Retractable Leashes, What do you think?

 Baily learned to walk with a 6 foot leash hooked to his collar.  When he was well behaved on that, we moved on to a 16 foot Flexi hooked to his harness.   He is 60 lbs and respects that Flexi as much as any other leash.  He responds to voice commands, he magically knows exactly how long it is. It is great for mini recalls and the lag behind, sniff, pee, run to get ahead of mom so he can sniff, pee, lag behind.  We only use it for walks in the nearby parks.  For trips to the vet and such, it is a 4 foot leash on his buckle collar.  He seriously knows the difference between leash on harness and leash on collar.  I can hook the flexi to his collar and lock it at only 2 foot long....he stays right by my side.

I don't think they are right for every dog, every human or every situation.  

I use one for Luke for very limited situations. He walks nicely on a 6ft. leash, and I use  a long line if there is anyone else around. The flexi I have for him is  the other rated for big dogs. It's a tape instead of a cord. It seems a bit less likely to cause injury if it does break.

Anyway,  I use it when I let Luke out late at night. Nobody else is going to be out there. I generally stand in the door, and I just let him out with that. I also will sometimes use it to let him swim at certain places. The long line tends to get algae stuck on it. I'll also use it in the snow to let him romp around, but again only if he's the only one out there. The long line dragging on the ground gets caught up, but the flexi stays up off the ground. Otherwise, I like the long line, because I can just drop the line, and let him go. I tie a few knots in mine so that if he doesn't come back when I call, I just step on it, and it'll  catch at a knot. If he ignores again the next time, I pick up the line, and generally switch him back to his regular leash.  I really hate them for the most part. On Mondays, walk with a group that can be anywhere from 5-25 dogs. I really wish they would say no flexi-leads in the group. There is only one person in the group who uses one who seems to be able to consistently stay untangled, and not be a problem. One guy has a reactive dog on a flexi, what a nightmare that is.

There is a local dog event that gets hundreds of dogs, Your Dog is Worth it Too Day, at the L'Oreal plant. Their policy is that you must lock them at 6ft. I have never been tangled in a flexi, in 5 years, even in that huge crowd. 

I met a lady at a park who said she was using one of those to walk her 9 year old Border Collie when the dog saw a squirrel and took off, wraping the cord around her arm and slashing into the skin making a large, deep cut.  She had a big scar from it.  She said that thankfully there was a man walking his own dog nearby who was able to help her get control of her dog and the bleeding.  She had to go to the emergency room, dog in tow. 

Our trainer had already told us in puppy class that if we had one of those the best thing to do with it was to drop it in the trash on the way out.  The lady's story just backed that up. 

Again, maybe this is just because he's a light dog, we were using a light leash, etc., but for us it was really helpful. It was really a great tool for breaking the old bad habits he came with and teaching him to be more responsive to the non-dog end of the leash.

A long line might have had the same effect, but with a tiny little low-to-the-ground like Rascal, finding a long line that's light weight enough can be a challenge, so... plus, I dislike untangling knots... ;)

I have never used one, but one of the ladies I walk with does and it seems to work fine for them.  Saying that; however, I do have a burn mark on my left ankle from an idiot neighbor who had do idea how it use it and got me and almost Riley wrapped up in it. 

I use one every day to walk Jamison.  Never had a problem  . . . but Jamison is a very, very laid back dog.

Deb W.

I really don't see pulling as a problem unique to flexi leads.  Methinks as long as the dog weighs more than 5lbs it doesn't really have to pull to extend a flexi.

My main beef with them is that the leads themselves I find cumbersome and lacking in quality materials.  I already have nice leashes 3', 4', 6', 10', 15', 33' so I don't need another one of inferior quality.  I don't see any benefit to a leash zipping in and out, our leash law here is 6'. I have enough really nice, strong 6' leashes each with proper hardware for a large, strong dog (not that my dogs are reactive and lunging but you never know, better safe than sorry!).  I don't really care either way about the flexis or if others use them.  My Schutzhund training director uses them for his SchH3, national competitor dog, lol.  I just don't have any need for one, it duplicates functions my current equipment already does for a lower cost and better performance.

