New Lead ~ Said Goodbye to the "Halti"

Being a husky and true to his 'husky' nature, Kodi found it difficult to walk using a 'harness' or to even walk with his leash attached to his collar. As soon as he felt the least resistance against his chest or neck he would lean into it, digging in and pulling against the restraint, making it terribly difficult for us to walk him, especially me, sitting in a chair with a low center of gravity and not much leverage.

More than once, I was tugged so hard my shoulder popped. So we had to research, talk to our Veterinarian and we settled on a training device known as a "Halti" head harness, shown on Kodi in the picture.

It was not a muzzle, it slid around his nose and attached behind his head with a small lead under his chin that attached for security to his regular collar. The leash attached to the same ring under his chin that the tiny lead attached to, so when walking him, we were 'leading' him by his nose, rather than restraining him at his neck.

He could still drink, eat, play ball, pant, bark and yes, bite, if necessary, but if he pulled against the Halti it would tighten around his mouth, making it difficult for him to defend himself should he be attacked by another dog (which has happened 4 times when we were out).

To control the Halti I wrapped the leash around my wrist, which meant both hands were occupied when we were out, one hand holding his leash, the other controlling the chair's joystick. This was problematic if I had to get Kodi a drink, use the pooper scooper, or go into the bank and try to handle a check or cash, if Kodi was moving around beside me, pulling my hand away.

I went on a service dog supply site and found a leather leash with brass hardware, used in police, Schutzhund and Service Dog work.

It's 6 ft. long and has a series of rings over its length with a hook on each end. It can be adjusted to 4 different lengths, attached to a wheel chair, used as a temporary tie out. It's very sturdy, being two layers of leather with both stitching and rivets.

I bought one and attached it to the frame of my power chair. Hooking it to Kodi's Halti was problematic, as it was heavy and pulled his head down, putting unnecessary pressure on his nasal passages along the top of his nose. So, I took a chance that he had learned the lesson meant to be taught with the Halti and I hooked the leash to his collar.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that Kodi stayed right next to my chair, he didn't pull hard and actually allowed slack in the leash between us. He had an easier time drinking out of his travel water dish and was more eager to put his gear on to go for walks. He certainly experienced a sense of 'freedom' he hadn't been feeling.

My husband can put the leash around his waist and hook it to itself, keeping his hands free and using his body weight to prevent Kodi from pulling him as aggressively as he did when he held the leash in his hand. (He has always seeminly had an understanding that we are a team and he must cooperate with me, therefore responding differently than he does with someone walking upright.)

We have used the new lead when going into the bank. Kodi follows behind me and I'm able to use my hand to control the doors, rather than being tethered to Kodi by my wrist. It actually keeps him closer to me. It provides me with a sense of security as well as freedom.

I'm also secure in the knowledge that with this lead, I could affix it to the seat's support frame, if the chair should ever quit running, and Kodi could pull me home. I would not have to be concerned with being stranded.

We are always learning and progressing as a team.

Adding More Skills

Kodi and I are always working on learning new things and re-enforcing skills we’ve already learned.

Recently, we created a ‘tug’ tool that we affixed to our bedroom door, for training purposes, so Kodi can start working on “Tug Door”.

Thus far, he’s doing great, as we reward his efforts, even if all he does is take the tug tool into his mouth. When he holds it in his mouth and pulls, even the least little bit, we reward with lots of praise and a treat.

He’s tugged hard enough to pull the door nearly closed. We work on this skill a couple of times a week, while practicing skills that have been acheived.

One evening, while readying for bed I asked Kodi to take off my pants, after he was on the floor. I asked him to “tug pants” and he took a pants leg in his mouth and pulled on it until he pulled it off. He did this twice and then offered me the pants.

When he got back up on the bed, I asked him to “tug blanket”. I lifted the edge of the quilt and he took it in his mouth, stepping back, as he pulled the quilt and sheet back at an angle.

We practiced “tug blanket” several nights in a row and each time Kodi was able to turn back the bed, pulling the covers at an angle, revealing the sheet enough for me to get into bed without sitting on the quilt.

I’ve been walking Kodi, from time to time, without his Halti, affixing the leash to the heavy ring on the back of his vest. He’s done wonderfully with this change, but I continue to go back to the Halti as a means of re-enforcing ‘not pulling’.

The next skill I plan to introduce, once we have some consistency with “tug door”, will be “Hold”. There are times when Kodi picks up an object for me, but before I can reach for it, he drops it. We need him to hold the item until I can take it from him.

I’m always looking forward to working on new skills with Kodi, he’s so intelligent and quick to respond.

