Retractable Leashes Should Be Banned!

This morning Jesse and I were walking a couple of our clients, a mini Schnauzer and a Westie. We came around a corner and there was a woman with her Jack Russell closely approaching us. When the JR saw us, he started charging, head jutted forward, all his teeth bared, ears pinned back, face really tight. He wasn’t bothering to bark, he was in total fight mode. Since he was on a flexi lead retractable leash, and his owner wasn’t able to control it, he was able to make it to a couple feet from us before I could back my three dogs away from him. They were in defense mode at that point… so, even though they’re small dogs, it wasn’t all that easy.

Luckily the JR finally hit the end before he got to us, and didn’t yank the handle out of his mom’s hand when he did. He was running at us so hard, when he hit the end he was yanked off his feet and over backwards. OMG, he could have broken his neck or suffered serious neck/throat damage, especially since he was on a choke chain! But he got right up and came back at us.

Meanwhile, the JR’s mom was just standing there screaming, “No, No, No…” Once her dog couldn’t go any further and we were backing away, she told me her dog doesn’t really like other dogs. No! … Really? I never would have guessed.

At that point, my goal was to get my dogs away, so I didn’t waste time talking to her. That’s for the best, at that moment, I would have said, “What the **** are you thinking, walking that **** dog on a flexi lead? He’s **** out of control. You’re a **** idiot! You need to control your **** dog.” OK, I wouldn’t have said that, I would have yelled it.

If I were to ever see her again, there are some things I’d like to calmly talk to her about… I would tell her that she should use a regular leash, instead of the retractable so she has better control of the dog, and so he doesn’t get to practice charging other dogs. I would explain how much damage hitting the end of the lead could do. I would also tell her the choke collar was making her dog even more reactive. How a choke collar can cause serious neck and throat damage, even brain damage. But the choke collar isn’t the topic of this blog. This one is about why I hate retractable leashes.

I admit, in the past, I have used them with my dog, and with client’s dogs. However, I no longer use them period! I’ve had too many negative experiences with them. When I walk dogs of any size, I use standard, size appropriate, six-foot leashes. If my clients only have retractable leads, I provide my own (I do tell them I use my own leashes and why).

From a training point of view, it’s very difficult to teach a dog how to loose leash walk with a retractable lead. Because of the design, there’s never a loose leash, it’s always tight no matter how close the dog is to you. So he doesn’t get to experience what a loose leash feels like. Also, he doesn’t learn where the end of the leash is if it keeps changing all the time.

I don't like the lack of control most people, including myself, have with retractable leashes. It's very easy for the dog to get too far from the handler, especially when the dog is at a full out run. Then it's too difficult to reel them back in quickly. With a regular leash, you can grab it further down and pull the dog back… but then with a regular leash, the dog can only go four to six feet, not 15 - 30. The cable on a retractable lead is so thin, it's hard to get a good grip on it and, if the cable runs through your hand, it can cut you. That cable can be dangerous too. I’ve seen playing dogs get wrapped up in the other dogs leash and nearly choked. I’ve also had my legs cut by them when a dog ran by me and the cable zipped across my skin.

The button used to limit the length, doesn’t always work very well, especially while the dog is really pulling. It gets stuck and won't lock or release, this seems to happen at the worst possible times. Plus, it seems like many people either forget to use the button, or can’t locate it when they it need it. I think the handle is bulky and easily dropped, especially when the dog hits the end of the lead. We were lucky the JR didn’t yank his lead out of his mom’s hand. If you do drop the handle, it often frightens the dog. Then he tries to run away from the scary monster chasing him, maybe into traffic… When walking multiple dogs, they tie up both of your hands. It’s very difficult to hold two of them in one hand, which is sometimes necessary (like when you’re doing poop pick up).

OK, I know many people successfully use retractable leads. They’re just a tool and have their place. However, it’s been my experience that too many people use them incorrectly and/or with the wrong dogs. I’ve seen dogs run out and snap at bicyclists, skateboarders, children, other dogs and cars. If you have a reactive dog, to anything, don’t use a retractable leash, it’s an accident waiting to happen. Then there are those super friendly dogs, who run up to everyone, people and dogs, to say hi. The problem with that is, some people are afraid of or don’t like dogs, and some dogs aren’t friendly. That sweet, friendly dog might not seem that way to the people/dogs they’re running up to.

All in all, I think retractable leashes can be dangerous for dogs, handlers, and the public. And I think they should be banned. Or at least, they should come with lots of big warning labels. Danger: You Will Have Little Or No Control Of A Dog While Using This Leash. Use At Your Own Risk.

Learning Painful Lessons

When working with animals, it’s a given you’re going to get hurt now and then. There will be the scratches, scrapes, bruises, and very occasionally bites. No matter how careful you are… stuff happens.

