A simple line between life and death: The leash
By Dr. Tony Johnson
March 8, 2010
It is a simple enough thing– a 3- to 6-foot piece of leather, nylon or rope. In a pinch, I have even used a bungee cord, which has caused a few stares as I enter the teaching hospital, although it is utterly possible that the clown suit led to the stares, and the bungee had nothing to do with it.
The fact is a humble item can have the power of life over death.
That item? A leash.
Every day, veterinary hospitals everywhere receive thousands of trauma patients. For many of them, the lack of a simple leash led to injury. Some fell prey to the unlatched gate, some the open door and an opportunistic dash for freedom, but for many it is the naive belief that their master’s voice holds more sway than the tasty squirrel across the road.
In an instant, a joyful romp turns to tragedy, all set to the soundtrack of squealing tires and screaming brakes.
It is simply amazing the amount of trauma two tons of onrushing steel and aluminum can wreak upon tiny, furry bodies in just a split-second of impact. I am constantly amazed these impacts are even survivable. Collapsed lungs, torn diaphragms, ruptured bladders, broken bones — these are all the sometimes invisible outcomes of trauma. Some of the injuries are dramatic and obvious, such as the many patients we see in ER with open fractures (what used to be called “compound” fractures, where the broken bones protrude from the skin). Some are more subtle, sometimes taking hours or even days to become apparent.
But most of these injuries were preventable with just a bit of planning and common sense.
When we are are faced with a trauma victim as doctors, we have a unique opportunity. Many trauma patients were perfectly healthy prior to getting injured, and can get right back to their previously scheduled lives after we patch them up — if nothing too serious is going on. But separating the seriously injured from the merely bruised and beaten can involve a mountain of testing and anxious waiting.
Not all accidents can be prevented, and most pet owners, especially the kind who read PetConnection, are responsible and have their pet’s safety topmost in their minds. But there are still the lucky few out there who have managed to dodge a bullet for a while and walk with their dogs off-leash, or allow their dogs to roam unfenced. Luck tends to run out after a while, and I am here to tell you the consequences can be deadly. Costly and heart-wrenching for you, deadly for your dog.
Perhaps a bit of the glorious, glamorous and dangerous history of the dog leash (or ‘docg leigsh‘ as it was known in the original Gaelic) will convince some to adopt it.
Invented by by Archibald MacLeish in 1715 in Glasgow, the leash was originally made of sheep parts that were deemed too awful to include in a Haggis. MacLeish’s wife, Peter (known to their close friends as Lucy), grew tired of the mountains of sheep innards that were scattered about their humble home and pestered her husband to do something about it.
At the same time, the neighbors just to the east of the MacLeish’s had a litter of Scottish Whisky Hounds. Now, nothing is cuter than a puppy, but as those puppies grew up they were drawn to the overpowering and irresistible smell of sheep offal that wafted over from the MacLeish’s (a series of events which, coincidentally, gave rise to the common Gaelic saying of cluthd grrewl cwm ngongo lgthulan, or “cuter than a puppy covered in sheep pancreas”).
The neighbors, frustrated at having their prize sporting dogs come home every afternoon covered in intestines and pancreas (as cute as that is) decided to take matters into their own hands. They built a sturdy fence and walked the dogs using the only available source of linear and easily knotted material available in highland Scotland in 1715 – those selfsame sheep intestines! Invention surely is the bastard child of necessity.
Every time the neighbors would take one of the dogs for a walk, one would ask the other for a ‘MacLeish.’ Over time, and after a few rounds at the pub, this was shortened to, simply, a leash.
We don’t get too many chances in life to prevent badness and there’s no going back once your dog gets hit. Don’t squander this chance: please use a MacLeish.
I wish my neighbors would read this. Maybe I wouldn’t have come across three loose dogs wandering the neighborhood yesterday. One neighbor cursed out his dog for leaving their property, then proceeded to leave the dog running loose in their unfenced yard.
Comment by RTL — March 8, 2010 @ 9:16 am
Interesting! We have a neighbor who lets his dog roam off leash. I have an aggressive rescued dog that I take for walks (leashed of course), and this neighbor’s dog is a real problem for us because he wants to come up and say “hello.” My dog is too aggressive and unpredictable for that. This dog has become such a problem for us that I now use a muzzle when I walk in our neighborhood. Just to be clear - I have spent a lot of time and money on rehabilitation for my dog, and he has gotten so much better, but he still cannot tolerate loose dogs approaching when he is on a leash himself. He would definitely hurt a loose dog that got close enough. My neighbor does not have voice control over his dog, either. I saw him (the dog) limping around the neighborhood other day (all by himself, owner nowhere to be seen), and I just wonder how long it is going be until this dog gets hit by a car.
Comment by Sara Jo — March 8, 2010 @ 9:23 am
I finally put up an 8 foot fence.
More to block out the neighbors than to keep the dogs in, but it is multitasking.
Comment by Erich Riesenberg — March 8, 2010 @ 9:33 am
Perhaps a modest investment of time into training might be in order.
