The Leash That Freed Up My Hands on the Walk to the Dog Park

At 7:30 on a Tuesday morning, the hardest part of my walk is not the mile and a half of sidewalk. It is the gate. A steel latch, a spring that has gone stiff with rust, and a six-year-old Australian Shepherd mix named Maisie who is convinced the grass on the far side of that latch is the only grass worth having. For years I worked that gate one-handed, leash wrapped twice around my wrist, water bottle clamped under my arm. Then about a year ago I bought the iYoShop hands free dog leash, and the whole production stopped.

Let me be clear about what changed, because it was not Maisie. She still hits the end of the leash when a squirrel crosses the path. What changed is that I stopped using my hands to hold the leash. The iYoShop leash buckles around my waist and runs back to her harness, so my hands are empty for the walk from the parking lot to the gate. Empty hands sound like a small thing until you have spent years doing everything else one-handed.

The belt is nylon and adjusts from 27 inches to 48 inches, which matters in January with a coat on and in July without one. Two extra handles are built into the leash for close control, and I use one whenever we pass the bench where the regulars gather and Maisie wants to greet the whole bench at once. Two shock absorbers give a little when she lunges, so the pull arrives at my hips as a nudge instead of a jolt. There is a D-ring for a clicker and a zipper pouch on the belt that holds my keys and my phone.

I bought it on the recommendation of a woman at the park who walks two dogs and never seems to be tangled. She had hers on her waist and both hands around a coffee. I ordered mine that week. It took me about three walks to stop reaching for the leash with my right hand out of pure habit.

Two shock absorbers give a little when she lunges, so the pull arrives at my hips as a nudge instead of a jolt.

Here is how the morning goes now. I park the Forester, buckle the belt on, harness Maisie while she vibrates with impatience, and we cross the lot. At the gate I put both hands on the latch, swing it open, walk through, and close it behind us. Then I unclip her inside the double gate and she is gone, running the fence line like somebody is paying her for it. For five years I did that gate one-handed with a leash, a bottle and a bag all competing for the same four fingers. I did not know how much I minded until I stopped.

On Saturdays my grandkids sometimes ride along, and that is the other place the belt earns its keep. A grandchild and a dog moving in different directions is a math problem I could not solve with a loop handle and one free arm. With the leash on my waist I have both hands for the child, the gate and the bag of snacks. The belt adjusts wide enough to go over a sweatshirt, and the clip is a two inch heavy duty clip, so I am not fiddling with hardware while somebody is asking me a question.

The zipper pouch is the part I did not expect to care about. It holds my keys and my phone. Before, I did the pocket pat at least twice a trip, once at the car and once at the gate, because I could never remember whether the keys were in my coat or in my jeans. Now they sit on my waist and I stop thinking about them. There is a limit. The pouch holds a phone and keys and not much else, and if I stuff it fuller than that the zipper gets stubborn. Everything else rides in the park bag.

This is not a training tool and it did not teach Maisie to stop pulling. She is better on the walk in than she used to be, but that is five years of the same route and a lot of stop and wait, not a piece of nylon. What the leash does is move the pull from my shoulder to my hips, which are sturdier. I would not hand it to someone whose dog has never worn a waist belt and turn them loose in a crowded lot, because the first lunge surprises you. We practiced on our own street for two weeks first. It is 68 inches long, an inch wide, 9.6 ounces, and it disappears into the side of the park bag until I need it.

One more thing, because people ask me at the bench. This leash did not replace anything in my bag. The water bottle still does the water, the launcher still does the fetch, and the hammock in the back of the Forester still handles the muddy ride home. The hands free leash does one job, on the ten minutes of pavement between the car and the gate. That is a small slice of the morning, and it is the slice where I used to be juggling three things and dropping one of them.

What I'd Tell You If We Were Sitting at My Kitchen Table

If we were sitting at my kitchen table and you asked whether to buy one, I would say this. If your walk includes a gate, a parking lot, a set of stairs, or a dog who needs two hands and a firm voice at the same time, get your hands back, and the iYoShop belt is the one I would buy again. If your dog walks loose on a sidewalk and you never need a free hand for anything, you do not need this, and I would put the money into a better harness instead. The thing I would tell you to check before you order is the size. It is built for dogs from 25 to 120 pounds, and Maisie at 48 pounds sits in the middle of that range, but a dog near either end deserves a fitting in the driveway before you trust it at the park.