Dog Training, Health and Products By Zoey Dog!!

Retractable Leashes

 Zoey Dog

I’m sure you’ve all seen the retractable leashes.  They’re the fancy leashes that let us dogs run out ahead quite a few feet.  I have one of the bigger models, so I can have up to 26 feet to run out in front of my owner.  I think they are so wonderful, or at least I used to think so.

            You see, my owner bought me this leash when I was a young girl, and we used to take walks together using the leash all the time.  I could run out ahead of her to smell things and look for stuff.  It was great when we went hiking on trails.  My owner just took too long to get to the places I wanted to see.  This leash allowed me to get where I wanted to be quicker. 

            She used it for walks around the neighborhood too.  I still enjoyed the leash there too because I could control the walks and get where I wanted to go, but I guess it did cause more problems in the neighborhood.  After all, I did mention I controlled the walks right? Plus, the leash could accidentally get me in trouble. 

            One day, I rushed ahead to visit a friend I had seen.  I got to her way before my owner did.  We bounced and played around with each other.  She had one of these retractable leashes too.  There we were bouncing and wrestling when both of our owners got to us.  Unfortunately, our leashes got all tangled up together as we played, and our owners tried and tried to straighten us out.  Well, and I’m not proud to say this, we knocked both of them down in the process, and it took a long time to get us back to right. 

            My owner didn’t swear off the leash that day.  She liked not having to stay right with me and thought the leash gave me more freedom and fun.  It was fun, she was right.  And, it did give me more freedom, but sometimes with that freedom, I did get into a little trouble, as already mentioned.

            A couple of weeks after the tangling issue, we went for a trail walk.  I love trail walks! We had been walking the trail for about 30 minutes, and I was well in front of her.  I caught wind of something close by and ran down the hill in front of me, straining against my 26 foot line.  There was tension at my back, but I tried to catch up to the scent.  I found the source all right.  I barked out, signaling my excitement to my owner.  Hurry up! By the time she reached me to see what all the ruckus was about, she could smell what I had found all over me.  The skunk had not been nearly as excited to see me as I had him. 

            Many, many baths and de-skunking solutions later, I think that is when my owner decided not to use that retractable leash anymore.  She brought me home a new, fancy colored leash the next day, and this one was only about 6 feet long.  Now, we walked side by side instead of me in front of her.  She saw what I saw at the same time as me, and I couldn’t get into any more messes.  Now, instead of her reacting to me or what I had done, we were more like partners.  She actually seemed more involved with me on the walk now, which I liked a lot.  I guess in the end, I actually liked the shorter leash better because we are walking as a team now.