The Waist Leash That Freed Up My Hands on the Trail

Most Saturdays from spring through fall, Moss and I do a day hike somewhere off the Cascade Lakes Highway. Four miles if the weather is turning, seven or eight if it is not. I carry one pair of trekking poles for all of it.

That is a small gear decision with a large consequence. Two poles means two hands. A dog on a leash means one hand. For a couple of years I pretended those two facts could coexist, and they cannot.

Three and a half years ago I bought the Tuff Mutt hands free leash, and it solved that. It is 48 inches long and 1 inch wide, made of nylon, with a waistband that adjusts from 26 to 48 inches and buckles around my waist. The snap clip goes on Moss, my 46 pound Australian shepherd mix, and both of my hands stay on the poles. It weighs 8.8 ounces, light enough that I forget I have it on until the bungee stretches.

Before it, the first mile of every hike was a negotiation. I would clip the handheld leash to Moss, pick up both poles, and make it about a quarter mile before I gave up. The leash sawed against my wrist, Moss drifted left toward a smell, and I did that thing where you hold the handle with two fingers and pretend it is fine. Then the poles went onto my pack and the leash went back into my right hand for the rest of the day.

Three and a half years of Saturdays and nothing has broken. The bungee still stretches as far as it did the day I bought it.

The bungee is the part that took getting used to. The listing says the shock absorbing bungee stretches 4 to 5 feet, and that matches what I feel. When Moss stops to sniff and I keep walking, I feel the stretch before I feel a jerk. The first two hikes I noticed the bounce more than I noticed the freedom. By the third hike, Moss had settled into walking a little ahead on a loose line, and I stopped thinking about the leash at all.

The two handles are the second thing I would tell you about. There is one at the hip end and one closer to the dog, and the one near the dog is what I hold at trailheads and in parking lots. When a car goes by or another dog comes around the corner, I take that short handle and Moss is right beside me. On the open trail I let it out and let him walk ahead.

On steep downhills I shorten up with that same handle, because I do not want him pushing past me on loose rock. The honest weak spot is the bounce. This is not the leash for a dog who lunges hard at everything he sees. Moss does not, so it suits us. If your dog hits the end of the line at full speed every time a squirrel moves, the stretch will feel like a rubber band and you will want something with no give at all.

I wash the Tuff Mutt by hand now and then and hang it by the back door with the rest of the trail gear. Nothing has broken. The waistband still adjusts, the snap clip still closes, and the bungee has not gone slack. I own one. I have not needed a second.

The waistband adjusts from 26 to 48 inches, so it goes over a rain shell in October and over hiking pants in July without me changing anything. I have not had it loosen on a climb.

Before this I used a plain 6 foot handheld nylon leash. I still use it around town, on sidewalks and in the vet parking lot, and it is fine for that. I have not used it on a trail since the day the waist leash arrived. Going back to one hand on the leash and one hand on a pole is not a trade I want to make again.

On the handful of overnights Moss and I do each summer, he wears his pack and I clip the snap to the pack's own leash point. The waistband is still around me. That is a different setup and I am not going to pretend it replaces the pack, but it is what I reach for on a day hike with poles.

What I notice most now is what I do not notice. I do not spend the first mile switching hands. I do not stop to untangle a leash from a pole tip. I do not finish a hike with a red line across my palm. That is a small thing to say out loud, and it is the reason I still wear it every Saturday.

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

Try it on a short, easy hike first, not a long day. Set the waistband where it sits comfortably and clip the snap on the dog. Give both of you three hikes to settle in, because the first one will feel strange. Keep your old leash for town.

I would also tell you the honest thing. The Tuff Mutt is not a training tool and it is not a no-pull device. It is a way to keep your hands free while your dog walks on a line. If your dog already walks reasonably well, it makes a good day better. If your dog drags you down the trail, work on that first, because a bungee will not fix it.