Fully half the dogs I’ve captured while they were playing PAT bus chicken across four lanes have been dragging a leash or part of a broken chain or tether. Quite a few of those — and the ones who bolted out the front door or leaped from a car window — were accessorized with a screaming, pleading, hysterical owner who never trained the dog to come when called.
Every dog I’ve scraped up from the roadside has been dragging a leash or chain.
Management always fails eventually.
Comment by H. Houlahan — March 8, 2010 @ 9:38 am
We can’t even get Dr. Tony to go to work without wearing a clown suit. Starting with a leash (for the dog, Dr. T I can’t help!) would be a good start. But, um, yeah, training, baby!
Comment by Gina Spadafori — March 8, 2010 @ 10:05 am
I didn’t know there were sheep parts too awful to be in haggis.
Comment by Phyllis DeGioia — March 8, 2010 @ 11:37 am
Phyllis - they have standards, you know!
Comment by Dr. Tony Johnson — March 8, 2010 @ 11:50 am
Phyllis and I do NOT know. We’re Italian. We have a cultural cuisine that people actually admire.
:)
Comment by Gina Spadafori — March 8, 2010 @ 12:00 pm
My pet peeve in the world of leashes is Flexi-leads.
It seems like three-quarters of the dog walking public holds the false idea that snapping a stretchy, fifteen-foot line to their dog is a perfectly acceptable substitute for paying any attention whatsoever to the dog.
I am horrified by the behavior of these people - allowing their dogs to crap under the swing set while they chat on their cellphones; ignoring the dog while it snarls and lunges at everything that moves; staring blankly off in space while the dog pees on merchandise in the local pet store - and otherwise behaving like the dog is not actually present at all.
I’ll take training and mindful attention over leashes any day.
Comment by Janeen — March 8, 2010 @ 12:13 pm
One word: Trippa.
Comment by H. Houlahan — March 8, 2010 @ 12:15 pm
“cluthd grrewl cwm ngongo lgthulan” is my new favorite phrase.
Except for that whole tongue-spraining part.
Comment by Barb — March 8, 2010 @ 12:21 pm
We’re Italian. We have a cultural cuisine that people actually admire.
So true - to shamelessly steal a line from so I married an axe murderer “Most Scottish food is based on a dare”
Comment by Dr. Tony Johnson — March 8, 2010 @ 12:34 pm
I have an extremely well balanced, 8 year old spayed female pitbull. My neighbors have a three year old intact male Beddlington Terrier. My girl, never off leash. Their terror of a terrier, always off leash. Bites resulting in blood drawn? Three to my pitbull only. When I called Animal Protection to complain, they visited me after visiting the neighbors because they were concerned that I was walking a pitbull through the neighborhood. UNBELIEVABLE!
Comment by Karen — March 8, 2010 @ 1:10 pm
Leash or no leash, recall training is so useful, so potentially lifesaving, so civilized, that it is totally worth the time and effort. When my dogs are on leash, the leash is slack; they walk with me, I let them enjoy the environment, sniff the p-mail, roll around a little. It is, after all, supposed to be a POSITIVE experience for them. They like being with me and vice versa. If I do give them a few minutes of freedom, as soon as I call, they come racing back to me. I call often, because practice and praise keeps the recall strong. They have several other habits I need to work on (barking when the doorbell rings — aargh!) but except in bad weather, our walks are a pleasure.
Comment by Susan — March 8, 2010 @ 1:35 pm
Perhaps you will like this story. My children were very energetic and inquisitive children and when we had to walk in a place where there was a lot of traffic or confusion, I used a harness and leash on my son, so that a moment of looking away was not followed by a moment of total panic. After all, this had worked so well for years with my dogs! (besides, it is hard for a small child to hold your hand all the time with their little arm held over their head all the time—try it some time). My 2 year old son actually loved his leash, which was shaped like a dragon with a long tail that I held on to. My sister-in-law (who took her son, my nephew, out to interesting places infrequently because he was so good at running away) was HORRIFIED that I had put a leash on my child and, with a look of total disgust on her face, said, “You are treating that CHILD just like a DOG!” “Well, yes,” I answered her. “And I don’t let my dogs run out in traffic either.”
Comment by Jan — March 8, 2010 @ 1:44 pm
Dr. Tony, that’s the funniest bit of doggerel I’ve read in weeks! Macleish! Oh my! Are you sure it’s not a “Dagleish”, ‘dag’ being Inner Hebridies dialect for dog?
Comment by Anne T. — March 8, 2010 @ 3:37 pm
I’m with Gina, Susan and HH on the leash/training combo. Not only do I do recall, but also “home” from every direction from home. Currently, my Dot knows 6 ways “home” direction wise, and it has come in handy. Like the time the a-hole shot off fireworks across the street from the park we were playing in . . . she also knows to wait at curbs and for cars. The car thing came about as a fluke when I was teaching her to stop at crossings. I would tell her she was a Good girl and while we waited for traffic, I would mention the A-holes who did the rolling stops or not-stop blow thrus. (best to note if driver has window down when doing this “training”, lol!~) I learned she had picked up this “training” when a car busted out of a driveway while we were approaching. My girl’s butt hit pavement nice and snappy :) All the training also helped when leashes became unconnected to collar. I would notice a lighter leash, and look at her and she’s walking all happy at my side looking at me like the joke is on (sans leash!) I thank my lucky stars she never bolted!! But if she did, her “STOP!” while running away and recall is pretty darn solid, I just don’t want it tested too often on city streets. . . .
