Tikva has a regular leash attached to the end of her rope tether. Why? The rope is quite heavy - it is what I used for Pereg who was much bigger, and the rope would need a fairly heavy trigger clip to go on Tikva's harness. Much too heavy for a small girl. So I fit a regular leash to the end of her tether, the rope looped through the hand grip and black electrical insulating tape firmly holding both the leash to the rope, and also the end of the rope which is fastened to a heavy caribiner which is fastened to the wotsit inside the front door. It is easy to use and strong. Someone was outside bothering Tikki [so what is new] and she rushed out... ...leaving her rope tether loose behind. The hand grip on the end of the leash had broken so she was loose - and could easily gotten onto the road, only she stopped as soon as she realised she was loose - I called out "Tik - boi - achshav" - "Tik come [here] now" and she shot in. I always have spare leashes - I think they cost just over $1 from China, postage free - and I buy 1.5m leashes which are the ideal length and last just as long as leashes I have bought here, most of which end up with the trigger clip broken, and which are far more expensive. So, Tikki now has a nice new leash fitted onto the end of her rope tether and her tether is now secure again. She sat on the couch watching me removing all the insulating tape, measuring how much rope had to go through the hand grip of the new leash... ...and all the time the door was wide open and she could have easily gone walkabout had she wanted. But she is Tikva and she does, mostly, know how to behave. Tikki is far from perfect although she is mostly very good. She does not do tricks but then why should she? But she has the most wonderful recall - knew she should not go out even though the door was wide open - and just sat and watched me while I removed the old, broken leash and fitted a new one. What more could I ask of her?
