Extendable dog leads - please please please stop using them

[violentovulation]

I am the owner of a large senior dog. He is always on lead, and wears a harness. He is not an XL bully before anyone asks, and I am always in control of him. He used to love saying hello to other dogs on our walks, and now he's an anxious mess because people can't be bothered to train their dogs due to them being small. There is an assortment of small shouty dogs in my area, chihuahuas, jack russells, pugs, daschunds, bichon style dogs, miniature schnauzers, westies, cross breeds of them all. Most of them are walked on those bloody extendable leads. These small horrors will yell at us from across the road when we are minding our own business. Then they try to come over the road and the owner inevitably has to yank them back because the lead doesn't retract properly, and in the event that we can't avoid walking on the same side of the road, my poor dog gets a faceful of angry ranty little shit because their owners think an extendable lead means they don't need to teach a dog recall, heel, and other calming techniques. I'm tired of telling people to control their dogs.

Do they have to attack a child before you'll give a shit, honestly? Or maybe your dog has to run out into the middle of the road and get hit by a car first? If any of this doesn't apply to you and your small dog, please scroll on and thank you for being a responsible dog owner.

I've lost all patience. truly. There is a house at the bottom of my road with three small dogs, one of which is a really nasty little shit. When they are walked, it's always out in front of everyone else yelling at anything that goes by. There's another family across the road with a chihuahua, and they all yell at each other from across the road, it's so noisy and initially I thought someone was hurting one of them. When I went to go and check things out, they were honestly just screaming at one another. Nobody ever does anything, you just have to listen to it until they run out of steam.

You have ZERO control over a dog on an extendable lead. ZERO. Train your fucking dogs. It might be your little bundle of joy, but you're failing them hard when you don't train them.

I'd like to see a ban on extendable leads, but I realise it probably won't happen. AIBU for wanting a ban on them? You can buy long leads to give dogs some room to run about in large spaces while they burn off some energy, but you still have more control over those because YOU control how far a dog goes on it.

I have changed the times I walk my dog to avoid times when there are more people around. I take him to different areas etc, but this nonsense still drives me up the wall. AIBU? Sorry for all the swearing, I'm just so frustrated. We went out at 6am this morning and it was so lovely and quiet. I don't expect quiet perfection, just people controlling their dogs. Thank you for reading my wordy rant.

I hate extending leads. The dog is invariably walking 20ft in front of the owner and it may as well be wandering the streets on its own for all the connection there is between them. It's a long time since I had a dog (and I'm not a dog lover anyway) but surely one of the great joys is clipping a good leather chain lead onto your dog's collar and going out together. You can communicate through a normal lead and the dog can feel you at the end of it, how can you get that closeness with a great big plastic thing blocking it off?

You've described how they are a problem in a very specific environment. I see it a lot on mn - the apparent assumption that everyone walks a dog in the same environment.

I use an extendy. I used it in the middle of fuck all nowhere with a dog that doesn't pull. The lead is an inch thick and rated for a dog twice his weight. And bright yellow. I can hold the tape of the lead as easily as I can hold a fixed lead (and do regularly use it like that). But as most my walking is through fields that may occasionally contain sheep that weren't there the day before etc, I find it safer to use an extendy.

It's checked regularly, held like a fixed lead when we first enter a field and only allowed to slacken when I can see there are no sheep within about 100m. However, undulating ground means sometimes there are still sheep in the same field that I cannot yet see and I prefer the dog not be lose in there, even though he is sheep trained - regardless of how good his training is, I don't need to gamble with his life or sheep's.

It is used as safety line, not as a remote control. My dog is trained and under voice control. e.g. it is never used as the mechanism to bring him close to me - my voice is; it is used as a mechanism to tidy away the excess lead that is not needed at that moment.

Long lines that do not retract a sodding menace (imo) and I have tripped over them more than once when trying to use them. Plus, trying to carry the full long line as well as have close control over the dog for any times we have to cross country roads etc, is much trickier than a lead that retracts into a handle, leaving me a hand free to hold the tape like a fixed lead.

Sorry but I don't get this argument. I can shorten my flexi lead when walking on pavements and also lengthen it in the park and shorten it again when I see another dog approaching. It's flexible and can be any length you choose it to be when you use the lock button. What's the issue, exactly? Why is it less safe than what you are doing?

Any lead can snap. I watched a dog get hit by a car a couple of weeks ago because his (short non-flexi) lead snapped.

i walk my dog on a flexi and lock it when we see other dogs or people. It allows hers to get her sniffs without me having to follow her into bushes. I’d argue the most distress is caused by those with untrained off lead dogs who allow them to do whatever they like because ‘they’re friendly’.

Agree.

A neighbour's small dog was killed on the main road here. She had retracted the lead and locked it for walking along the pavement. Her little dog lunged at another dog across the street, wrenching the lock mechanism open and her dog was killed by a car.

They are not appropriate for pavements.

Agree it's not the lead that's the issue, it's the owners.

