This is what happens when your Flexi-lead snaps during a particularly hard lunge by your Shiba and the little plastic thingie hits you in the gut.
Me: Hey, want to go for a walk?
Tierce: Sure!
Friend: I wouldn’t mind.
Me: Awesome.
Me & friend: Yadda yadda yadda.
Tierce: Sniff sniff sniff.
Tierce: OH HEY IS THAT A RABBIT OVER THERE?!
Me: Forget it!
Tierce: LUNGE!
Flexi-lead: SNAP!
Little plastic thingy: THWAP!
Me: *thump*
Ground: Hi.
Me: NNGRGLE
Friend: Here Tierce! Good puppy… just stay there…
Tierce: THERE WAS A RABBIT IN THAT HOLE! I only need to dig for six more hours and I can get through to chase it!
Friend: …gotcha!
Tierce: Oh, poo.
Me: NNNGH.
Friend: Are you okay?
Me: Just… fine… mind if I lie here for a while?
Friend: Uh, sure. Are you sure you’re okay.
Me: Never better… oh gods.
Friend: Um, try seeing if you can walk.
Me: Okay.
Ground: Seeya. Drop in again some time.
Me: Fuck you.
Tierce: Oh HEY! THERE WAS A RABBIT AND I CHASED IT AND IT WENT THROUGH THIS HOLE-
Me: Shut up.
Friend: Okay, how are you doing now?
Me: I think I’ll live. Shall we?
Friend: We shall.
Tierce: RABBITS.
Julie-
You have my sympathy. Doesn’t sound like a good experience. Maybe a good reason to wear safety goggles when walking a Shiba???
Flexi leads are great, but when they break it’s the pits.
Many moons ago I was walking my large male Dalmatian along the border of the wildlife park area. He smelled something and did the lunge routine. Snap! And off he went after the smell. A few minutes later as I’m trying frantically to run him down, back he comes toward me — shaking his head. He had chosen to chase a skunk and had pretty much gotten it in the face! So I managed to tie the flexi lead to his collar and took him home to wash. He was a pink Dalmatian for several days after his tomato juice and shampoo bath.
After that we shifted to a studier 15 ft. training lead for walking in the park area.
We had to give up on the flexi-lead with Kimi. her prey drive is so strong, we had many of the “thwaps” and think that it was the source of the lower back/leg problems she was having. She would go zinging off after a rabbit/squirrel/cat/duck/swallow/etc, and actually get airborne if she took off particularly fast. She also liked running around in big arcs ( a bit like lunging a tiny furry horse). Back on the 6 ft leash for walks now, and restricted to running in the back yard.
Oh, and we found out the hard way you can get a really nasty rope-burn from the flexi-lead rope as it winds in and out!