The only time she has been attacked or bothered by another dog is off leash ones while walking with me. One too many with an owner saying “they’ve never done that before!!”. A few times I do think it was sincere. Sadly, it didn’t save one dog from being HBC. (off leash dogs that bolt across the street to “meet” mine make me nuts on the owner . . . )
I’m moving very soon. New world for my now older pup. She’ll get a full round of refresher training in our new place, including all the basics like recall, stop and home. And yes, on the streets, she’ll continue to always be on leash. I was kinda happy our midnight potty walks are soon be out the door into the backyard until my mom mentioned the raccoons and that I may want to take her out on leash until I was sure there wasn’t a prob . . . . . lol!~
Comment by straybaby — March 8, 2010 @ 11:50 pm
As the resident historian hereabouts, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that Dr. Tony’s Archibald MacLeish was reincarnated 200 years later as a man named, well, Archibald MacLeish. I have not been able to discern if Archibald MacLeish The Newer was a dog owner (or cat, bat, rat or wombat owner), or where he stood on the subject of sheep innards, though my guess is upwind, and as far away as possible (I’ve eaten haggis. Unless you’re severely intoxicated or have had all your taste buds surgically removed, I don’t recommend it). Anyway, Archie The More Recent did ok for himself. He was an Amurrican, he briefly taught at Harvard, became a successful poet and writer, won three Pulitzer Prizes, a Tony, an Oscar, and from 1939 to 1944 he served as the Librarian of Congress.
But, to the best of my knowledge he didn’t invent anything that saved the lives of dogs, cats, rats, bats or wombats, so, unless he owns some kind of record for the Most Haggis Consumed By A Literate American Academic, he will forever remain just “an” Archibald MacLeish, not THE Archibald MacLeish.
Comment by David S. Greene — March 9, 2010 @ 1:28 pm
David. Oh, David.
Why do you people insist on outing my obtuse literary peregrinations?
I don’t even really know what that means, but suffice it to say when I bust out an Archibald MacLeish, or airlift a Eustace Tilley into a blog I am operating under the delusion that my little foray into the world of literary arcana will go unnoticed by the world at large - to me it is a little inner joke, like my adrenals telling a tiny one-liner to my gallbladder.
But no, those of you with *smarts* and a liberal arts education have to go running roughshod all over my gallbladder, and there’s nothing sadder than a sad gallbladder, except maybe when doves cry.
Fine - from now on it’s just imaginary characters named John Phillip (Sousa) and Edward (Gorey). Dammit!
Comment by Dr. Tony Johnson — March 9, 2010 @ 2:02 pm
B is for Basil, assaulted by bears.
Comment by H. Houlahan — March 9, 2010 @ 2:19 pm
The idea that a liberal arts education has ANYTHING to do with “smarts” is probably a stretch, Dr. Tony. Sheesh, us English majors are not even smart enough to stay out of the rain.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — March 9, 2010 @ 2:28 pm
I am totally going to die of ennui.
Comment by Dr. Tony Johnson — March 9, 2010 @ 2:57 pm
I’ll be thrown out of a sleigh
Comment by David S. Greene — March 9, 2010 @ 3:01 pm
I say those of you that make it to “Harvard”, one way or another (dead or alive) deserve to be obtuse. From my understanding, being obtuse is not uncommon in that fine institution of learning.
But there are the down-to-earth people there, also—like Cleveland Amory who wrote wonderful books containing stories about animals.
He wouldn’t donate money to his Alma Mater, Harvard, or any other human cause, but he gave all he could to animals and cared for as possible in his own home.
He is one of my heroes—maybe that is why Bark just called him one of the Best and Brightest, don’t ya think?
But I digressed, let us get back to talking about Archibald and Eustace (I would like that guy, Eustace, explained some day because I am uninformed about that him. Was he nice, pray tell me?
Comment by Evelyn — March 9, 2010 @ 5:54 pm
My suspicion is that the reason a lot of dogs are off-leash is that the owners did no training, have gotten tired of having their arms pulled out of the sockets and have therefore rationalized it all away with BS about the dog “needing” to be free.
“They were soon joined by Donald, Herbert’s singularly well-favoured sheepdog, and many were the giggles and barks that came from the shrubbery.”
Comment by Susan Fox — March 9, 2010 @ 6:40 pm
Oh, and I’ll die of fits.
Comment by Susan Fox — March 9, 2010 @ 6:42 pm
Alas. Devoured by mice.
Comment by H. Houlahan — March 10, 2010 @ 7:44 am