1) Dogs are beautiful creatures.Intelligent, playful, loving, funny, sensitive, intuitive,instinctive, and athletic. It’s no wonder so many humans have always had dogs in their lives, from ancient times, continuing and growing in popularity, to this day. Now it’s more about companionship than  survival, but the dog-human bond is still powerful and undeniable.

I would venture to guess that people with dogs have overall better mental and physical health than non dog owners, as they provide and encourage bonding and also exercise. Personally, I have had dogs in my life growing up, and then after a break in my college years, my adult year dogs, Rivkin, Maya, Boz, Milo, Harry, and Fluffy, and a few other I took in temporarily.

I had an extremely close bond with Maya, a wolf-shepherd mix I adopted from the anti cruelty society in my 20’s. She became my surrogate family for many years, and we did almost everything together.She was incredibly athletic and clever, and was a great conduit for me into the outdoors and nature, as she was very wild herself. After she died, and a proper grieving period for me of several months, my partner Vivian and me adopted Milo, a Chow -Border Collie mix, and then Harry, a Chow- Malamute mix, a short time later. These two dogs have been a big part of mine and my kids lives ever since, along with Fluffy, a small Shih tzu-Terrier mix.

Looking back and forward, I am grateful for the experiences, companionship, love and joy dogs have added to my life.

2)

After Harry died a couple years ago, I was taking care of only Milo.

One thing I did not enjoy about dog ownership were the leashes we used for them. Over the first couple years Harry & Milo, like all the dogs I have had, became relatively well trained, although amusingly still stubborn Chows. So with just having to care for Milo later on, one day I decided to ditch his large collar and leash, and I attached a piece of elastic to a small collar, and used that  as a leash when I needed it for more control over him from time to time on city streets. It seemed like 75% of the time I didn’t need or use a leash for my dogs. And going out to the park, and on trails off leash, I was always inconvenienced by having to hold a leash when not in use. Several times on trips in a car I had also forgotten to bring my dog’s leashes, which sucked.

I remember on some hikes that came back out the same way as the entrance, I used to hide the leashes behind bushes or rocks, to pick up on the way out, which led to many extended searches to find them later. I was highly motivated for an answer to the traditional collar leash setup.

After using only my jerry rigged collar-leash combination on Milo for a couple months I thought I might be onto something. It was super convenient and worked great. I started brainstorming ways to make a more elegant and permanent Colleash, the collar-leash combination. I started considering various possibilities of how the leash could attach around the collar. Velco always comes up as a simple attachment option. But I am not a big fan, and in this case, velcro would be a horrible option with all that fur around it. The answer was simple, and as Jesse would say in Breaking Bad:”Magnets Bitch!”

2) Breaking Bad and Good

I have always been a huge fan of the show, and loved the cinematography and scenery of one of my  home states, New Mexico.

The characterization and acting on the show were gripping, and I appreciated that the disrespected and regularly clueless Jesse, often had moments of inspiration and genius.

Maybe we are all capable of these moments and they just have to be recognized and acted upon.

I was certainly sympathetic to the Jesse character. Anyway, with partly Jesse, and Breaking Bad as my inspiration, I started experimenting with neodymium magnets. And flexible galvanized steel as “the landing strip” for the magnets.

At our design shop, Utah Contract Sewing, Kastle and me started constructing some prototypes, and the reaction and response has been very exciting and positive.

3)

Combination all in one collar and leash 

Over the past year or so we have experimented with and tested, sold, or given away many Colleashes. But I was waiting for some more help to develop the business further, as UCS and my kids were taking up so much of my time, the idea of launching another product myself was daunting.

However a very talented local industrial designer I know, DJ Stuart loved the product idea, and some of the other directions and concepts I had planned, and wanted to get involved. So with DJ’s help Colleash is now entering the marketplace. We have researched a new marine grade coating for the magnets that will help protect the magnets from corroding, which was the big challenge for the original nickel coated magnets.

We have collaborated on some new branding and print designs, as well as packaging and everything else, and are proud to now bring you Colleash. The first actual fully functioning all in one dog collar-leash combination made from durable and tactile webbing, that offers great control of your dog when needed, and also cleverly stores away when you don’t.