Written by Sarah Dawson-Shepherd
When I first got Georgie, she was a one year old rescue who had had a very traumatic start to life. The pound were happy for us to take her as we had a 3 acre property that, as a working dog, she would have the space to run around on. And she did, she had bags of energy, massive speed and when she jumped up in excitement, her paws reached my shoulders. I rarely needed to walk her on a lead as she had all that space. However, the time came to sell up and move to a suburban property, with streets and traffic and a much smaller garden, so the training began. And what a shock that was for both of us! I tried a long line to get her used to being on leash – I don’t know who got more tangled up. Then I tried a harness with a back loop – she hauled like a husky. Then I tried a halty, which she spent most of her time burying her nose in the grass trying to remove it. We did training classes, I tried everything I could think of, spent enormous amounts of money and I would often end up sprawled on the ground, feeling very sorry for myself and with her very frustrated. Then I discovered the slip lead with nose band. I had used something similar with horses in the past and decided to give it a go. The lead is made of climbing rope – very strong and durable, but soft on the neck and nose. The loop over the nose slides through the slip of the lead so that if she tries to pull, the nose loop pulls her nose down and tightens the slip. The only way for her to loosen it is to stop pulling. It worked perfectly. It is gentle on her, allows me to have total control over what she does. These days, I no longer need to use the nose loop, except at the vet when she needs to be kept totally still. She walks to heel and is soooo much better behaved..
PURCHASE INFORMATION:
This product is from Ezydog and is called a Luca Slip Lead – I got mine from Best Friends, Erina.
