Dog Safety While Walking – Retractable leashes?

I noticed the other day a young woman walking her two labs. She had them on two retractable leashes and was having troubles controlling her dogs. Especially when they hit the smells of my dogs in front of my house. They pushed and pulled her in an effort to get as many smells in that they could. The leashes wrapped around her and she fell to the ground.

I have always thought that retractable leashes were very dangerous. These leashes provide no control over dogs at all. The idea behind these leashes is to allow dogs to move ahead of their owners with great distance. But one must ask “who really is the leash retracting?” The owner. When your dog(s) is face with another dogs(s) for example, the owner has no control over their dogs(s) they are too far ahead and these types of leashes are not strong enough to pull the dogs(s) back. So if any issue arises you better learn to run fast to avoid any type of situation where you dog(s) may get hurt.

Take another situation. Your dog(s) sees something that they want to chase. They run after it and before you know it your dog(s) are in the street, putting them in danger of being hit by a car etc.

In my opinion if you really want to be in control you must stop using such a device. In reality you have no control over your dog(s), which puts you and the dog(s) at great risk.

Remember walking a dog(s) with a short, stronger leash still achieves the goal of providing exercise for both you and your dog(s). Safety first is used quite frequently in a variety of social circumstance and that mantra should be applied here as well.

As always I appreciate your comments and thoughts.

Update to Joint Post

I have been told that you can find joint medicine at jefferspet.com as well.

Cold Weather Joint Relief

It's winter time here again and one thing that sometimes we may overlook with our furry love ones is how this affects their joints. Being an owner of two St. Bernard’s I see how the cold air changes their mobility. There are many different methods of dealing with this issue. My first recommendation is that you give your dogs glucosamine year round. I have found that Cosequin for dogs works extremely well and it is easy to use. Just break the capsules open and pour the contents over your dog’s food. It is tasteless so you should have no troubles. You can find this product at either at your vet or at 1800 Pet Meds (http://www.1800petmeds.com/Cosequin+for+Dogs+-prod10317.html). The other more immediate relief is to go to your vet and ask for Meloxicam (I would not recommend giving you dogs Advil or like products). This is an anti-inflammatory and depending on the size of your dog you just give them one pill as needed. Remember that as we all get a bit older our joints seem to show the wear of life. Joint health in dogs is key to keeping your dog happy and pain free!

Intro

Hello. I wanted to introduce myself and my company. DoggStarr is committed to providing high quality products for dog owners. I will regularly be posting information on dog ownership and other information that relates to that topic. Stay tuned!

Thanks
Jeff