Dog Community

Posted : 2/3/2007 12:39:25 PM

You *could* wear a belt and slide the lead over the belt. This is NOT reccomended for large or pully dogs tho. Your center of gravity will change and it's easy to get pulled off your feet and dragged down the street on your fanny

Luvntzus

Posted : 2/3/2007 1:37:42 PM

ORIGINAL: chasza

I don't think the jerk thing is what you want. In my attempt to teach my pulling dog not to pull, I used everything on the market. One attempt was something like that. They do have to pull hard in order to stretch that material out (my guy actually "broke" one he can pull soooo hard, aarrgghh). But, they are short, so using this will not allow him to "go sniff'. He will be forced to stay right next to you.

I'm not sure I explained it right. What I meant with using "the jerk" or another type of stretchy leash attachment is that I would hook that to his harness and then clip the flexi to that. The idea would be that he wouldn't feel constant tension on his harness because it would be aborbed by the stretchy thing. [8|] So it would go- harness, stretchy attachment, flexi leash. Anybody here good at physics? lol I can't figure out if my little idea would work the way I had in mind...

I don't think a 10 foot leash would be enough for him to actually run and stretch his legs. I was thinking more like 15-20 feet... If all else fails I guess I can just use a long line. I wouldn't put it around my waist though because I'd still use both hands to keep the leash untangled.

fuzzy_dogs_mom

Posted : 2/3/2007 2:04:59 PM

I think flexis are something that can be great for some dogs and not so great for others. I had a little lab/cocker X who weighed about 30 lbs. and was not a puller. A flexi worked fine for him. Unless he was on a little exploring/sniffing adventure, he always used less than half of the 16 ft. Max on the other hand, is a puller. I learned early on that he was not a dog that could use a flexi. So ... like anything else, it just depends on your dog, how much he weighs and whether or not he's a strong puller. []

Joyce

Lynn

Posted : 2/3/2007 2:54:05 PM

Oh, ok, stretch cord before lead. Boy, you really have been doing some thinking about this! That particular one you are thinking about might lay down a bit over his back when he's not fully stretched out with the flexi lead. Not a problem, unless it might just bother him b/c it's a different feeling to have something laying somewhat off his side (did that make sense?). That's a very good idea, and I hope it works for you.

I thought what Glenda said was funny b/c the only way I can handle my dogs is to have a heavy duty waist belt on that actually goes around my hips (not waist). My arms aren't strong enough, so I have to use my entire body.

denise m

Posted : 2/3/2007 4:27:17 PM

A flexi does not always have to have tension. I quite often extend to leash fully and lock it. This is no different than having a long lead or training line on the dog. That is why I like a flexi. It can be any length you want. You just have to lock it so it doesn't automatically rewind when slack.

nGoldenm

Posted : 2/3/2007 6:47:12 PM

ORIGINAL: Luvntzus

I'm not sure I explained it right. What I meant with using "the jerk" or another type of stretchy leash attachment is that I would hook that to his harness and then clip the flexi to that. The idea would be that he wouldn't feel constant tension on his harness because it would be aborbed by the stretchy thing. [8|] So it would go- harness, stretchy attachment, flexi leash. Anybody here good at physics? lol I can't figure out if my little idea would work the way I had in mind...

Could you post a link to one of those "stretchy leash attachments"? Whether your dog would still feel tension from the flexi would depend on the stretchibility of attachment. I know the amount of force that the flexi's use to retract is very small. But regardless, some of that force WILL be transferred down the stretch cord. Depending on how stretchy the attachment is will decide whether or not the force that is transferred through it to your dog is negligible. It would have to be extremely stretchy to not transfer a good bit of the tension down to your dog. Did that make any sense? Sorry, I'm in engineering school. I tend to over analyze things [

]

Vivian

Posted : 2/4/2007 8:26:29 AM

April wears a harness and has a flexi lead for our walks, but she also uses a collar and regular lead when we go to the dog store, groomers and vet and also walks well with that, gee I got a smart pup and didn't know it. [

]

Luvntzus

Posted : 2/4/2007 10:22:32 AM

ORIGINAL: nGoldenm

Could you post a link to one of those "stretchy leash attachments"? Whether your dog would still feel tension from the flexi would depend on the stretchibility of attachment. I know the amount of force that the flexi's use to retract is very small. But regardless, some of that force WILL be transferred down the stretch cord. Depending on how stretchy the attachment is will decide whether or not the force that is transferred through it to your dog is negligible. It would have to be extremely stretchy to not transfer a good bit of the tension down to your dog. Did that make any sense? Sorry, I'm in engineering school. I tend to over analyze things []

