You know, when the puppy trainer suggests that you leave the leash on your puppy when she is in the house, it sounds like a great idea. In fact, it still is a great idea. You just need to use some common sense, which I didn’t.
Back in November I was sitting on the couch with our puppy, Maizey. I had her leash with the loop/handle around my arm. She was sleeping next to me. I had asked “A” to put out Maizey’s dinner. She did and Maizey was so sleepy that she didn’t even get up. “A” (not knowing that I had the leash around my arm) shook the dry food bag and called her. Maizey took off running and my arm went flying out and I felt it snap back. It hurt – a lot. Then, I forgot about it.
That night I woke up with my arm feeling tingly – like when you sleep on it funny and it goes to sleep. Assuming that it was that, I moved, went back to sleep and forgot about it.
During the next couple of days I noticed that my hand was tingly and just couldn’t figure out why. By the third day, my fingers were tingly and I did not have much fine motor skill with them. I went to the chiropractor to get adjusted. My neck, shoulder, elbow, wrist and fingers were adjusted. It sure took some concentration to relax so I could be adjusted.
I returned to the chiropractor a couple times per week for a month. My hand and arm would be at various levels of tingly and numb. At the beginning my elbow hurt too. I couldn’t hold things in my hand. I couldn’t type. I couldn’t pick up small objects with that hand either. I can type again – thankfully – though not quite up to full speed yet. The very tips of my fingers are still tingly and sometimes lose feeling (mostly at the end of the day). I haven’t been adjusted in a few weeks and totally need to make some time to get there. I’m sure I would feel much better.
The moral of my story is – do not loop the dog leash handle onto your arm or relax your arm while you are holding a leash that is attached to a puppy. Not good.