#1379 – Wrap
Posted on September 30, 2011 at 12:00 am by Chris
Chapter: Comics
I wish my dog understood her leash better. She know it means “outside” but she has never caught on to the limitations it put on her freedom of movement. She will forever chase after squirrels, birds, cats, chipmunks, leaves blowing in the wind. Amazingly there is some sort of mystical force that prevents her from travelling farther than 6 feet away from me. Maybe it doesn’t apply to this next squirrel.
Today’s Maximumble is hard to see.
Squirrel!
Where..?!
😀
My dogs have learned that there’s a six-foot magical ‘land you on yer butt’ barrier when we go for a walk. They test it only rarely.
A friend of mine had a huge boxer that used to drag hard enough to yank a large man off his feet. He was recommended a dog head-collar – a bit like a horse’s bridle. It worked a treat, Gus (the boxer) paid much more attention to the limits of the leash.
Might be worth a try.
Commonly brand name on these is “Gentle Leader.”
They work quite well – In most cases. My border collie, though, has managed to completely subvert the head harness. Figures. BCs are too smart for their own dang good.
My parent’s chocolate lab has the same problem, complicated by the fact that he’s strong enough to break his collar if he really wants to go somewhere.
Luckily, he only goes about 20-30 feet before he realizes you aren’t following him anymore. Then he turns around and runs back.
We don’t have a dog, but we do have one of those “Child Leashes” for our toddler. He hasn’t figured out the leash limit either.
@ Cari – I love those things! They look like furry backpacks and are so cute. But I’d feel awkward asking someone “Excuse me, may I walk your toddler?”
I was just reading a book my sister bought called “I listen to my dog” (by Jan Fennell) and it described similar issues, it’s probably mostly about your authority as the “pack leader”. Whenever your dog starts pulling too much, stop where you are and wait until the dog stops pulling and looks at you, then continue. Do this every time it happens (might need some patience from your side) and the dog should eventually realize it can’t get further than the leash.
Just thought you’d want to know. 🙂
Alas, this doesn’t work so well with the toddler…