Spotting a rabbit, my dog Kizzy pulled so hard on his leash that I had to dig in my heels to hold onto him. But he jerked the leash right out of my hands and dashed off.

This, and a later escape when he charged another dog, left me wondering whether I would be able to keep the stray that I had found in the woods near my Wisconsin cabin. At 75 pounds, the powerful German shepherd can be difficult to control, even with a choke collar.

Every day, owners surrender their healthy pets to shelters because of such behavioral problems, and many of those animals are put to death. In fact, experts say, behavior problems indirectly kill more dogs than parvovirus, distemper, heartworms and all other diseases combined.

That realization prompted two dog experts from Minnesota to invent the Gentle Leader head collar, which uses a dog's natural instincts to control behavior without choking.

Ruth Foster and Sunny

Joey Mcleister

Star Tribune

Because of its unique and effective design, the Gentle Leader was named in July by the Smithsonian Institution as one of the world's 100 best inventions.

Designed by dog trainer Ruth Foster of Minneapolis and veterinarian Dr. Robert (R.K.) Anderson of Falcon Heights, the Gentle Leader is on exhibit in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History through Sunday. It's featured with microwave ovens, Post-It Notes, Velcro and other inventions that make life easier.

Kismet models the Gentle Leader

Joey Mcleister

Star Tribune

Steers a dog's nose

More than 1.3 million Gentle Leaders have been sold in the United States, plus hundreds of thousands more around the world, according to the manufacturer, Premier Pet Products of Richmond, Va.

The head collar enables an owner to "power steer" a dog. The collar fits snugly under a dog's jaw and fastens behind the ears. A soft loop encircles the muzzle.

"You steer your dog's nose, and the entire head and body naturally follow," Anderson said.

Dog trainer Debra Schneider, owner of AllBreed Obedience in Woodbury, uses the Gentle Leader on any dog that pulls, as well as on young dogs and those sensitive to correction.

"I like it for its control and for its gentle approach," she said. "As with any collar, it can be misused, but under a trainer's supervision for fitting and use, nine times out of 10 it's going to work."

For me, it made all the difference in being able to control the feisty stray that found his way to me.

I was leaving my cabin near Grantsburg, Wis., last July when a dog, hurt and abandoned, came up to me in the dark.

I named him Kismet, which means fate or destiny. Kizzie, as he's called, is nearly three-quarters my weight. He loved me instantly and fancies himself my protector. But he's also headstrong.

"That dog is going to be pulling you all over the place," said one of my neighbors. "You should get a Gentle Leader."

I heard the same advice from my veterinarian, who also urged me to take Kizzie to classes at the Twin Cities Obedience Training Club in Minneapolis. That's where Foster trains dogs, many sporting the Gentle Leader.

Foster, director emeritus of training, is known as the guiding light of the club. She is an American Kennel Club obedience judge and past president of the National Association of Dog Obedience Instructors. Club trainer Vera Wong calls Foster "a miracle worker with dogs."

A former state fencing champion, Foster also holds degrees in biology and psychology. She and her husband, Bob, and their four children, have had dogs for years. Sunny, a golden retriever, often accompanies her to the training club, wearing his Gentle Leader. Foster works with all dogs, but specializes in German shepherds. She got her first shepherd in the 1950s.

On that morning last August, Foster waved Kizzie and me into a ring where dogs of all sizes were practicing. To be close to all these other dogs was a big challenge for Kizzy.

But Foster showed me how to pull straight up on the leash, which connects under Kizzy's chin to the Gentle Leader. His nose went up, his hindquarters dropped and he promptly sat. Ruth commanded him to be quiet while pulling on the Gentle Leader, which closed his mouth.

Within minutes, Kizzy sat quietly and calmly as dog after dog strutted by him. To me, this was a dramatic transformation.

Foster and Anderson have known each other for more than 20 years. He's a professor emeritus of veterinary medicine and epidemiology at the University of Minnesota and widely known as a behavioral consultant for pets.

A more humane approach

In the mid-1980s, Anderson and Foster were together at a dog conference when a small woman walked by with a service dog wearing a big pronged collar.

Anderson and Foster agreed that there must be a better way to control dogs -- one that they believed would be more humane. And they set out to find it.

They applied the best scientific information and practical experience, veterinary behavior medicine, obedience training and shelter management. They looked, for example, to the handling of horses, on which neck nooses work poorly but head halters function wonderfully for leading. They recognized that dogs have a natural opposition reflex.

"That's why when they pull, and you pull, they pull harder," Foster said.

The pressure from choke chains or harnesses actually causes dogs to pull forward. That's how sled dogs work.

Foster and Anderson worked for five years to design a collar that would make use of this opposition reflex. In 1986, they perfected their head collar with its unique "double d" ring.

Unlike traditional collars that press against the windpipe, the Gentle Leader is designed so that dogs that pull and lunge feel pressure on the back of their heads -- much as a pup would feel when carried by its mother.

"It's physics, plus knowing the physiology of the dog," Foster said.

In effect, the dog pulls against itself until it relaxes, Anderson said.

Foster recently displayed the Gentle Leader at the St. Paul Science Museum in an exhibit on female inventors; she and Anderson have been honored American Veterinary Association and other organizations. But while they're becoming known worldwide for their invention, they aren't getting rich.

Nearly all of the royalties from the patent are going to the University of Minnesota, mostly to the Center to Study Human-Animal Relationships and the Environment, which Anderson directs. Foster is associate director.

They've taken the Gentle Leader to shelters such as the Ramsey County Human Society, where they taught trainers how to mold the behavior of strays so they could be adopted rather than euthanized.

A lot of patience, affection and good care have helped Kizzie calm down and become a loving pet. But he continues to pull hard on leashes, so we still use the Gentle Leader on walks when we're not up in the country.

We begin obedience school next month, where we'll use the Gentle Leader for training. Kizzie has come a long way, but we still have lots of work to do.

-- Joy Powell is at jpowell@startribune.com .