Let’s Talk: Do You Use Retractable Leashes, or Do You Think They’re Completely Lame and Dangerous?

A blessing for man and beast, or a potential finger guillotine? How do you feel about retractable leashes? (Photo from the Flexi leash website)

Fabulosa Dogster Managing Editor Janine Kahn gave Jake something the other day for review purposes. It’s a new take on retractable leashes, and, as luck would have it for Jake, it is a pretty shade of pink, with cursive writing front and center. Jake has been wearing girly things all his life because he’s a member a household where girl humans outnumber boy humans, and it seems his reputation has now spread to Dogster HQ.

Jake sighed when I showed him the LeashLocket; he’s a dog resigned to forever breaking the gender barrier despite his best intentions. The LeashLocket’s slogan —  “Let Your Dog Carry His Leash for a Change” — sounded interesting.  I snapped it onto an attachment I had put on his deep-pink Ed Hardy collar and he looked so … well, so pretty. (Sorry Jake.) Perhaps a little wary as well.

Jake modeling the LeashLocket in its "dormant state." He's so pretty in pink, and it matches his nose.

He didn’t seem to even notice it was there when he ran around in his usual blissed-out state. It weights only four ounces, and has a six-foot retractable leash inside. It’s far smaller and lighter than any retractable leash we’ve ever used. In its “dormant” state, it’s about the size of a fat dog tag on major steroids. Here’s what it looks like when you unsnap it from its superstrong magnetic attachment and use it as a leash.

The LeashLocket in extended mode. It's a tape leash, but you can't tell in this picture. Jake is checking it out and can see it's tape, not string..

It’s a handy contraption, but I don’t mind holding his regular leash or retractable leash, so I will be giving it  to a friend who is always losing track of her dog’s leash at the dog park. She has a beagle, so I hope this leash doesn’t take up too much neck room. My friend gets positively giddy over devices like this. And her dog is female, which is probably a better choice for this color.

When Janine gave me the LeashLocket, we got into a conversation about retractable leashes. I frequently use one with Jake. He’s not a big puller anymore, and I like to give him a little freedom on our walks in spacious parks where he can’t be off leash. It allows him to sniff around and enjoy life without me having to traipse into the bushes or whatnot as he does so. We’ve never had a problem with a retractable leash in our nine years together.

But it turns out that Janine and some others in the office are not fans. This is mostly because retractable leashes can be rather dangerous. I read the instructions and safety info when I bought Jake’s Flexi leash, but chalked it up to an overzealous legal department protecting the product from lawsuits just in case. Here’s the stark language with which it begins:

“To avoid the risk of eye or face injury and cuts, burns, and amputations to your body or the body of another person from the leash cord/tape or all belt and hook, read and follow these Warnings and Directions for Use before using your Flexi leash.”

I’ve compiled some of the visual warnings from the Flexi site.

Oof! Okay, you may have chuckled at a couple of these because when they’re happening to this hapless stick figure it has a comic-book humor. But in real life, these things are not cool.

If you’ve never had a problem with a retractable leash, you may be interested in this story I found on the Consumer Reports website.

Heather Todd didn’t bring a leash with her the day she took her pooch Penny to a pond near Boston in 2005. So she borrowed a retractable dog leash to help keep her Labrador retriever in check.  But it didn’t. The 90-pound dog suddenly took off running and dragged Todd across the sand.

When she came to a stop and recovered her wits, she spotted something lying on the sand. With horror, she realized it was a human index finger; with greater horror, she realized it was her own. The cord of the retractable leash had looped around her finger and pulled taut when Penny bolted.

“It just cut it off like a sharp knife,” Todd says.

Horrible! Imagine seeing a finger on the ground and then realizing it’s yours. This woman — a nursing student — took her finger and drove the emergency room (!) but doctors could not reattach it.

The article goes on to cite Consumer Product Safety Commission statistics of 16,564 hospital-treated injuries associated with leashes in the previous year. Nearly a quarter were finger injuries. The leashes aren’t broken down by type, but as the article states, such amputations were likely the result of a retractable leash.

I had little idea retractable leashes were potentially so dangerous. Many people who commented on the Consumer Reports article were adamant the leashes should be banned. But I’ve been using them with Jake for nine years and with my previous dog, Joe, for 13, and not once  have I had a problem. So unless I can’t get the image of that poor woman’s finger out of my head, I will continue to use the leash in wide-open parklands we’ve been going to forever. (Some caveats, though; I would not use it around traffic or where there are lots of people. That’s probably where things start to get a little dicey. And I use the all-tape (no cord) Flexi, which makes a very durable leash.)

How about you, Dogsters? Are you okay with retractables, at least in certain situations? Or do you think they are far too dangerous to be on the market?

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Foreign objects – they’re everywhere!

June 28, 2011

What do rubber squeaky toys, shiny jewelry, and potting soil all have in common?

They are all foreign objects that various species of exotic pets commonly ingest. These are just a few items that we see exotic animals inappropriately consume. Even everyday objects found in our homes, like carpeting, towels, and plastic bags can be easily ingested by exotic species. These objects can cause life-threatening gastrointestinal obstructions that often require surgery to resolve.

