Leash Straining Dog Injuries–Are You Harming Your Dog?
by admin
Filed under Dog Health, Dog Talk Tips
I recall once walking my German Shepherd and handing over the leash to my young nephew. Safi, our shepherd, decided to go her own way causing my nephew to yank back on the lease, which in turn brought Safi up on her hind legs. I was horrified and quickly took back the leash. Fortunately, My nephew’s over reaction did not leave our dog with any discernable neck injury.
So, the question: “Who is walking whom?” How often do you see dog owners being dragged along by their dogs? Often. I see this so often I have to assume that the majority of owners never bother to give their dogs the most basic obedience training. But my point, here, is that when dogs haul their owners around, the owners frequently yank and jerk the leash with consequent strain to the dog’s cervical spine.
I’ll interject at this point that dogs instinctively pull on the leash. If you pull back, the dog will instinctively pull harder against the tautness of the leash. That’s why it’s so important to teach your dogs to heal, or at least to teach them not to pull. You could even resort to a choke collar or a gentle leader collar to break the pulling habit. These are gimmicks and shouldn’t really replace training, but it is better to use a gimmick that doesn’t harm the dog than to put the dog through constant jerking and yanking of the leash.
Most dog owners have no idea that their frustrated leash-pulling dog might actually suffer physical injury during their daily tug-of-war. However, in a Swedish study by the noted behaviorist Anders Hallgren, of 400 dog owners who agreed to have their dog’s spines X-rayed, 63% were found to have spinal injuries. Of the inured dogs with neck (cervical) injuries, 91% had experience harsh jerks on the leash or were serious leash strainers! Among aggressive or overactive dogs, 78% had spinal injuries.
Please give this some thought. If you find that you have to resort to leash yanking, please take the time to learn how to train your dog out of pulling.
[tags]leash pulling,stop leash pulling,how to stop leash pulling,leash injuries[/tags]
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