My name is Stephen Joshua, and I have two strong and energetic pitbulls.
Getting them out of the house isn't a choice...it's a REQUIREMENT! I knew going into this relationship exactly what I signed up for, or at least I thought I did.
I took an oath..."for better or worse...in sickness and in health...I will walk you all the days of your life"...and then life smacked me...a few times.
Life has a special way of doing that.
For some people being smacked by life looks like forced overtime, the flu, sudden injury, or bad weather... but for me, it was when I found out my wife, Nadia, was pregnant with our first daughter.
Nadia had extreme morning ALL DAY sickness that lasted, what felt like, the entire pregnancy.
In a very short period of time I became responsible for everything around the house, which meant less time to walk our dogs.
Aside from shorter walks, there were days where I didn't walk them at all, because I was just too exhausted.
I knew their physical needs weren't being met and I wanted to give them the exercise they deserved, but the truth is, my hands were full!
On the days I mustered up the energy to walk them it went like this....
After an 8 hour shift, I would greet my two affectionate and excited pups.
I was low on energy, but they were fully charged!
Each time I connected the leash to their harnesses my dogs ran out the door like a horses on a track.
They would jerk and jolt from bush to bush wagging their tails with joy.
The first 15 minutes of a walk felt like a serious game of Tug of War, but deep down I knew it was because they had loads of pent up energy.
After short walks, they'd be drooling and out of breath, tails waggin' and pantin' in the grass, from pulling me like a weight around the block…
I loved seeing them like that - their energy completely drained, because I knew I was meeting their needs!
Their satisfaction would almost make me forget how tired I was of sacrificing my comfort for their exercise…
Key word… ALMOST…
I couldn't deny that pulling drained their pent up energy, because they were SOOO calm and relaxed at home, but I NEEDED to be comfortable on walks.
I wanted the end result of pulling, but I didn't want to be uncomfortable to get it.
I needed a tool to cancel out everything i hated about pulling!
Step 1: was to get rid of the yanks and jerks when my dogs smelled something or saw something interesting.
What was the catch? I didn't want to take the fun out of walking for them.
I might have been asking a bit much, but I knew that would truly be a win for me and my dogs.
As I searched for the perfect pulling solution I found pinch collars, choke chains, head harnesses, and a variety of so-called “no pull” harnesses…
But there were 3 major flaws in them all…
1. They made my dog's uncomfortable.
2. They didn't help me drain my dog's energy.
3. They took the fun out of walking.
I wanted walks to be an outlet for them…like recess is for kids at school.
I knew they were bored at home while I was at work.
And there were days where I didn’t walk them at all, so when we did walk I wanted them to sniff, explore, and be free.
The goal was to get rid of what I didn't like about walks in a way that allowed my dogs to drain their pent up energy.
I needed a new kind of solution for pulling...
So I decided to create Pulling Gear for people with strong energetic dogs like mine and Relief Bands are Step #1!
