Heart Like a Dog

The Good, the Bad, and the Oh My God of living with dogs!

The Correct Way

By

Tonight during our training class the instructor said, “Hold the leash the correct way.”

What?

Back the truck up a bit, you mean there’s a correct way to hold a leash?

Well dip me in ice and call me a popsicle, I had no idea.

But apparently one of the show-offs other students, knew the correct way, and she promptly showed off us.

Our instructor says your thumb goes through the leash and you can then accordion the leash into your hand.  The leash goes in the opposite hand of the side your dog is on.  So if your dogs heels on your left side, the leash is in your right hand and vice versa.

The leash is loose and forms a slight ‘J,’ if your dog gets too far ahead you use your left arm to control the dog.

The instructor says this works better than wrapping the leash around your fist, and also gives you better control.

Did you know this?  Why didn’t anyone tell ME?

Our instructor also fit Delilah for a harness tonight, she says it will help with her pulling.  We didn’t get outside to practice though because it was too hot.

Do you use a harness on your dog?  Have you always used a harness or did you switch?  Have you found it makes a difference?

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

Comments

comments

Comments

  1. I don’t know if I ever knew it was the correct way to hold a leash, but I have almost always done this. Strange.
    I have used harnesses on all my dogs at some point. Lady always wears one because of her last escapade, but Daisy rarely wears hers anymore, unless we are going somewhere new or scary (for her). I live the EW harness for pullers. We used them at our shelter all of the time. But there are many great ones out there.

    • Thanks Mel, I hope to show pictures of the correct way to hold leashes. 🙂 I’ve never used a harness before but am willing to try. I will update as to the effectiveness in a future post. I can understand why you would want Lady on a harness! No chance of slipping out of that!! God, I can’t even imagine! Did you get any sleep while she was gone?

  2. With Chessies, we don’t wrap anything around anything else unless we don’t want it anymore…lol. Yes that is how we hold our leash. We don’t use a harness. Training collar, e-collar, show collar, buckle collar, slip lead…I think that is enough. 🙂

    • It sounds like enough to me. I’m willing to give the harness a shot. I do admit to being guilty with wrapping the leash around my wrist to get a better grip on her. :0

  3. I think I need you to take a picture . . I’m a visual person 🙂 We used the “easy walk” harness with Saydee when she was here and it helped tremendously! There’s always a showoff, isn’t there?

  4. With the risk of being a “show off,” I did know to hold the leash that way. LOL! But I learned it in a class too, I wasn’t born knowing it, that’s for sure….I used to wrap it around my hand too. 🙂

    I’ve tried the front clip harness on Toby and occasionally use it.

    It does control pulling, however, I have no control over his head, so if it is any place where he can go “visit” another dog or snatch food from the ground, I don’t like it. Pretty much, I only use if for leisurely walks, and only at new places when he’s over excited. (Around the neighborhood he generally doesn’t pull.)

    • LOL Donna, yes I’m sure she had taken a previous class with this lady and was taught there! I was showing my claws. :0

      I am planning on using it between now and the next class to see how it works and if I like it. I’ll let you all know how it turns out. 🙂

  5. We were always harness people. We used a front-clip harness for a while. Silas pulled so hard that he flipped himself over. Then we used a regular back-clip harness. Silas pulled like a sled dog. In desperation, we just started using his regular collar, and he walks much, much better. I’m not sure if he just finally “got it” or if the collar really helps.

    I think there’s something to be said for just using something *different* than what the dog is used to.

    • I’ve heard that about harnesses Jessica, that they tend to make a dog pull worse, this is the EZ Walk harness and I believe it is new to the market. I am going to try it and see.

      Thank you for stopping by and commenting!

      • Front-clip harnesses with an H design are meant to help pulling. Back-clip harnesses actually give the dog more power to pull. :-/

  6. Darn cell phone didn’t put my comment through.

    I thought it was funny that there was a right way to hold a leash and that I have been doing that since I was a young girl. Huh. Guess I was doing it “right” and never knew!