We never considered using one with Tonka (seemed inappropriate for a 125+ pound dog!) and don't use one with Ruby.  Friends in our old neighborhood used them for all three of their dogs.  When we met at the nearby field to walk together, it could be a knotted mess (with ankles at risk) if all the dogs started circling around us for greetings.  It used to bug me, but I never said anything.  When we dog-sat for them, we used our regular 6 ft. nylon leashes instead of their retractable ones. 

The few times I did use them with friends' dogs, I felt like I had no control if anything happened while the dog was several feet ahead of me.  I feel safer having dogs closer to me while we're walking since I'm kind of paranoid about something or someone startling us during a walk.  Like Callie said, I struggled using them -- scrambling to "reel the dogs in" when I needed to get them close to me quickly.  Granted, none of the dogs I used them with were solidly trained with good recall or heeling, so that was part of it.  But even when I've used one with a current neighbor's dog who doesn't pull at all, my hand started to hurt from the way I had to grip the handle thing.  I much prefer the feel of a regular leash that I can loop my hand through.

We have a 25 foot nylon long line for Ruby when we're somewhere safe for walking like that, but DH always handles her in those instances since she minds DH more reliably than she minds me.

I have used them for all my dogs. Ava is very small as were my other two dogs though.  Ava does not ever wear a collar either, she is always in a harness as were my other dogs.  I have never had a problem with them.  Doubt I would use one for a large dog though.

 Funny. I just made a post about this on my blog today!  I love my retractable leash and I use it for many walks in our suburban neighborhood (we have sidewalks with several feet between the sidewalk and road).  My dog is not a puller and I NEVER use the corded ones (I use the full leash ones, which seem to be much sturdier).

Back when I first got Dahlia everyone told me to stay away from them and suggested a long line.  I tried that.  I spent more time winding and unwinding it, untangling it from itself and from bushes and trees, and ended up getting rope burn when it wrapped around me as I tried to untangle it and Dahlia (who was reactive and overly excited at seeing other dogs) tried to run and greet another dog.  I tossed that long line quickly and went to the retractable.  I've never regretted it.  It's never broken and I've used them for 3 1/2 years with a 50 pound dog.  I only buy the Flexi brand ones instead of some cheap knock-off and replace it every year or so and have never had a problem with them.

I don't think they're ALWAYS appropriate though.  I don't use one in class or at trials (I use a leash she can tug on instead) and I keep her on a short leash at the vet's office or when walking in a place that is crowded.  But otherwise, if I need to keep her leashed I use my retractable.

organictroll

I met a lady at a park who said she was using one of those to walk her 9 year old Border Collie when the dog saw a squirrel and took off, wraping the cord around her arm and slashing into the skin making a large, deep cut.  She had a big scar from it.

See I just cannot IMAGINE how on earth it got wrapped around her arm.  It doesn't even makes sense!  Because if the dog is close to you the leash should be fully retracted and you should be holding onto the handle.   So what did she do?  Lock it, then wrap the leash around her arm, unlock it, and THEN her dog took off?  That's pretty stupid if that's what she did, but I can't see another way for that to happen!  I once wrapped a 6-foot leash around my arm and stupidly took my eyes off my (new rescue) dog.  She bolted after another dog and I got some pretty nasty rope burn on my arm.  My own stupid fault.

crysania

organictroll

I met a lady at a park who said she was using one of those to walk her 9 year old Border Collie when the dog saw a squirrel and took off, wraping the cord around her arm and slashing into the skin making a large, deep cut.  She had a big scar from it.

 

See I just cannot IMAGINE how on earth it got wrapped around her arm.  It doesn't even makes sense!  Because if the dog is close to you the leash should be fully retracted and you should be holding onto the handle.   So what did she do?  Lock it, then wrap the leash around her arm, unlock it, and THEN her dog took off?  That's pretty stupid if that's what she did, but I can't see another way for that to happen!  I once wrapped a 6-foot leash around my arm and stupidly took my eyes off my (new rescue) dog.  She bolted after another dog and I got some pretty nasty rope burn on my arm.  My own stupid fault.

I was thinking pretty much the same thing about this incident. 

iluvjamison

 . . . but Jamison is a very, very laid back dog. 

Deb W.

So is Max ... unless he spots a squirrel.  And the way those little buggers are reproducing, pretty soon we're going to have more squirrels than peeps. 

Joyce

 I bet Tootsie could give Jamison and Max, a run for their money. She has 0 and I mean 0 prey drive, but drop a piece of anything and game on.