Most of the time these injuries are minor, and completely unintentional on the animal’s part. They sometimes get overly excited and forget how delicate we humans are. They don’t mean to hurt me; they’re just playing or trying to get my attention in their own way. On rare occasion, an animal will lash out with intent, but their intent is most often to get me to leave them alone, or they are redirecting their stress on me. That’s just information to me that the animal is really stressed, frightened, or maybe in pain. It’s also info to me that I wasn’t really paying attention to the animal and what he was saying to me, or about what was going on around us. Then it’s my job to figure out what to do to help him calm down. What I do depends on the animal and the situation. These are lessons learned with a little pain to help make them stick.

Then there are the lessons I learn the hard way, with a great deal of pain. I recently had a hard lesson, which resulted in scraped up hands, lots of bruises along the right side of my body, and cracked ribs. That was a week ago and I’m still in agony. I learned some important lessons, most of all to follow my own advice.

So I was walking a couple of clients. One is a very large (95 lbs), strong and powerful dog. The other is a toy breed. They are both out of control on walks, especially when they see another dog. Knowing this, I have always been on alert for other dogs along the walk, so I could change course before one of them starts to react. If one reacts, the other follows suit and then they both go over the top and try to get to the other dog. I’m pretty strong myself and I know how to use my core strength to maintain control, but they have pulled me a few feet before I could regain control of them.

Anyway, we were out walking and the little one pooped. While I was starting to lean over to pick it up, a couple came walking up the street with their Shih Tzu. I didn’t see them until it was too late. Suddenly the big guy lunged toward the other dog and he literally slammed me to the ground and dragged me into the street. It happened so fast; all I could think to do was to hold on to the dogs so they wouldn’t hurt anyone. It was a close call and very scary, because he got right up to them.

I don’t really understand their reaction to having a huge dog, dragging an adult behind him, barking and running at them. I would have stopped and backed away. These people just kept walking forward, right up to us and then, once we were up to them they stopped and started yelling at me. That didn’t help, it was just making the dogs more agitated. I apologized and asked if anyone was hurt, they said no. So I told them to just keep moving so I could get out of the middle of the street. Finally they went on their way, never once asking if I was OK…

So, I got the dogs settled down, got them and myself out of the street, and checked out my injuries. The backs of my hands were very scraped and bleeding from the asphalt and my right side was very painful.

By the time we got back to the house, I was feeling pretty sore. I cleaned my wounds and stopped the bleeding. We went to bed early that night, but I didn’t sleep well because of the pain. I haven’t slept well for a week now.

This experience did teach we a few lessons, which I won’t forget. Like I said, I learned to follow my own advice. I had recommended that the owner buy him and Easy Walk harness and stop using the prong collar. I refuse to walk a dog on a prong or choke collar for many reasons. For one thing, they don’t really work; dogs often learn to pull through the pain. They can cause throat and brain damage. The most import reason is they often make dogs more reactive. So, I was just walking him on his regular collar, I should have purchased an Easy Walk to use with him. I kept meaning to, but didn’t get around to it. I got one the next day. They’re not the only answer to walking a big, crazy dog, but they give you more leverage over the dog, without causing him pain.

I also decided to walk the dogs separately. Together, they feed off of each other’s reactions to everything along the way. Besides since neither of them have the first clue about how to walk on leash, they keep winding themselves around my legs. Again, I knew this and should have done it sooner, but I was trying to follow the owner’s instructions.

Another thing I’ve changed is that, for now, I only walk them up and down their own street. Once they get past a certain point, they get too aroused, and lose the doggie minds. I want to teach them how to loose leash walk, so we have to work where they can stay calm and focus on me. They get the same amount of exercise; we just don’t go as far. We practiced our new walking training a couple times, and it went pretty well. When we’re finished, they’re tired and relaxed, instead of over the top and crazy. As they learn how to walk well and control themselves, we’ll slowly venture further away. It takes time and practice to teach loose leash walking, since I only walk them occasionally, I’m hoping I’ll be able to get the owner to keep it up too. I explained the process and she didn’t seem to keen on it, we’ll see. She thinks they should take a walk around the neighborhood, but they can’t handle it yet, so I’m going to follow my own advice and do what I know is right. I should have done it long before.

Which brings me to another lesson learned, I always want to follow my clients wishes while I’m pet sitting for their pets. However there are times when I have to rely on my own knowledge and training, and I have to use my own best judgment. If I think a situation is dangerous, I will find a way to do something to keep the animals, the public, and myself safe, while still fulfilling my obligation to my client.

Lessons learned… the hard way.

The Case of the Disappearing Ball

On Sunday morning, I was playing fetch with my friends and clients, Buddy and Peanut. They love to play fetch, so we play together in the mornings before I leave for the day. We play in their large backyard. At the back of the yard is a dwarf tree or a bush of some kind, I know next to nothing about plants, flowers, or trees; so I have no idea what kind of plant it is, but it’s a pretty little thing. It’s also a ball eater…

So we were playing fetch, on the third throw, the ball bounced into the ball eater and literally disappeared. I am not the world’s best ball thrower; to be honest I totally suck at it, so I sometimes throw the ball to one place and it ends up in another. Sometimes the ball ends up going into that tree/bush or other plants, but the dogs usually find it. At first I watched the dogs search for it. Sometimes, I have to search for it too, which is what happened this time. After they’d spent a couple minutes looking in and around the ball eater, I went over to look too. I thought it had become caught in a branch, so I searched all over it (it’s a small tree, I’m taller than it). I looked all around it. I shook it to see if the ball would fall to the ground. Then I looked all around behind and next to it… no ball.

