a week ago, I did not love walking him. His general exuberance for life and desire to get to ANYWHERE as quickly as possible (combined with that pesky doggie desire to pull things) made walking 68 (he's grown some in the last month) pounds of canine muscle a little difficult.
I had blisters.
Enter Mr. Gentle Leader. Exit Loki's ability to pull.
Humane, easy-to-use (once you get it on them... it's kinda tricky the first few times), and effective.
My only beef with it (if you can even call it that) is that Loki REFUSES to have anything to do with it when he's not actively walking. It has to be the last step in our "getting ready to go for a walk" routine, or else he'll scrape his nose off trying to remove it. But that's a minor issue really... we've gone from short ten-minute walks that tested my upper arm strength, patience, and ability to keep him from jumping up on random people to 45-minute (more when it's not too hot for the dawg, although he's now mastered the art of drinking from a water bottle) enjoyable strolls around the neighborhood.
Now if only they made a "Gentle Leave that F-ing Cat Alone."
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5 comments:
I've just finished reading your entire blog - from August 2004 till yesterday. My husband and I (both just retired) are leaving in two weeks for Chevak where I will be the school librarian. Thanks for the education! I feel like I was there with you.
Wow, a year and a bunch of reading... good luck up in Chevak, Ann! I've never been up there.
And Lyndsey... tell your sister to put the Gentle Leader on and then give hella treats until they decide it's not so bad after all.
It's called "obedience training" people...good for dogs, better for owners! All canines can be taught to walk beside humans without pulling on the lead... ;-)
Hehehe... Ummm... We're DOING dog obedience classes right now. They recommended it for him because the regular anti-pulling techniques (stopping until he stops, turning around and walking away from whatever he was pulling towards, etc...) didn't seem to bother him at all. He just fixates and pulls towards a different target. ;-)
Boy, you think someone who would take the time to anonymously post a snippy comment might have taken the time to read a few posts back where you stated that we were starting obedience training. A month ago.
Don't know why that ticks me off, but it does. Sorry ;-)
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