Leash around dog's waist, why??

LPacker79 · 06-07-2008, 07:45 PM

The past year I've noticed a trend that seems a bit odd to me. I see a person come into Petsmart with their dog. The dog is wearing a flat bucklet collar with a leash hooked onto it. The leash then makes several loops around the dog's waist and then goes to the owner's hand.

What in the world is the point of that? Is it a control thing? How much good can it do when it only gives you control of the hindquarters, and gives you nothing in the front end? Seriously.......these people turn a corner and if doggy doesn't immediately follow he's being hauled ass first.

I've seen this done with several GSDs and again today with a Weimaraner. Is there some great purpose to this that I'm missing, or am I correct in thinking it's completely idiotic?

thea2003 · 06-07-2008, 07:47 PM

Never heard of it but when we were grooming difficult dogs at the vets, we would sipl a lead under thier chest and over one leg for better control of the said beast (usually a poodle, schnauzer or cocker lol)

Julie W · 06-07-2008, 07:59 PM

I have no idea why they would do that. I know we "wrap" or "suitcase" whippets a lot during racing to get better control of their thrashing bodies...but I would hope there would be little to no thrashing at Petsmart. LOL

babyangl86 · 06-07-2008, 08:00 PM

Only time i ever saw something like that working at the kennel was for a dog who had a weak back end to help hold it up for him, but if they're not lifting the back end up I don't understand it, I would imagine you'd have less control with a 'leash' like that

**berkshire** · 06-07-2008, 08:18 PM

I've seen it done with some pointers when they train them to 'whoah'. They wrap a long training/check cord from their collar to around their loins so that pressure is placed in a sensitve region if they move forward.

**Burns** · 06-07-2008, 09:38 PM

It's to keep the dog from pulling on the leash. When the dog pulls, the leash tightens around it's waist making it uncomfortable for the dog to continue to pull.

The only reason I know this is because the "instructor" at the petco puppy class I took Red to told us this and showed one couple how to use it on their lab/sharpei mix who was a bad puller. It did seem to keep him from pulling too much, but it was avoiding the problem, imo, and I wouldn't do it on my own dog.

**VegasHR** · 06-07-2008, 09:42 PM

I seen this done at a dog show recently and was wondering why....Oddly enough it was on dobies, that I seen it. The dogs were walking in heel position and were not pulling at all, was this the reason????? Or is there another reason for doing this???? Strange either way.

Dobes&Hounds · 06-07-2008, 09:46 PM

I've seen two leashes used, one on the collar and one around the waist, to teach heeling straight. It takes some coordination! I've tried it

It does work if you can get the technique down. However I haven't walked a dog in public with a leash around it's waist. That is wierd.

**Burns** · 06-07-2008, 09:56 PM

Here's a photo of what I was talking about. It's not a great pic but it's the only one I have that shows the leash looped around the dog's waist. Is this what you have been seeing, LPacker?

LPacker79 · 06-07-2008, 10:39 PM

Yeah Burns, that's very similar. I just don't see how it would work all that well. I understand the whole "tightening on the loins" thing, but it seems to give the owner absolutely no control of the dog's front end.

When I've seen it used it places the dog's hip at the owner's leg since that is where the leash is. When I'm out at Petsmart I want my boy on his best behavior, which means he walks next to me (or my cart if I have one) and not darting left to right and tripping me. The Weim I saw today tripped his owner twice that I saw because he was so far ahead of her that he was able to just go wherever he pleased.