Luke, 1 yr. old now, needs practice daily on his basic obedience commands. We walk up to the elementary school, about 4 blocks away, and along one side of the portables there is a nice stretch of grass with some trees lining the chain-link fence that surrounds the grounds.
Well, we'd been up and down and back up the stretch of grass, and I put him into a down under the shade of the nearest tree. We were both just sitting there, bothering no one, he panting, me sweating (it was quite warm already in the morning.)
Along the sidewalk (outside the fence) came an elderly lady (~70 I'd guess) with her old dog that looked like a cocker spaniel. She eyed me, I spotted her & just gave her a friendly "hello."
Well, I guess that was the clue Luke was waiting for. He decided that I was lax and it was just the right time to lunge for the other dog. He pulled, and I didn't get my hand tightened around the handle of the retractible leash quite fast enough.
He wrenched my arm, pulled the leash loose, and took off. The old lady started screaming like there was a rape in progress
and she and her dog took off running! My Luke is over at the fence by now (with the leash bouncing around smacking him!) and I ran and caught him without incident to the other dog.
I felt awful, not only for the dog getting loose and scaring the poor woman, but also had a terrible pain from the wrenched arm!! It's been about a week now, and it's just now starting to feel better. (I think I had "whiplash" from being wrenched so hard.) My shoulder, arm, ribcage, and neck were stiff and sore.
It taught me a good lesson though. Always, ALWAYS be vigilent with the grip on his leash! Now when we see another dog coming, I tighten the grip I have and brace for pulling. (Next purchase I make at the feed store is going to be a harness to help me with his control.)
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Connie Z. & Luke
(MsCEZ)