Helping with Household Chores

Last Friday, as I was working around the house, in an effort to get things organized for the long weekend, I found myself a bit of a 'butter fingers', dropping things on the floor or simply needing things out of reach.

Kodi stayed close to me all day, as I moved through the house from room to room.

I started in the bedroom, where I set about folding clothes, as I haven't been able to get my power chair in that room since I got it 2 and 1/2 years ago. (We just had the doorway widened.) I was folding clothes, laying them out on the bed, as Kodi lay on the bed watching me.

When I went around the bed to fix the quilt, I found my husband's dirty clothes on the floor around his hamper, so I asked Kodi to jump down and pick them up for me. He licked my face, then jumped down and picked up two socks, a pair of underwear, a t-shirt and a pair of sweat pants, one at a time, and handed them to me.

When I went out to the kitchen to unload the dishwasher, I fumbled a small bowl and dropped it on the floor. Kodi came out and hesitated for a moment, not having picked up dishware for me before and carefully picked it up and put it in my hand.

I gathered the febreze and carpet freshener and headed for the living room, where I set about straightening the slip covers on the sofa and loveseat. As I was doing so, the bottle of febreze fell on the floor. Kodi came over and picked it up, handing it to me carefully, so as not to spray it.

When I put the cleaners and things away, I moved to the desk in the kitchen and straightened there a bit. As I was rearranging things on our 'media center' some business cards fell on the floor. Kodi picked them up and placed them in my hand.

I rewarded him for a day's hard work with a long walk and a romp through the yard to play with his tennis ball.

Yesterday, as I was sitting in the living room relaxing, crocheting, my scissors fell on the floor. Kodi was at my feet, laying down, but he stood, used his paw to move the scissors from the rug onto the floor and picked them up, placing them into my hand. He was rewarded for a job well done.

Later, as I was crocheting away, oblivious to much around me, besides counting stitches, Kodi got up and came over by the far side of my chair, between my chair and the decorative table and proceeded to pick up a skein of my yard that had fallen, unbeknownst to me. He put it on my lap.

Later, when I had placed my things on the arm of the loveseat beside my chair, our oldest cat started pulling apart my yarn, chewing on it. Kodi stood up and watched for a moment, then I said, "take it away from him Kodi" and he DID! He gently reached up and took one end of the skein in his mouth and pulled it away from the cat, handing it to me.

Last night, when readying for bed, I tried adding something new to our routine. I asked Kodi to 'tug blankets' and he turned down the quilt and sheet for me, taking it in his mouth and backing across the bed until he'd turned down the corner making enough room for me to sit down so I wouldn't sit on the quilt.

With some consistent practice, I'm convinced there isn't much Kodi couldn't do to help me.

How Does He Know?

Lately I'm simply astounded by what Kodi does, how he seems to know things, without a word from me or any previous source of reference.

We were walking to the park earlier this week and just before crossing a parking lot to the park, I was forced to take my power chair over an area covered by fallen limbs and sticks.

The clearance on my chair is only 2 inches, so things easily can get stuck, hung up on the under carriage of the chair, caught in the tires. Sure enough, a branch got caught under my chair. I tried to back up, thinking if I did, it would untangle is, push it back out the front of the chair, but it didn't work, I tried to turn, thinking that might break it and free it, but that didn't help.

I stopped for a few moments, trying to figure out how I might free the limb, when Kodi stepped in between the leg rests of my chair and took the stick in his mouth, pulling on it. I moved the chair backwards and the limb was free.

How did he know to take the stick in his mouth and hold on to it like that? How did he understand what I was trying to do was to free the stick? I gave no command and we had no previous source of reference for him to pull from.

Just two nights ago my husband was in bed, I was in the bathroom and Kodi was bringing his toys into bed. My husband kept putting the toys on the floor and he kept retrieving them.

Kodi jumped off the bed and disappeared into the living room, returning with one of my sneakers. He brought it into bed and my husband put it on the floor. Kodi got down and picked it up again and brought it back into bed. My husband put it out of bed again. I asked him to be patient a moment as I asked Kodi to 'go into the living room and get my other sneaker from next to my chair.' He looked at me as I repeated my request, then jumped down off the bed and went into the living room.

He promptly came back with my sneaker in his mouth and jumped back up on the bed.

I had never asked him to go into another room and retrieve something for me before. I didn't even hold the other sneaker in my hand as an example of what I wanted him to get.

How does he know what I need or want from him without even saying a word, giving him a command, providing an example or working on a particular skill?

I have to believe our bond grows ever stronger, connected on a spiritual level.