How many dog walkers have been injured by their substantial canine deciding to suddenly leap in the direction of some squirrel/small dog/rabbit?
…Dog sees small dog across road and leaps toward it…Hand holding the lead tenses and yanks shoulder joint…Shoulder reflexes snap all the ligaments taught…Nerves get stretched. (You can buy spring inserts but these don’t stop a dog walker being jerked off his/her feet).
It’s happened to me twice, resulting in some reasonably serious damage.
Today’s invention is a safety device designed to prevent injury to both dog walkers and their daft animals.
When an impetuous pet leaps away with a force great enough to tear a plastic restraint (pink), a small charge, as in an automotive airbag, fires backwards as shown. This causes the dog’s chest harness to stop the animal in its tracks, without placing stress on the owner’s arm. The internal cable (blue) maintains the link with the dog (but without snapping taught).
(It might work best if the charge were actually based on compressed air that the user could recharge after each use).