I have a little confession about my dogs. They are super cute, but they were terrible at walking on leashes. I was that dog owner being drug around the block by our dogs and yelling to tell them to heel and slow down and stop pulling. We tried a ton of things to alleviate this and make taking walks easier. None of them were as successful as the Only Leash.
Our dogs are 65 lbs and little beasts (ok the puppy is only 25 lbs, but she is a little beast too ?), and walking them just stopped happening. I was so tired of being pulled around and looking like a crazy person who had no control of our very excitable pups. Really people, they do listen and they are really good dogs…except when I put them on a retractable leash and try to take them somewhere with new smells and views. We had tried different leashes, pinch collars, those muzzle collars, harnesses and nothing worked.
A friend of mine contacted me about the Only Leash and asked me to try it out. I figured I would give it a whirl and try to train our oldest pup. I picked her because she has bad habits to break that she learned from our late Mia and I don’t want those habits passed onto the puppy.
The leash arrived promptly and had several color options to choose from. It is a strong elastic leash with good hard wear that is comfortable on the hand. I liked that it was easy to clip on and soft on my hand.
You can get a better idea of how long this leash is not. Yes, I said IS NOT. That is not a bad thing. You want to keep your dog close to you while you’re out for a walk and this is designed to do just that. The trigger hook connects right on their collar and you can get going.
- Get a leash and collar combination that keeps your dog close and does not give them much leeway. This is important so that you area able to maintain contact with the dog and so that they do not get to far away that hearing your commands is difficult. The Only Leash is great for this!
- If your dog starts to pull, stop walking and say “heel”. This was essential to our walk. We did not start walking again until she sat down and was calm enough to proceed.
- Let the dog take in the sights, sounds and smells. Look, if you are like me, you just want to stay on the path, relax and enjoy a little walk with your 4 legged friend. However, the dog wants to wander around, smell all the things and enjoy frolicking outside of their territory. I found that when I went off the sidewalk and let her smell a tree or flower that she was much easier to control on the leash.
- Practice: I would get so annoyed and frustrated after a walk that doing that every day was not the relaxing time I was looking for, so I just stopped. You cannot do that. You need to practice working on those walking skills and so does the dog. You only get better with practice. Over time, they get better on a leash too and the walk does become more relaxing.
We are getting so much better at walking together and enjoying our time. Soon enough we will bring the pup on these walks with us and see if I can handle two crazy beasts together. I truly think it will go well because our old girl is a reformed good walker now!
One thing I forgot to mention is that the Only Leash, really is the only leash you will need. My dog has a tendency to get so excited that we are going for walks that she then runs around crazily and I cannot get the leash hooked. Well, that issue is solved because the Only Leash can be stored comfortably on the dog. Also, no more searching for the leash and no more nasty leash being drug through whatever is at the dog park. Our girl wears hers constantly with no itching or complaints. We only take it off when the puppy and her start to get rowdy because I don’t want to have the puppy think the leash is a play toy.
If you are looking to make your walks easier and train that dog, get yourself an Only Leash. You can also enter to win one below! We just took our pups to the vet on Saturday and everyone in the office was loving it! You need this people!
