Taken from Coeur d'Alene Press - Thursday, Oct 27, 2005

Chris Taylor shows his Slick Leash display rack at Sweetpea Home Interiors. The combination leash and collar was recently patented and is now in production in quantity for Internet and retail sales.

Local inventor hopes to make it easier to walk the pooch

COEUR d'ALENE -- Chris Taylor's marketing slogan is as clever as the invention he recently patented and soon will begin marketing.

"Releash the Hounds" perfectly reflects Taylor's Slick Leash, a dog collar with a leash combined. He worked out the design over a period of several months a couple of years ago, and is now going into full production on the device.

Getting that patent meant a lot of research to determine the product wasn't in conflict with an existing model.

"It seems like the things out there were more like torture devices," Taylor said.

So instead of what he calls "crude metal and thin wire, not comfortable for dogs," Taylor took the basic components of nylon collars, and added a few buckles and some Velcro to create his own.

"It's easy to use," said Sara Ripley, co-owner of Sweetpea Home Interiors on Sherman Avenue where the Slick Leash has been sold for about a year. "It's a very popular seller. It's handy. You don't have to pack a leash everywhere."

Visitors to the 2004 Downtown Street Fair got a sneak peek at the collar, but relatively few sold there in spite of being well received.

"It got a great reception," Taylor said. "I had fun and broke even."

The Slick Leash was conceived while on a hiking trip in Heyburn State Park with wife Anna, after their dog got away and dragged its leash through mud and other unpleasant substances.

He worked out the design, and she sewed it up on an 1890s treadle sewing machine. After a few redesigns, the Slick Leash was ready to go.

The collar adds a few layers, as the leash wraps around it and snaps on, so it will fit only dogs with necks of about 15 inches or more around. It was tested on the couple's three dogs -- a Labrador retriever, a German sheperd/Rottweiler and a dachshund/terrier.

"We made him (the dachshund) a little tiny one," he said, bending and reaching down to just below his knee. "It came to about here."

Over the summer Anna, a kindergarten teacher at Spirit Lake Elementary, kept fit running the foot-powered sewing machine, and the leash is now in stores in Boise and Seattle. Taylor now has a manufacturing company producing the collars, with an initial order of 1,000. Within about a week they will be on sale at the Pet Stop in Hayden and Laundramutt in Coeur d'Alene.

The Slick Leash sells for $18 or $20 for larger sizes and fits medium to "double extra-large dogs," Taylor said.

A friend, Lee Ja Junker, created a steel display rack with a dog's silhouette holding a stick, handy for hanging the collar on, and giving a new meaning to the term "Spot welding."

His Web site, www.slickleash.com should be up and running in about a week for Internet orders. Included will be a metal dog tag with the dog's ownership information.

Taylor, who manages the Porch Public House in Hayden, doesn't expect to quit his day job any time soon, but he's long had a knack for tinkering and if his first product is successful he may find a new career as an inventor.

"We'll get the first thousand and see how it goes," he said.

By RICK THOMAS
Staff writer