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On a short leash

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Photo of a dog on a leash
On a short leash means being closely controlled or carefully watched by someone in authority. A person on a short leash is not given much freedom to act on their own.

The idiom is derived from the notion of walking a dog with a very short leash. When the leash is short, the dog must stay close to its owner and cannot run off.

After missing several deadlines, he was kept on a short leash by his manager.