Patent ID: 8434429

Claim:
A pet leash assembly, comprising: a tether; and a gated clasp including: a body sized to be held in a user's hand, the body including a base portion coupled to the tether, and a hook portion extending from the base portion and having a terminal region; a gate including a hinged end region and a distal end region, wherein the hinged end region is pivotally coupled to the body, and wherein the gate further includes a projection extending transversely from the hinged end region away from the body; and a biasing member that pivotally biases the distal end region of the gate toward and into contact with the terminal region of the hook portion of the body; wherein when the terminal region of the hook portion of the body is in contact with the distal end region of the gate, the body and the gate collectively define a closed loop, and wherein when the projection is urged generally toward the terminal region of the hook portion of the body, the gate is pivoted against a bias of the biasing member and the distal end region disengages the terminal region of the hook portion of the body to permit selective insertion and removal of a coupling ring of a pet collar between the gate and the terminal region of the hook portion of the body for securing the pet leash assembly to the pet collar.