This is the type of behavior from our rescued husky that had me fully convinced we could never let her off-leash. As smart as she is, she is equally stubborn, which is why it’s more than an amazing scene as we pop back into the story of our run.
Timber was off-leash, leading the charge on the downhill — her favorite. She dove from reckless distances into the quickly receding snow banks, bulleted around switchbacks, and emerged from the trees with a deer leg.
As the three of us came to the final swoop of a hill that dove as quickly after it rose, we came nose-to-nose with Clover’s mom. Who the heck is that, you might ask? Well, Clover is a two-year-old moose calf named affectionately by my eldest daughter. Clover’s mom is pregnant and has been working hard to kick Clover out of the roost to make way for the baby. These are the two we saw from a distance on the way up. I was able to verbally prepare Timber for the first encounter. There was no chance this time.
Momma moose did a quick flip on the singletrack (thankfully), and Timber set off in hot pursuit. Timber approached her boundary quickly, which was set on my Heel Virtual Dog Leash. It buzzed, beeped, then sent a correction right to her. It didn’t make a difference in this 100% natural takeover of her brain. By this time, the moose had turned on Timber. I quickly retrieved the remote from my running belt, upped the voltage, sent a beep, and within a second, Timber came trotting back, but not without her gaze stuck on the moose.
This was the true and ultimate test of this tech. It’s the testimonial I’ll lead with when talking about the Heel Virtual Dog Leash. What previously took multiple hours and put my life in jeopardy to break Timber’s vision quest on a moose, now took a split second.