The only problem I've ever had with mine was the first day I used it, as I was still getting to grips with it. I was walking a large young bouncy puppy and a man came towards us. Instinct made me pull back when obviously you actually need to go forward for it to retract first, before locking it. I panicked and grabbed it and ended up with blisters! Not made that mistake again!

Always use a proper lead with several handles on it for pavement walking though. I'd obviously keep it locked short in this situation but I'd never trust the mechanism 100% and wouldn't risk it close to a road.

A thoughtful owner is a great delight that can really make one's day.

I was walking my Whippet on a beach last week, she has a wrist sprain, so isn't allowed to run at the moment- A very boundy, massive hairy Lurcher was in the distance- I thought ''uh on...here we go'' - but his owner was wonderful!

Offered to put hers on a lead without my needing to say anything- if all owners were like this, dog owning would be so much nicer.

I agree. I have 2 border collies,had dogs since I was a kid,we walk our dogs in forests, woods, nearby beach,you see people with their dogs on extending leads, like they're imagining the dogs are having a nice run. We were walking along a prom which has a cycle track near our local beach, I have got prescription sunglasses on, very mild short sighted before anyone starts, and I couldn't see the fine cord lead stretched right across the path. Neighbours walk their 2 on expendables, often one door will go in the road round a car the other one on the pavement, she gets all tangled up.

This.

How on earth a long lead that you have to carry, bundle, wind and unwind at a moment’s notice is safer than a flexi is beyond me.

My dog has excellent recall and will come to me when I call her whilst on a flexi. If dogs are untrained then THAT is the issue, not the lead!

Many years ago {Our first dog, a young RSPCA Lurcher} the Dog's home recommended these extendable leads {1990's when they were quite a new thing}
I had one of these leads - Our young Lurcher bounded and pulled the plastic spool out of my hand, and then it began to ''chase'' after her as she saw it, and she bolted up the road trailing this wretched spool that bounced and made a terrible racket.

Thankfully there was no traffic at that time- but these leads can and do get pulled out of a hand much more easily than a traditional lead.

We worked with 3 different dog trainers when our dog was younger. All of them banned retractable leads from
their classes as they believed them to be dangerous for dogs and owners.

People who have no control over their dogs should be banned from owning them, that'd sort it all out. There are places I used to love running before lockdown that I now cannot visit even for a walk because I will be bothered by out of control dogs. A friendly dog who is approaching me off lead is an oxymoron and that's all there is to it.

Bizarrely, even running next to a main road is not safe as I've seen the odd dog off lead there too. Absolute madness.

A friend in her 60s small dog,had a broken hip last year, extendable lead,girl wanting to stroke the dog,dog lunged she got caught up in the lead,fell broke her hip.

My dog gets wrapped up in one of these at least weekly, owners let their dogs dance around him when I've got him on his short regular lead, they don't understand how frustrating it is.

Of course... except it's far easier to check for wear on a normal lead. You can't see what's going on inside an extendable and inevitably 1 day the mechanism will wear.

I got sand in mine at the beach once and it wouldn't lock. Luckily, because I always carry both types of lead, I could swap to the other one.

I think they're very useful. I have one dog who's an escapologist who I mainly have to walk on the lead. I keep the lead short when we're on the road and let it out in the park. It's the best compromise at the moment between letting her off the lead and keeping my nerves at an acceptable level on our dog walks. I've not experienced any issues with other dogs with a result of her being on an extendable lead - my main worry is that it fails and starts extending when we're next to a road, so I just keep a close eye on that.

Don’t be ridiculous.

You are being unreasonable for swearing so much and being so judgemental.

You may have a point but it's lost in your aggressive post. I'm not a big fan of aggressive people and tend to stay well clear.

I own a ''fast'' breed- She's not interested in runners, but if I see one running towards us, I clip her lead on as I remember on a School Cross Country run at school how two of us were felled by a horrible yellow Flabrador with a useless owner who told us not to run!

Also - people saying 'just train your dog'. If it was that easy, we wouldn't ever need leads. Dogs are like people with their own characters, some are trainable and others are limited in how far they'll be trained, no matter how hard we may try! And they always have animal instincts. I personally wouldn't ever let any dog, however well-trained, loose in a field of sheep, for example. Of course there are some people who don't bother to train their dog at all, and there's no excuse for that tbh, but a responsible dog owner knows their dog's limits and personality and manages their dog responsibly.

The issue is not the lead. Back in your box!

Yes there are responsible dog owners who use these leads properly. Just as there are responsible gun owners. But look where letting that argument win gets you.
Sometimes it's better to inconvenience a few for the safety of the many.

I use all three- long line, regular and extendable, depending on where we are. Road walking or pack walking always a short line. Somewhere where he can't be off lead but it's not busy or cars I will use the extendable, and long line for some sports and when he needs a recall refresher. They are all tools with pros and cons. As many have noted it's about training your dog, being aware of what is around you and not letting your dog approach and annoy other dogs or people.

So your dog has no recall?

I have been tripped up by an extendable lead, dog owner was at one side of the path with the dog on the other and the lead was almost invisible. Then the other day driving down the street and a dog on an extendable lead ran out in front of my car luckily I managed to stop.