Noel likes to hold her own leash...

[boxmom]

We adopted Noel back in Feb, and I have been taking her for walks on leash with Fred for a couple of weeks now (just got nice enough weather wise). When I put the leash on Noel, she likes to grab the leash in her mouth and carry it to the door. She will even grab Fred's leash and walk him to the front door. Anyway, I thought this is ok..pretty cute, not sure what else to make of it. That is all she ever did with that, just when I leashed them up before we left the house. Now today we were walking and we met a lady walking two smaller dogs on the trail. She asked if they could say hello as she was training her dogs. Since mine could also use some work I said ok. She explained she was a dog trainer, and offered a few tips as Fred and Noel were pulling pretty hard on their leashes. Her tips were good and the dogs relaxed and we chatted for a while...then Noel grabbed the middle of her leash with her mouth and started tugging on it really hard...trying to, I can only assume, move me along? Well, we started walking again, and that was that...I am just wondering what is the deal with her holding the leash, and should I be encouraging this, or should I keep her from doing this? Is there a reason people train a dog to hold it's own leash, or is it just a cute trick or a bad habit they pick up? I know I don't want her walking me, , so should I stop her from holding the leash all together?

 

[Eleonora II]

"Guidance" perhaps?

Just fell upon your posting. Although I don't have the answer to your question I just wanted to let you know that Buddy does the same. That is - when it's walking time in the morning he goes to the door where the leashes hang and rattles them as if to tell me: "Hey! It's time!". Once I put on the collar and the leash he takes the end in his mouth and guides me to the backdoor. He holds on tight until I unlock the door and then the garage gate and only then does he sit down, lets go of the leash and waits until I give the OK to go outside.

Almost the same procedure in reverse follows once we approach the house. As if to tell me that now we're home and he takes over again - LOL. I never really gave it a thought thinking it's a cute habit of his which he had almost from the first time we went walking when he was a puppy.

But ... aren't they just lovable?