Questions and Answers about traindee®

The traindee® leash expander is a stretchable element for reducing pulling forces.
The traindee® was developed out of the dog training as an tool which according to animal protection laws (non aversive)  to assist in dealing with dogs that pull strongly on the leash.

The traindee is therefore also referred to as:

• Training leash
• Educational leash
• Gentle-Leash
• Leash for dogs that pull
• No-Pull dog leash
• Jerk damper for dog leashes

The term “leash expander” originates originally on the concept of usability together with other dog leashes.

However, the traindee® can also be directly well grasped and used directly as a leash.

The original traindee® leash-expander models (black and yellow with interchangeable carabiners in 0.5m and 1.0m lengths) feature a unique 4-way stretch designed to gently reduce physical forces created by the dog pulling on the leash and acting on both man and dog together. Negative effects similar to leash pressure are thus eliminated.

Subsequently, this relief causes a stress-free coexistence between man and dog.

The traindee® offers numerous application possibilities:

• For dog education, when the dog pulls strongly (dog training).
• For hiking with dogs, as a pulling relief when a leash is needed
• For dog sports

In principle, we assume that your dog is some kind of special and not just “ordinary” and with conventional methods for leash guidance training simply like to fail. Maybe your dog is just young and impetuous and you as a human need some help to deal with it in a more stress-free way. Often it is simply stressed dogs, as is often the case with shelter dogs, where the leash pulling behavior occurs.

We don’t want to create functioning zombies that walk well on the leash but without any joy. Even with positive reinforcement, stress and conflict situations can be created!

Some application examples are answered in the next questions:

If your dog reacts attentively to your words in principle, you can combine the slow and gentle phase of deceleration by the traindee® with a marker word.

During the development we had decided to use a long, soft “deeeeeeee” as marker word. It should convey something “long”, “soft”, “calming”. You are not locked into any word here, of course, and will know best what your dog responds to optimally.

So whenever your dog starts to bring the traindee® up to tension and the resistance slowly but noticeably increases, use your marker word until your dog finally stops. Since the process of pulling the traindee® apart takes a little while and is not a momentary effect, a long drawn out word over the stretching distance is of course best.

You repeat this process regularly. Depending on how your dog reacts to slowing down, you may have an optimal association of your marker word with slowing down after just a few training sessions.

If you take your dog for a walk outside without the traindee® and he starts pulling, you can use your marker word to call off the slowing down again.

This method works for dogs that react in principle to slowing down with the traindee® in some way, usually a somewhat “baffled” slowing down, because there is no longer a sudden stop that corresponds to a negative leash jerk.

If you have a dog that hangs wildly in the leash like he is “drunk”, attention to a marker word will probably not be sufficient. In this case (for the time being) the method of the wordless training is more purposeful.

If your dog pulls like crazy and can’t seem to be dissuaded by anything and doesn’t seem to respond to your words at all, maybe this method will help you best in the beginning.

Its main purpose is to relieve you of the stress of pulling, which can be painful and exhausting. This gives you the chance to stay more calm and relaxed and not unintentionally reinforce the pulling on the leash. This can happen because of your possible reaction (and thus attention) such as swearing or scolding and also leash jerking.

Just take the appropriate traindee®, no matter in which combination with a leash or completely without, and go out with your four paws friend at a suitable place. Every time your dog starts to pull, you slow down your walking, but don’t say a word. You remain absolutely silent. By gently slowing down the pulling and thus reducing the forces acting on you and your dog, this drastically reduces stress on both sides. Above all, you do not encourage your dog unconsciously to pull!

Your dog should notice that he simply has nothing to gain from pulling. Neither does he have a reaction from you, because you say absolutely nothing, nor does he progress faster or reach his goal, nor does he feel any leash pressure effects.

There are dogs where this method works best and the pulling behavior is minimized by itself.

The stretchable dog leash from traindee® can in principle be combined with all common leashes if the traindee® leash expander is to be used primarily as a dog leash jerk absorber.

We do not necessarily see an advantage in combination with a flexi or retractable leash. The only idea would be to prevent an abrupt stop and thus leash jerk when the dog runs off and the “stopper button” is pressed. Here of course, it would make sense in principle, because the forces that act with a long run-up and sudden stop on man and dog, can already be enormous.

Due to the 4-fold stretchability of the traindee®, however, we recommend, especially with long trailing leads, to attach the traindee® on the side of the human and not directly to the chest harness. This is the only way to have full control over your dog’s range of motion even at 10 or 15 meters. But this mounting option is hardly achievable with bulky flexi or retractable leashes.

A more or less extended Flexi-Leash, can therefore also be considered as a long trailing lead. So please consider, if the Flexi-Leash is extended to e.g. 10m, then your dog would have an additional range of up to 2m with the 0.5m traindee.

The traindee® is not a meaningless “toy” that calls itself a shock absorber and just shows a few cm of stretch. Only the enormous elasticity, creates the desired, gentle deceleration. Please use the traindee® accordingly!

If your dog pulls permanently and strongly on the leash, then we would generally recommend to use a chest harness to protect the (also “sensitive”) neck area of the dog.

Even if some people are of the opinion that a chest harness generally encourages pulling, your dog already pulls on the collar anyway, which is why the traindee® should be used.

So yes, you can! Imagine your dog running at full speed on the collar into a solid leash. Possibly even on a drag line with a lot of run-up. There are already great forces acting on you as a human being, quite apart from the forces that then act on the neck of your dog!

However, it is essential that we want to reduce the pulling behavior step by step or use the traindee® specifically in dog training and the attachment to the chest harness is simply best suited. There the resulting forces act then nice evenly and thus results in a further stress reduction.

Our clear recommendation: traindee® + chest harness when your dog pulls on the leash!

The core of the traindee® leash-expander (shock absorber for dog leash) is made of the highest quality natural latex, which gives it the exceptionally gentle, shock-absorbing properties.

This natural material is correspondingly sensitive to washing processes in the washing machine as well as to cleaning agents and detergents. As a result, the latex rubber becomes porous and brittle, loses its elasticity and can then tear in use. Discoloration due to washing is also noticeable.

Please clean the traindee® leash-expander only with a damp cloth or under running, hand-warm water WITHOUT cleaning agents.

If your traindee® leash-expander (shock absorber for the dog leash) ever gets wet while hiking, walking or training with your dog, please dry it gently by hanging it at room temperature or with a dry cloth.

Please do not hang the traindee® leash-expander over a radiator or any other strong heat source. Under no circumstances, should the traindee® leash-expander be dried in a tumble dryer. The high-quality materials made of natural latex become brittle and fragile, lose their elasticity and can then tear under load.