are retractable leashes safe for dogs?

We were in the habit of taking Penny for a walk on a retractable leash. At first we used it only when we were going to the park and wanted to keep her nearby. But eventually we started using it in the street also.

However, when she suddenly took off down a steep hill (as I posted on 25 December), I began to realise that the extending lead didn't give me enough control.

At Dog Chat there is a discussion of the pros and cons of this type of lead. The general conclusion is that they have some use for dogs that behave well on lead, but they're not for everyday use.

The Dogster forum also has a range of responses from members about use of retractable leads and most replies are negative.

Jabari's mum told me she doesn't believe in extending leads. In one email she said:

I personally do not like extensible leads for large dogs as I feel that there is not sufficient control over the dog. I use either a long and strong nylon type lead or make my own extended lead. I use a fine leather lead with an extension made by attaching (water) ski rope to the end of it. Ski rope is great as it is waxed so it does not give rope burn should it slip through your fingers. It is water proof so you can allow it to drag along the ground behind you if you want and move it in and out as the dog moves. You can roll it up to hold the dog on short lead when needed. When it is old and dirty you can replace it. Though I have not replaced mine for about 6 years. It is also useful for making very long tracking lead.

She also told me that waterski rope would be okay to use when Penny is swimming in the river up in the mountains. Since Penny gave me a terrible scare by running up from the river and across the busy highway, I haven't trusted her to swim there. If I had a long lead on her I would feel safer till I regain my confidence. Jabari's mum pointed out that this type of ski rope is designed to float.

She showed me how she makes her leads. She holds the ski rope firmly and pushes a section together so the weaving comes apart.







She then pushes the free end of the rope into the loose weave.









And, finally, she pulls the rope tight. The woven-in end doesn't come out when she pulls.

more re dogs eating grapes or onions(bad) - and carrots(good?)

In regard to Penny or other dogs eating grapes, as I posted on 25 December, Amber-Mae made a comment that I’d like to include here, because not everyone may see it in the ‘comments’ section.

She added a couple of things to her original comment, so I’ll include them in square brackets. (Thanks to Amber-Mae’s mum for allowing me to repeat what she said.)

“Actually, grapes are not THAT dangerous as we all keep saying... My hoomans went for a Nutrition talk few weeks back & this famous lady from Australia said, that you CAN feed fresh grapes BUT must peel off the skin. It's the skin that is dangerous, not the flesh. [Not Australia, but America, Amber’s mum says, and her name is Jill Cline. She's a researcher & a nutritionist from Nestle Purina.]

She also said that one dog ate one whole kilo of onion rings & did not die! We doggies can't die that easily from eating these stuff but raisins are dangerous becoz the skin is dried on it & maybe when it's dry, the bacteria on the skin is much more dangerous, I don't know why. My hoomans still avoid feeding us those two & of course chocolate too. Anyway, we don't like eating them anyway! So... hehehe! Not to worry..

“Oh, she also mentioned about carrots. She said raw carrot is not really working for your eyes unless it's cooked. She said that the minerals, vitamins or something like that will only work if it's boiled. I felt really pity for those hooman kids who have been eating raw carrots for years, hehehe."

I'm interested in the info from Amber-Mae's mum about carrots because Penny loves them and I feed them raw as a treat to chew on. I also mash them in a juicer called the Champion and then add the juice back into the pulp,because I heard that dogs can't absorb the goodness from raw vegetables and fruit unless the cell walls are broken to release the nutrients. The Champion is sold as a 'masticating' juicer, which is supposed to release more goodness from the fruit and vegetables (for humans).

At BNET research center I found an article that seems to bring together these two ideas about carrots. It says that cooking partially dissolves the cell walls of carrots and makes the nutrients more readily available (for humans, I presume), especially if the carrots are served with a meal that provides some fat. However, it also says that juicing can achieve the same effect.

It wasn't quite clear to me what the authority was behind the BNET article, but another at The Journal of Nutrition was a peer-reviewed authoritative source and it concluded that

Results from this study suggest that processing vegetables with heat treatment and pureeing may enhance provitamin A carotenoid uptake from these foods considerably...[and] approaches that address how carotenoids may be made more bioavailable from the food sources, through the processing and preparation methods used with these foods, deserve further investigation.

So... I'm going to keep checking on the grapes growing in our backyard and maybe hope the birds steal all the fruit as they usually do. And I'm going to continue 'masticating' carrots in our juicer. (Not that Penny gets carrots very often, because we humans love them too!)

dogs, intelligent birds, chocolate and 'New Scientist'

When I travelled to New Zealand in January this year (2007), Penny stayed at home with my family. I had two main ambitions - one was to climb a glacier - which I did, and very scary I found it! (The photos is misty because my camera fogged up in the cold.)

