An Englishman and his spaniel

Thursday, April 20, 2006

The harness

We spent the weekend with my sister-in-law and her springer spaniel, Sally, as well as my brother-in-law and his springer spaniel, Poppy. These 'spaniel reunions' are always interesting occasions on many levels and always provide the opportunity to compare one's spaniel with the other.

On this occasion, the ability of the spaniel to walk on the lead without tugging seemed to be the comparator. Sally, is a bohemian hippy dog who never walks on the lead - even in the most precarious situations - she just roams free as a bird - oblivious to all oncoming traffic, which evidently don't exist in 'Sally world'. In contrast, Poppy the puppy, still fresh from dog training classes, walks really well on the lead. However, Poppy's master has a secret weapon to improve her performance -the doggy harness. To those of you who are unfamiliar with this piece of gadgetry imagine a child's safety harness for dogs and you will have a vague idea of what it looks like. As a result of using this harness, Poppy gave the impression of being a Crufts winner in the obedience class. Unfortunately, little Jess was nowhere near that level of competence. In front of the other spaniels and their owners, she demonstrated blatant disrespect for the lead, and for myself, as I frantically tried to keep control of her as she coughed, spluttered and slowly choked! This just made me feel like a really bad parent, particularly when Poppy the puppy was strutting her stuff walking so impeccably well on the lead.

Well, after Jess's poor performance this weekend, I decided there was no choice but to get one of these harnesses to see if we could improve her skill at walking on the lead. I went to the pet shop, dithered over the various types of harnesses and eventually came out with a lovely green harness. When we got home, we tried it on straightaway, putting Jess's legs into each loop of the harness and fastening it over her back. We attached the lead, and then as if by magic, Jess turned into the worlds most obedient spaniel! It was unbelievable, she didn't pull, didn't choke, she just chilled out and pottered ahead. However, I sense that Jess doesn't like this harness, because as soon as when got home after the walk, she proceeded to try and chew it - not a happy little doggy. I sense that it will take a while for Jess to get used to this new way of walking...

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