Fishers couple Joe and Lisa Hetzer faced some difficulty walking their two beagle terriers.
“Our dogs struggled with tugging and pulling on the leash constantly,” Joe said. “They are sniffers, they love to put their nose down and drag you along for the walk, and that’s what they were experiencing. We watched videos and looked online for different cures of it. We couldn’t find anything that was effective for our dogs.”
As a result, Joe, who has 33 years of aerospace engineering experience, decided to create a solution himself. Lisa is the owner of Loyal Leash.
“We took the concept of (the) invisible fence-concept collar and we applied it to a leash with some tension control,” said Joe, who worked 2 1/2 years on the development. “It constantly measures the tension of the leash and automatically sends signals to the collar to automatically distribute warning or correction signals.”
Loyal Leash, a 6-foot leash, is patented for its automated tension-control technology under the business name Hetzer Design and Innovations.
“To our surprise, our dogs were trained in under 10 minutes and totally stopped pulling on the leash,” Joe said. “We thought it would take an hour or (a) couple times walking before they understood the concept.”
The tension monitor sends three different signals. There is a beep, a vibration warning system and a corrective system.
“Each one is preceded by a beep, and within minutes your dog is trained to the beep and none of those other things are used again,” Joe said. “They start tugging a little bit, it beeps and then they stop tugging.”
The leash has a manual and auto mode.
“When you are training, you can set the beep, vibration mode or correction on manual,” Joe said. “That automatically records it and creates a program to your tendencies.”
The tension level can be set at any level of poundage on the pull.
“Or you can turn the correction off,” he said. “We feel 85 percent of the dogs can be trained with the beep and the vibration.”
Loyal Leash, which comes with a collar, leash and smart handle, has been endorsed by veterinarians, dog trainers and pet advocates, Joe said.
Joe said several leashes have been test marketed.
A Kickstarter campaign set to begin March 16 is the front-load the production line. When available, the leash will cost $59.95.
“It’s going to get working capital as we are selling the first load. W can afford to be manufacturing that second load,” Joe said,
For more, visit loyal-leash.com.