I decided to expand the search, to any other logical area of the yard where the ball could have ended up, and I spent a good ten minutes doing so. The dogs were still looking for it too; Peanut (a Chihuahua/Terrier mix) noticed a lemon in the tree next to the ball eater. She decided it was a ball and tried everything she could think of to get to it. She jumped at it, but it was too high. She tried to climb the tree, but couldn’t. So she ended up barking at it, until I picked her up and let her smell it and she decided it wasn’t a ball after all… when she smelled it she sneezed and didn’t want anything to do with afterwards… LOL.

Finally I gave up looking, so went out to my car and got a squeaker ball (If you don’t know about squeaker balls, your dogs are missing out. Contact me for info). I tend to have a small pet store in the back of my car, for just this kind of occasion. We finished playing our game and I did my morning chores before leaving.

All day long, I kept wondering about where that ball had gone. I hate it when things disappear into thin air… it sometimes happens and it’s kind of disorienting. My logical side says, “It couldn’t have disappeared and it must be somewhere in the yard.” My creative side says, “But you looked everywhere and it wasn’t there, so it must have disappeared.” When I went back that evening, I searched again, still no ball. I looked in places it couldn’t have been… and it just wasn’t there.

So, I have to think the ball disappeared… score one for my creative side.

POP … ZZZZT Lights Out!!!

Part of being a Pet Sitter is not only dealing with animal issues, it’s also dealing with house issues too. One of the advantages of having a pet sitter come into your house to take care of your animals is that you also have someone to take care of little household things too. In addition to caring for the animals, I often water plants/yards, take out and bring in the garbage, bring in the mail, sign for packages, rotate lights, retrieve the occasional newspaper, etc.

One of my biggest goals, and second only to providing the best pet care possible, is to give my human clients the comfort and assurance that their beloved fur kids and home are safe and sound while they’re away. Most of the time my household duties are pretty simple and matter of fact. I send my clients a daily pet report, via email, each day describing what happened while I was with their pets and at their homes, and try not to bother them with phone calls unless absolutely necessary.

However there are those little household emergencies that pop up occasionally, that makes me think, “OK, now what do I do?” On Monday morning one of them happened…

When I got up at my clients house after an overnight, it was a dark and rainy morning, so I turned on some lights around the house. Then the dogs and I did our usual morning routine. I had the TV on for weather and traffic reports, and noise too. When it was about time for me to leave, I turned off a lamp I’d just turned on that morning. The light did go out, with a small flash, and I heard a POP … ZZZZT! And then the TV and lights all went off. So I went out to the breaker box and checked to see if one had tripped. One had, but it wouldn’t go back on again. I tried several times and it wouldn’t work. Silly me, I didn’t think to unplug the lamp that caused the problem in the first place. So I decided I should call my client and let her know. She called her landlord, who went over with an electrician to check it out. Turns out it was the lamp, when it was unplugged everything worked fine. Now I know ☺

The Great Key Search

Just about every weekday, Jesse and I take Dina to the park. I usually lock the door and put the key in my pocket, it keeps company with my car fob. My car has an electronic key, which I don't have to use to unlock the car door or start the engine. The transmitter just has to be near/in the car and they talk to each other. So I usually keep it in my pocket. My key ring has so many keys on it; I have keys to several people's homes, clients, neighbors and friends. I'm the spare key person :) So rather than carry around 2 pounds of keys while I'm walking my clients (my dog walking bag is already heavy enough), I remove that key and keep it in my pocket until I'm finished with the job, then I return it to the key ring.

Not long ago, Dina and I returned from our trip to the park, I started to unlock the door and found that the key wasn't in my pocket. At first, I thought I must have dropped it in my car and I tore my car apart looking for it. I really like my car, but if you drop something small in that car, it disappears. The space between the seats and the center console is just big enough for little items to fall in, but really difficult to get them out. There are electronic boxes under both front seats; it’s really difficult to reach around them to find things that fall under the seats. After a few minutes of hunting around and fishing under the seats, I realized the key wasn't in the car. I figured it had to be somewhere in the park. So we went back there to look for it... can you say needle in a haystack?

This park is very large, about 1.5 acres and we had, been all over it that afternoon. It seemed like an impossible task to find one key in all that space, but then I remembered that I'd pulled a poop bag out of my pocket to pick up after Dina. I thought maybe the key had been in that pocket and was pulled out along with the bag. The question was where was that location, I knew she'd gone somewhere in the northeast area of the first field, but I wasn’t sure exactly where. So I started searching in that corner, after about 40 minutes of wandering back and forth, I finally found the key... THANK GOD!!!! So I loaded the dogs back in the car (they'd been helping me look) and I brought Dina home again.

Lesson learned, now I put my client’s keys in my dog-walking bag and zip them in. I don't want to have to search for a client’s key ever again!!!!