The Gentle (?) Leader

Hello dear friends. A note from Kelly accompanied the gift and she asked me if we've heard of the Gentle Leader before. I thought this would be a good opportunity to impart my experiences with the dreaded device and warn all you hard pullers out there just what it can do to you.

For those of you readers who have not heard of this device, it is basically a loop that goes around a dog's muzzle or snout as I like to call it (I am very piggish at times). Then the leash is connected to the loop and the dog is lead by her snout down the street. It is supposed to "cure" dogs that pull hard. Here is a photo of a yellow lab with the "gentle" leader on. Before I go on to lambast this tool, I will say that there are some dogs that respond very well to it. But, and you probably already guessed this, that population does not include yours truly!


Tom and Miri tried this thing on me when they first brought me home and in about a week's time that silliness was put to a stop. I hated the thing with a passion. So I scratched my nose with as much effort as I could muster and cut myself with my nails causing my nose to bleed all over the place. And every time they tried it, I did it again and opened the wound for good measure. Additionally, I still pulled while wearing it so it rubbed all the fur off the bridge of my snout.

Here are a few photos of me after the week with the "gentle" leader. In the one with Tom you can really see the fur worn away and in the close up of me, look at the tip of my nose, you can see the bloody cut!
















The moral of this story is that as hard as Miri and Tom tried, there was pretty much no way to "cure" my pulling. They have me slowed down quite a bit these days but when i'm off-leash Im crazy like a fox!

that was quite a trip down memory lane. I think I need to go take a nap.

more later!
Madeline