Oooh, someone in engineering school! You can give me exactly the type of input I need! Here's a link below for a stretchy attachment I found. It comes in 3 sizes. I'm thinking that the bigger the size, the more tension it would absorb, so in that case I would probably go with the medium one.

http://www.jerk-ease.com/

nGoldenm

Posted : 2/4/2007 12:04:02 PM

Ok, now you are wanting something that will lessen the tension that your dog feels on its neck because of the flexi, correct? If that's the case, I doubt this is going to be the answer. From looking at it, it appears to be nothing more then a normal piece of a bungee strap with a loop on one end and a clip on the other. Unless that thing is EXTREMELY stretchy (which I doubt since its made to reduce a jerk that the owner would feel from a lunging dog, it would have to gradually stretch to keep from jerking you still), Gingerbread is still going to feel some tension. It would be a little less tension than the flexi alone, in theory, but not enough to make a noticable difference. Of course take this as you will, I don't have all the necessary info to do the calculations and tell you exactly what would happen. This is all just me speculating. Hope this helps.

Luvntzus

Posted : 2/4/2007 12:18:33 PM

ORIGINAL: nGoldenm

Ok, now you are wanting something that will lessen the tension that your dog feels on its neck because of the flexi, correct? If that's the case, I doubt this is going to be the answer. From looking at it, it appears to be nothing more then a normal piece of a bungee strap with a loop on one end and a clip on the other. Unless that thing is EXTREMELY stretchy (which I doubt since its made to reduce a jerk that the owner would feel from a lunging dog, it would have to gradually stretch to keep from jerking you still), Gingerbread is still going to feel some tension. It would be a little less tension than the flexi alone, in theory, but not enough to make a noticable difference. Of course take this as you will, I don't have all the necessary info to do the calculations and tell you exactly what would happen. This is all just me speculating. Hope this helps.

Bah humbug. I mean thank you. lol [

] Do you have any ideas for something that would lesson the tension Gingerbread would feel from the flexi retracting?

NicoleS

Posted : 2/4/2007 12:21:52 PM

I'm not sure you can find such a thing. I've been thinking about it.....

But really, the tension from a flexi isn't that much, and I think anything you add with have at least that much. Those products are for reducing LARGE amounts of force, but a flexi is only a small tension.

Good luck....? [

]

Luvntzus

Posted : 2/4/2007 12:57:31 PM

Thanks Nicole. [

] I'm a little confused though, are you saying that since the flexi has a small amount of tension and the stretchy thing is made for large amounts of force, that it would work?

NicoleS

Posted : 2/4/2007 1:01:29 PM

No, what I mean is that since that thingy is made for large forces - pulling dogs - that it might not make a difference in small amounts from a flexi. But, I'm not entirely sure what it would do. I would think that being such a small force compared to a pulling dog, that it wouldn't do much. But maybe it would completely compensate since its so small. I guess my final answer is I don't know [

]

ColleenC

Posted : 2/4/2007 1:43:53 PM

ORIGINAL: Luvntzus

Chasza- That's what I do now, I tell him "go sniff" when he can roam around on the grass and "walk with me" on the sidewalk. I just really don't want him to get desensitized to the feeling of tension on the leash. I worked pretty hard on that.

I was thinking of something like this:

[linkhttp://www.caninecreek.com/JerkEaseLarge2.jpg]http://www.caninecreek.com/JerkEaseLarge2.jpg[/link]

That store is right by my mom's house! I haven't read the entire thread yet, but what about locking it into positionat about 6 ft. That way, it is the length of a normal lead so you can have some slack in it?

Luvntzus

Posted : 2/4/2007 1:57:03 PM

ORIGINAL: ColleenC

That store is right by my mom's house! I haven't read the entire thread yet, but what about locking it into positionat about 6 ft. That way, it is the length of a normal lead so you can have some slack in it?

You're lucky! I wish they had them near me. I could just try it out and see if it works the way I want. lol

I already have a 6 ft. leash; I'm considering getting a flexi because I live in an apartment and I'd like for Gingerbread to have more freedom when we're in open grassy areas. Technically I could have the Flexi lead fully extended and locked, but at that point it makes more sense to just have a long line leash.

Flexi lead and preventing pulling- solutions?