    I have used harnesses on my dogs in the past as well as martingale collars. Mostly because I have fearful dogs and need to be certain they won’t get spooked and run. Daisy has an EasyWalk harness that I still use on occasion. We used them all of the time at our shelter, especially with the pullers. It’s not the only good harness out there, but I have found it to be quite useful with dogs that pull.

  7. Yep agree with 2 Brown Dawgs about the wrapping LOL

    Buckle collar, show, martingale, slip lead and Titan is using an e collar.

    Tried a harness once on a dog many years ago and I didn’t care for it but that’s just me.

  8. Then what happens if your dog takes off? your leash will easily un-accordian right through your hand and slip right off your thumb! I would probably loop it around my wrist first : those nylon leashes are crap for friction and i sure couldn’t hold it tight enough in an accordion fold…

    • Well I guess that is where your left arm comes down and either 1) keeps the dog from running off or 2) snaps your arm. LOL I see what she is saying and will be practicing this. I will report back.

    • The theory behind this hold on the leash (or so I was taught) is that if your dog DOES take off, you will not break your wrist or all your fingers or pull your arm out of its socket. The part of the leash that’s folded up will unfold/roll out and you should be able to stop your dog between having another hand free and the loop getting caught on your thumb. The big problem I see is that you can get rope burn or something on your palm–or the dog will manage to get away.

      My husband once rigged a six-foot leash around his shoulders in such a way that Desmond couldn’t really pull or bolt, but I just found it awkward and odd-looking.

      • Thanks Lauren, I suspect dislocated thumb though….when that dog takes off on me. WATCH OUT! I hope you took a picture of that!

  9. I have used a harness with Lila, and she still pulled me. She even got a little sore under her arm pit and that didn’t stop her from pulling. I give up. We go to the dog park and she can run free and I don’t have to get pulled. Maybe when she gets older, she will relax a little bit. I am looking forward to hearing how Delilah likes the harness. I hope it works!

    • You know Mary Ann I was thinking the same thing, but here Delilah is 6 1/2 years old and she still pulls the snot out of me. Plus when she sees something she wants she can pull me off my feet. I think the ideal thing would be to teach them to walk next to you. But cripes I’ve been trying for five years and neither one of my dogs does it! LOL trainer = epic fail. 🙂

  11. I’m a big fan of front clip harnesses. I think they’re effective on a majority of dogs.

  12. I hope that you don’t mind me getting in touch with you suddenly ,however I would like to invite you to my blog and appeal you charity for disaster victims and poor animals in Fukushima,Japan.日本をたすけて

  13. I use harnesses on my JRTs. I originally started using harnesses as a challenge to myself to train a dog to heel without a training collar. Mellie I use a collar but have been thinking about getting an Easy Walk harness. For various reasons, I never got around to formally training her to walk politely on leash so it is something I am going to work on.

    • I would much prefer to train Delilah to walk nicely on leash. I am going to try the harness and see if it helps. I hope we will be learning how to train them to walk nicely without the need of harness. Did the harness help?

  14. I’ve read all your posts about this trainer so far and really think she has experience with the ABC curriculum. Do you know if she was a student there?

    As for the harness, I have tried two different front-clip harnesses and don’t think they make much of a difference with pulling. However, they do keep Des safe if he does pull–or if he has a reactivity moment. We did a lot of work on loose-leash walking, so it’s less of a problem these days regardless.

    • I don’t know what the ABC curriculum is Lauren, but I can ask her! The harness seems to work but then it is hot as all get out here and no-one wants to run. LOL

      • LOL! This morning, Des barely wanted to WALK. I feel you on the heat.

        It seems like all of your trainers tips/info are the same as what I am learning at ABC–and the same as what my mentor trainer is using in her group classes. I’m so curious where she got her certification!

  15. I totally did not know this but when I am walking one dog at a time this is who I do it! Wow! I do it because it feels like I have more control, not because I really thought I was doing something the right way!

  16. I use this method because it’s easy to let out more line when your dog wants to sniff but keeps the leash from getting tangle around her feet.