So what can exotic pet owners do? While no one can guarantee that his or her pet will always be safe from ingesting foreign objects, there are certainly some precautions pet owners can take:

Pet-proof your animal’s enclosure. Scour the areas your pets frequent, and be sure to pick up any small, loose objects or dangling materials like string, ribbon, or wires that call out to pets to be chewed on.Never let your bird, small mammal (rabbit, ferret, rodent, or other species), or even your reptile, out of its cage unsupervised, even for a minute. That’s all it takes to gulp down or bite off a bit of foreign material.Be sure your pet’s cage or other enclosure locks securely and is escape-proof. Exotic pets are very clever and manage to get out of even seemingly secure places.Never leave tempting human food items or any kind of medication out within the reach of your exotic pets. Even if you think they won’t eat it, they might. It’s not worth the risk.Don’t assume that all pet “toys” are safe; many of these toys are made from potentially toxic materials (like lead) or have pieces that can be bitten or broken off, swallowed, or ingested. Carefully inspect any toys you leave in your pet’s cage, and consider whether there is anything in or on them that your pet might consume inappropriately.Pay attention to your pet’s bedding. Several types of bedding that are labeled as “safe,” such as corn cob or walnut shells, are actually consumed by many exotic pets and ultimately can lead to gastrointestinal obstruction. Bedding made from paper or recycled paper products is digestible if consumed and is therefore safe.Learn to recognize potential signs of foreign object ingestion in your pet’s particular species. For example, rabbits cannot physically vomit. Therefore, if you own a rabbit, you would not rely on vomiting as an indicator of whether your pet has ingested foreign material. And while ferrets can vomit, they often will not, showing only signs of diarrhea, even when they have swallowed something they shouldn’t have.Have a plan: talk to your vet before you have an actual emergency situation, so that if your exotic pet consumes foreign material and starts to act sick, you will know what to do and where to go even if it’s the middle of the night.

While we may not be able to prevent every exotic pet from inappropriately consuming all foreign materials, awareness of this problem and vigilance to prevent it can certainly save many animals lives.

Photo credit: ookaboo.com, toykeeper.net

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Nature vs. nurture: They’re both big factors in getting to ‘Good Dog’

We’re all about having fun at Kindred Spirits Dog Training. Although we often deal with dogs (and owners) with problem behaviors, we also want to emphasize the dog and owner relationship, having fun with training, fun classes, and so on. But the trainers often have some fun and interesting discussions, too, and one of those occurred last night.

One of the  trainers, Melissa, is thinking of adding a new puppy to her home. The last dog to join her family was Goliath, who was rescued from a less than desirable situation at the age of 14. He’s doing well today at 15, even enjoying training, but Melissa would like a puppy this time. She was looking at a litter and a particular puppy in the litter, and said something along the lines that she couldn’t really tell a lot about his personality. The breeder was going to have someone come in and do temperament tests, and she’d wait until she found out how those turned out.

Several trainers told her not to think too much about the choice, to talk to the breeder, find out about the temperament tests, but also to listen to her heart and choose the puppy that caught her eye, for whatever reason. Choosing a puppy needs to be a logical yet also an emotional decision. This began a discussion that was really quite fascinating.

The first was definitions: Temperament is that which a being is born with (nature) while personality is that which is built upon that temperament and is shaped by experiences (nurture). An example given was that a litter of puppies can have the inherited tendencies to have stable temperaments, but if the mother  is nervous about having a litter, is stressed while caring for the puppies, or has a traumatic experience; she could affect the puppies enough to make them fearful or nervous.

Another example closer to home, Bashir and Logan (pictured) are litter brothers. When we saw the litter, there were differences between Logan and Bashir.  Bashir was calmer and more serious, but both were very nice puppies.  Bashir went home with me while Logan went home with my business partner and friend, Petra. There was some discord in Petra’s home while Logan was growing up, and then a divorce, and Logan reacted to that discord. He is much more reactive than Bashir and there was definitely a personality shift.

This discussion was centered around the idea that while the baby puppy’s temperament is important, puppies can also be shaped and guided as they grow and develop. Therefore a good part of who they grow up to be is also based on their experiences as they grow up.

So our discussion then asked, “How important is nature? How important is nurture? Are they equally important in shaping who our dogs grow up to be? Does nature have a stronger influence or does nurture?” Wow! What good questions.

I won’t tell you where our discussion continued but instead will ask, what do you all think?

Photo: Litter brothers Bashir (left) and Logan. Photo by Liz Palika

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So THIS is Why They’re Called Labradoodles!

My blog pal Neil, over at the always awesome Life With Dogs, sent me his latest photo creation in the wee hours of Tuesday morning when I was sniffing around for another blog item. Since I nearly spit out my tea when I saw it, I thought my Dogster pals might enjoy it. It may take a minute to put it all together, but it’s worth it.

(Neil, take our advice and stop here. We don’t want to see what you would do with pinnypoos or, heaven forbid, cockapoos.)

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