Thunderworks, the makers of the well-known anti-anxiety dog product Thundershirt, recently released an innovative new leash designed to make dog walking hassle-free: the ThunderLeash. Admittedly, leash pulling is one of my biggest challenges with Wrigley (bless his little heart), so when the folks at Thunderworks asked if I wanted to try out this new all-in-one leash/harness/pull-correcting-miracle-device, I said Y-E-S.
[Disclosure: Thunderworks sent us a ThunderLeash to review. All views and opinions are our own.]
The ThunderLeash is designed with a unique style of hardware that allows you to convert it from a standard leash into a no-pull-style harness in a matter of seconds. In this configuration, the ThunderLeash puts gentle, calming pressure around the dog’s torso whenever he or she pulls, causing them to stop. The concept is so simple, it’s almost hard to believe it actually works. But after watching some before and after videos of the leash in action, I was more than curious to try it with our Chief Pulling Officer.
A little backstory on Wrigley: he is THE WORST on leash. Just… horrible. I’ve tried all kinds of training and harnesses and, prior to testing out the ThunderLeash, had mostly given up on him ever being the calm, non-leash-pulling dog I dreamt about. So, to say I was skeptical that the ThunderLeash could solve our little situation would be an understatement. But I tried it anyway and that’s when something miraculous happened:
Wrigley stopped pulling. Immediately.
It was the weirdest thing to witness, but it totally worked. Our maiden walk with the ThunderLeash was the most enjoyable we’d had in years. Subsequent walks (coupled with positive feedback) yielded similar results, though we have had some setbacks from time to time when something particularly enticing crosses our path — we’re still working on that. After a few weeks of dedicated ThunderLeash use, however, we were able to use the leash in the standard configuration without Wrigley pulling like a maniac and choking himself. Hooray!
Now, I don’t know if it’s the monumental stubbornness of schnauzers, but since making this initial breakthrough and having a few good weeks of walking without the harness configuration, Wrigley started going back to his old ways (though, not nearly as bad as before. Since then, we’ve gone back to using the leash in the no-pull harness configuration (which is the phase we’re in right now) and he’s doing well. We’ll probably stick with this for a few months and see if that does the trick!
All in all though, Wrigley’s on-leash pulling has improved dramatically since we started using the ThunderLeash and it almost completely ceases when we use the leash as a harness. If you have a dog that pulls like crazy, definitely definitely definitely give the ThunderLeash a try!