My other ambition was to see the famous Keas, arguably the most intelligent birds in the world. I didn't see them in the wild, but did have a chance to enter their aviary in a wildlife reserve and watch them for as long as I liked. Here is some of what the Parrot Society of New Zealand says about them:

The Kea is essentially a ground bird or that is certainly where they prefer to spend the majority of their time often entertaining any humans present with their sideways hopping. But when airborne, they are magnificent fliers.
The Kea is a very bold and inquisitive parrot and is certainly not afraid of people. They are notorious for making themselves "welcome" at ski lodges and I'm sure that their ancestors must have been car converters judging by the way they attack motor vehicles in particular rubber and plastic appendages such as the wipers, vinyl and windscreen rubbers to mention a few.
They also love to get inside buildings via any way possible (including chimneys) and once there nothing is sacred - if it can be chewed it is fair game!!!
Outside they are very entertaining - they enjoy aerobatics especially in a strong wind, they love rolling around in the snow and bathing in puddles of thawed ice

An album of photos taken by Bernard showcases these fascinating birds.

Therefore I was sorry to hear that Keas, like dogs, are susceptible to poisoning by chocolate. There is an article in this week's New Scientist that looks at the reason many animals cannot eat this food.

The article says that just 240 grams of unsweetened dark chocolate can kill a dog the size of a German shepherd. We, as dog owners, can protect our companions from this danger but keas are wily foragers and steal food from tents, backpacks, garbage bins and will even try to get into cars to see what might be edible.

The fact that dogs are especially vulnerable to chocolate poisoning has prompted scientists to investigate the possibility of selectively poisoning coyotes in the US. The article says:

After testing the toxicity of several different types of chocolate, Johnson came up with a mixture of theobromine and caffeine that killed coyotes quickly and with minimal distress.

I must say, that makes me even more wary of chocolate around Penny. It sounds as if it would be quickly fatal.

raisins and grapes are dangerous to dogs

We don't allow Penny to eat grapes or raisins. (Well, not knowingly. She's an expert at snapping up tidbits on our walks and we have to be super alert to spot food before she does.)

But, as far as possible, we avoid these foods because, as I posted on September 19, they can be dangerous to dogs.

Jabari's mum has sent me a report by a vet in the US of a dog dying from eating half a canister of raisins. It makes scary reading and is a reminder that if we let dogs live inside our houses it's our duty to keep toxic foods safely locked away.

We've just come home from our Christmas dinner with a big slice of Christmas cake filled with dried fruit. I'm going to get off this computer right now and collect the cake from the shelf and shut it into a cupboard.

merry Christmas to all the dogs and humans

Merry Christmas, everyone, from Penny and me.

when to let go of the dog's lead

Penny and I walked in beautiful Darebin Parklands, this evening, having a break from the Christmas rush. As we were strolling up the artificial hill that sits in the centre of the park, many people were in the shops in the midst of that last panicked buying spree before the shops close at 6 pm.







Penny was on the extending lead, because I'm not quite sure if the hill is on-lead or off-lead and I thought I'd better be extra careful because there are kangaroos in the park again.






As she's done so often lately, she took me by surprise. One minute she was at my side and a moment later I could feel the lead rushing through my hands at literally breakneck speed. No, she wasn't off after a kangaroo. Though I suspect that is what would happen if I weren't quick enough to spot one before she did - so far she has never seen one and I can't predict her reaction.


No, she was racing down the hillside after her ball, which had rolled down the slope.


I instantly let go of the retractable lead and it went bounding and leaping down behind her. Luckily it didn't catch on anything and drag her to a sudden halt. Remembering my fright when she raced towards the highway the other day, I called 'wait!', and felt enormously reassured to see her drop to her haunches and sit there as I clambered down the path to her.

I thought I'd post the pictures in a small size. If you'd like to see them larger, just click on a picture.

helping your dog to cope with a visiting dog

Penny had a visitor today. A strange dog, probably a red kelpie cross, stayed for about five hours. I had come across the dog, who I now know is called Rocky, strolling along the busy street amongst the shoppers. My friend Sue always carries a spare dog lead so we were able to make sure he came with us. After traipsing up and down the street for ages, calling into each shop, "Has anyone lost a dog", we rang the Ranger, who said to take him home and she would come to look at him.

Thank goodness for microchipping. The Ranger checked him and we discovered he lived a couple of streets away. The owner didn't answer her phone, so we decided he could stay at my place, overnight if necessary.

Last time a lost dog stayed overnight, it was rather nightmarish, as Penny spent hours snarling at him - if I hadn't witnessed it I wouldn't have believed she could hold a snarl for most of a night. She must have had a tired face the next day!

I've had some advice from more experienced dog owners since then, so I decided to make sure this time that Penny did not feel her home had been invaded. We allowed Penny to meet the new dog on the front porch , the nearest we could manage to neutral territory. He was led in by my friend, rather than coming in with me. Then we took him out the back and, since he was too big for the doggy door, Penny could come in an out but he couldn't.

In October I posted some info on dog body language, including an article on calming signals by Turid Rugaas. This evening, it was fascinating to see the two dogs using yawning, licking and turning away of the head to calm each other. There are many other signals mentioned in the article and I believe I saw them too, in the interaction between Penny and Rocky.