There is a right way and several wrong ways to hold
your dog's leash. Avoid injuries to you and your dog and do it safely by
following these tips.
Holding your dog’s leash
seems like such a basic thing, but it could mean the difference between
safety and some pretty awful injuries.
I know, right now you’re
probably thinking something along the lines of “this person is insane,
how could holding a lead be dangerous?!. Many of us don’t even THINK
about how we hold our dog’s lead, we just do whatever is comfortable.
Two years ago I got my first dog and on
my first day of puppy class the trainer spent more time talking about
how to safely hold the lead than he did telling me about how to get my
dog to sit. What he wanted us to leave with is the message that no
matter how big or small our dog is, we were NEVER to wrap the lead
around our arm, our wrist, or around any part of our body in general. He
then recounted stories of owners being dragged by their dogs, breaking
arms, de-gloving their fingers and even his own experience of a
dislocated thumb.
I honestly thought the guy was having me
on. I mean, I’d always wrapped the lead around my arm when walking the
family dog. After all, I needed to make sure I had a firm hold on a dog
that weighed about 25kg!
Then, a few weeks later, I was walking
my own 8kg dog with the lead wrapped around my wrist when he saw
something interesting and took off. I wasn’t expecting it and the lead
was still ripped from what I thought was a firm grasp. I also felt this
horrible pain in my thumb (almost had it pulled out of its socket) and a
nice piece of rope burn down the back of my hand.
So I went back to the trainer, admitted
that I didn’t listen to him and asked to be shown a safer way to hold my
dog’s lead. He told me the best way to hold your dog’s lead is to put
only your thumb through the loop on the lead and hold as demonstrated in
the photo below. If you need extra support, also hold the lead with
your other hand.
To hold a lead place your thumb through the loop, then close your hand over the handle.
I recently spoke to a rather unfortunate
dog owner… she used to walk her large breed dog with the lead wrapped
around her arm because he pulled like crazy and she was scared he would
escape her grip. Then one day she tripped, spooked her dog and he took
off. Now, because that lead was wrapped around her arm, she was pulled
over and dragged along. Apart from some nasty cuts, bumps and bruises,
she walked away with not one, but TWO broken arms! She was sharing her
story to hopefully save at least one other owner from an unfortunate
fate.
If you do have a dog that pulls, work on teaching him to heel. Or take a short-cut and use a head halter instead, these brilliant inventions can really help you take the lead again – pun intended!
This blog was written by Jess Fenyo, one of the lovely Experience Crew Members at our North Ryde Vet Clinic. Jess is the proud mum of a ferret named Shiloh, a fluffy black cat, an 11 year old rescue pooch, and a cheeky 2 year old Basenji mix
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