Why we like hands-free leashes
- pacificpawsco
- Sep 12, 2024
- 3 min read
The phrase "don't worry he's friendly" is so commonplace that some of us avoid popular trails for the fear of dealing with well intentioned, but poorly trained humans and their friendly companions. Or worse, their unfriendly unleashed companions. Sometimes the dogs were originally leashed, but they break away from their owner.
Many of us have stories like this, and some of them are traumatic. My family and I (thankfully I was not alone!) were on a hiking trail in North Carolina. We had both of my dogs with us - Nowda and Finn. As we were entering the trail, another woman was leaving it with her dog. Her dog was wearing a harness with the leash clipped to the back and she was holding the leash. She went way off the trail, ...like 30 ft off the trail, onto a hill, as we started to pass her. By this point, I'm starting to feel anxious. She clearly needed to get her dog space, and she did, but it wasn't enough. He started barking and lunging, and before we knew it, she was pulled to the ground and the leash was out of her hand. Her dog was barreling toward us.
My mom was further back than the rest of us with Nowda, thank goodness because he is reactive too (due to situations just like this one!), and this dog was not approaching in a friendly manner.
The dog made a bee-line for Finn, and my dad and brothers tried to intercept him. Any one of us could have been bit that day. It could've been us or Finn. Nowda was 15' behind the scuffle literally sounding like he was wailing/sobbing. I fell during the chaos, trying to protect Finn. Finally my dad got a hold of the other dog's harness and hauled him back to the owner, who was visibly shaken up. He walked with her until her and the dog were far from us. The shock and fear of what could have happened had me in tears.
Now there are a lot of things that could have been done differently to make this a safer situation. If that owner knew her dog was aggressive, she could have muzzle trained for public outings to keep it and others safe. She could have used different tools to help her handle a dog that was clearly stronger than her. And of course, she and the dog need training to handle the dog's triggers. But in combination with those changes, I tend to think that a waist leash would've been nice. The dog would've been securely attached to her and couldn't have run up to us. Would she have still ended up getting pulled? Probably. If he was in a harness, I imagine yes. But he wouldn't have made it to us.
I bring my handsfree leashes to craft fairs and I am excited to introduce them to people. Typically I get one of two reactions. The first is excited. They get it, they know what kind of freedom it could give them. You mean I can hold my coffee and walk my dog and not have to worry about them getting away from me?? Yes please! The more skeptical response is, "Oh, I could never use that, I'd get dragged down the street!". To this I wonder, are you getting dragged down the street now? Do you have shoulder pain? This is a training issue, not an issue of wearing a leash or holding it.
On the contrary, the waist leash is around your hips, at your center of gravity. Your grip strength does not determine if the leash stays connected to you. If your dog pulls on a regular leash, they will pull on a waist leash, but how you feel it and how it impacts you will be different. I think of the waist leash as a security measure. If your dog is a great leash walker, it will also give you freedom to use your hands for other things. But otherwise, you can also hold the leash! Just because it is also around your waist for security doesn't mean you can't hold the leash below the waist connection. I even put built in traffic handles on the Ultimate Hands-Free leashes.
Of course, I still recommend training your dog for a pleasant walk. But it is nice to think that everyone could maintain control of their dog and we wouldn't have to worry about dropped leashes anymore, isn't it?
The ultimate hands-free leash has a sliding ring for the waist. If your dog pulls a lot, you might not want this ring to be able to slide. In this case, consider customizing the Explorer 2.0 leash to your specific waist size to have a fixed ring. This leash can also double as crossbody and a regular leash.
Happy walking!
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