    I’m a big fan of anti-pull harnesses. We have an Easy-Walk which worked great with Shadow who pulled hard enough to make my hands bleed.

    With Honey, we use it when we’re going somewhere that is particularly exciting because it gives us easier control. But I also think a harness is more comfortable than pulling on a dog’s neck.

    Can’t wait to see Delilah rocking her new harness. It might bring your work together to a whole new level. 🙂

  17. I kinda knew, but its the kind of thing I don’t think about too much given that I’m juggling 2-3, or sometimes 4, poorly behaved little monsters 🙂 My leashes may start out shaped like “j”s for a moment or two, but once the 3 of them form a macrame all together there’s not much hope 🙂

    I love harnesses, esp. Fozzie’s new Freedom Harness. I also like some of the other harnesses for dogs who don’t pull much, but I’m not a fan of the Easy Walk or step-in harnesses.

  19. Hi Jodi – It’s always good to know the proper way to do anything, so thanks for educating me!

    And pulling …. a subject near and dear to my heart. My Mazzie was (and can still be from time to time) a puller and since she has the strength of a 2 ton gorilla and the agility and reflexes of a ninja, managing her can be a challenge.

    I’ve tried what feels like a gazillion harnesses, collars and training aids. The only thing that worked with Mazzie was a head collar (I like the Halti, but a Holt or Gentle Leader is the same idea). The downside of that is of course chafing and hair loss on the bridge and sides of the muzzle, which I’ve tried everything to prevent without success (even real fur and skins, which I was sick about purchasing, didn’t help). I finally was able to find a custom leather guy who’s in the process of making her a custom leather and shearling head collar, which I’m hoping will put a stop to the chafing and hair loss once and for all.

    While that’s what worked for Mazzie, something completely different may work for Delilah and through trial and error you’ll find what works best. Whatever you ultimately end up using to manage Delilah’s pulling, I would encourage you to walk her with a back up device. For example, if you end up going with a harness, make sure Delilah wears the harness and a collar, both clipped to her leash (I have a leash with 2 clips designed precisely for this purpose). That way, if the harness fails (comes undone, comes apart or Delilah manages to escape from it like Mazzie did), you’ll still have have a hold on her because the collar is also clipped to the leash. After Mazzie got out of a harness and broke a Gentle Leader, I don’t trust ANY training device and always walk her with a head collar and a martingale collar as back up, both attached to the leash. I realize I’m a nut, but once you see a training device fail firsthand, you want to do anything to keep it from happening again.

  20. Felix (the small poodle shaped sled dog) was a wretched puller and the Easy Walk harness (along with some discipline) changed everything. A crafty dog in a poorly fitted harness can slip them, but they make these handy clips that hook from the front of the Easy Walk to a regular neck collar. There are actually some really important medical reasons to use a harness if your dog pulls. Our vet actually believes that pulling in a collar puts a lot of pressure on the delicate thyroid gland right in the throat and can lead to damage. The Felix was such a bad puller he almost collapsed his trachea and later, he needed a pricey neck adjustment to help cure his constant chewing on his feet. We definitely prefer a harness over a collar at Casa de Kolchak!

  21. Hey Sampson, hey Delilah, Jetty here. Hi Miss Jodi.

    I’ve watched enough Dog Whisperer to know I’m incorrect! I need an intervention I’m sure! I do use a harness on Jetty, which I love because it doubles as a seat belt with the extra stuff they sent me for the car! I feel like I can correct more humanely instead of pulling on his neck.

    JJ is a much easier walker generally, so, a regular leash set up works just fine. When I walk JJ alone, we practice proper walking.

  22. Hee hee. I did know about holding the lead on the opposite side… and I even do it… and Flo still goes ’round my legs. But that’s my fault, not hers and is usually because I don’t use my left hand to sort her out as I’m too busy looking at something up in a tree! We don’t use a harness, we’ve got a gentle leader, which works an absolute treat. Some people don’t like them but I’m a fan. 🙂

Trackbacks