Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Recommended product: Gentle Leader


In an effort to stay away from finances, per BFF's request (lol), I decided to highlight one of my new favorite products for my dog. No, I'm not getting paid for this (I wish) nor am I receiving any benefit from this review. I'm just a typical dog lover/owner and thought that maybe this advice would help someone else who is/was having the same problem with their dog.

My sweet Ruby is like a teddy bear. She is soft, fuzzy, cuddly, and loves attention. She'd rather be carried around like a baby at the dog park and enjoys lying on our laps at home. She's generally well behaved thanks to some diligent training on my part and just fun to have around. The problem begins when I take her on a walk and I've discussed this before, she's a royal pain. She turns into a different dog, pulling, acting psycho and trying to get to any other dog she can. (Like she would know what to do when she gets to the other dog? Probably run away!)

Anyway, I was at my wits end until I found this Gentle Leader at my local pet store. Once I figured out how it worked (thank goodness it came with a DVD because the instructions were confusing as heck) and put it on her, it was like she transformed into a completely different dog; she was walking right beside me instead of jerking and pulling and there was actually slack in the leash. In the past, I had tried just hooking the lead to the collar, a regular harness, an "anti-pulling" harness (yeah, right) trying to figure out what would make her stop.

Basically the Gentle Leader is a head collar that goes around the muzzle and around the back of the head and neck; it works because if the dog starts pulling, their head goes down. It took Ruby a little while to get adjusted to it but once we get going, she's fine. Every once in a while she'll try to get it off if she sees another dog or she's getting frustrated, but this by far is one of the BEST products out there on the market if one is having difficulty walking their dog.

Oh, by the way, it's NOT a muzzle. Your dog can still bark, drink, chew, eat, etc. when this is on, it doesn't limit them at all. Honestly, this is one of the best investments I've made on my dog, plus I didn't have to shell out $$$ for expensive training. :) Retail cost is about $19.99.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Dude...I wanna see pictures of her with it on. I need something like this for Bosko because he likes to walk me and because he's such a big dog he pulls me and its hard to control him. I want him right beside me when we walk and I have to keep the leash short on him and then he's pulling and its a pain. I've been working with him and he's getting alittle better but as soon as another dog passes by, he wants to take off. That is not badly priced at all! Pictures, Pictures, Pictures!!!!