I couldn't imagine why the retractable leash came with a long list of warnings on the packaging when I bought it... until today.
I came home from work and took him out to go pee/poo immediately. Usually I change clothes but he didn't poo this morning so I knew it was time. I was trying to be a nice guy.
I took him to the usual little hill on the west side of my apartment building and he did poo. I scooped up the droppings with a bag, and walked him around to the east side of the building to drop it off in a trashcan.
Then, disaster struck.
For some reason (which I still don't recall), I lost my grip on his leash handle. The handle, made of plastic where the ribbon of the leash retracts, hit the ground. The loud noise spooked Lucky, and he started running.
This happened on the northeast corner of the building. I live on the southwest corner upstairs. He jammed down the sidewalk, and I thought he was off to the races. It was over 100 degrees outside, I was still in my dress up clothes from work including dress shoes, and I thought it was going to be nearly impossible to catch him. The Humane Society told us that when we adopted him that he was a greyhound mix and while he looks like a chocolate labrador to me, if there is greyhound in him it suddenly surfaced. He was running at full speed and it was quite an impressive speed.
I started running after him (and seeing me run is comedy) and calling his name. He then did something I didn't expect. He decided to run up the stairs to the apartment. I thought I would be able to block the stairs and the few seconds of crisis that had occurred would be over.
By the time I reached the bottom of the stairs, he had run all the way up to the door, turned around, and while now letting pee fly in his panicked state, had run all the way to the bottom right past me.
Fortunately, he had the leash dragging behind him. It was just far enough behind him that I was able to tackle the dragging ribbon of the leash and hold on. Once the leash went tight, he stopped running. He usually turns around during walks and comes back when he feels a tug of the leash and he did exactly that.
I was in the grass, holding on to the leash, now feeling an odd pain in my hand and like I'd been tackled, and he's stopped with a totally panicked look on his face. I was able to locate the plastic end of the leash even though he'd now circled me twice rapping the least all the way around me. If he knew how to tie a knot, I would have been an instant prisoner.
I was covered in grass but amazingly enough, I didn't end up with grass stains on my clothes. We walked upstairs and I noticed that I was injured.
The warning on the leash is accurate. It can cut skin and cause burns.
I examined my hand and arm, washed my damaged finger, and put antibiotic ointment and a Band-Aid on it. (I did take photos, you'll see that below.)
The incident was traumatic for Lucky. He's still acting weird. He didn't want to come near me even though I've petted him numerous times and talked to him. I feel sad for the little guy. It wasn't his fault. I'm hoping he gets over it as the evening goes on.
I'm grateful that I didn't require a trip to an emergency room. I couldn't afford it anyway. If my finger had been cut off I would have put it in his dog bowl and let him eat it later.
Warnings on products sometimes seem ridiculous. Until what you're warned about happens to you.
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| Leash burn where my finger bends, on end on the left, and to the right of the gash.. Its all on my right hand and I'm right handed... how unfortunate. Lucky may be the dog's name but today I wasn't. |
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| Leash burn on my arm. I could really use a tan. |
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| The pee trail on the patio from when he was running like a spooked horse. He's quite the artist. Maybe I could sell his pee art on e-bay and make millions. |