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.

Extendable leads have their place. They are great for oldies who's eye and ears are failing. The mechanisms do fail sometimes, so they need using with caution.

Training classes should be compulsory, at the very least dogs learn controlled socialisation and some owners will also learn a lot.

If you have to use a phone while dog walking; stop secure the dog by you side and then use the phone.

Small dogs need training. If some of the small dogs I encounter were 30kg, the owners would be in trouble.

Always carry a spare lead. Leads, collars and harnesses can all break.

As always, it’s the owners not the lead.

Extendable leads do have their uses. My dog needs a lot of exercise but I can’t let her off lead on walks as she isn’t 100% recall trained yet. We have tried the longline but it gets caught in her paws and she freaks out. The extendable allows her to roam about a bit and burn off more energy. I only use it unlocked when it’s quiet or in wide open spaces though and, if I saw anyone coming near with a dog, bring her back in to a short lead.

People near us seem to use near invisible long leads too, and when the dog is at the other side of the pavement to the owner, they work as a really effective trip wire! Esp for children and other dogs, but it could also be an elderly person who goes flying.

The worst issue I saw was a twat {male} on You Tube who used an electric shock collar on his Whippet ''as he doesn't believe in leads''

The electrodes were held close to the almost naked throat of the Whippet.{They don't have much hair on their necks}

This idiot prefers to zap his dog instead of training it.

Leads are important near traffic as I have personally known of two very ''highly trained'' Collies suddenly dash in front of traffic and they were killed.

these were previously dogs that the owners said ''He doesn't need a lead, he wouldn't dare cross a road without my say so''

Yet one sees people with off lead dogs in cities all the time on pavements.

In a lot of cities there are no enclosed fields you can use. I certainly don't have access to one.

You’re really that unaware of the concept of life outside your own little bubble and that not everyone has access to secure fields?? Jesus.
And my manners are fucking impeccable, thanks. Just have no time for pompous self-importance is all 😘

I totally agree. Flexi leads should be banned. They cause serious injuries to handlers and dogs.

If your dog needs a long lead to sniff, it isn't under control, it's doing what it wants. That's not control. Control is saying you can sniff but only to the length of your fixed leash and you will not pull while doing it. Plenty of sniffing is possible at leash length on a brisk walk. The dog's attention should be on the handler, not what might be in the bushes. That's control.

@violentovulation I resorted to making disabled plates for my senior dog that I attached to his harness. Certainly made people think twice about letting their boisterous youngsters bounce all over him. As I said to one guy, with a great dane he could barely hold, we're at the vets and you don't go there for fun! My dog was elderly, rickety and had bad arthritis. He did not need to be jumped on.

There are none round here - is this a thing in the UK?

And me 🙌

Your complaint has absolutely nothing to do with extendable leads, and everything to do with training. I walk my 5kg dog on an extendable lead. She has never bothered another dog in her life. Extendable leads give her more freedom to stop and check things out on our walks while allowing us to keep up with children running ahead. So no, we won't stop using them.

It is a thing @AnonymousBleep but they're still not very common - our county has a handful but they're all at least an hours' drive away and often can't be used because it's too muddy anyway 🙈

The enclosed dog field website has a good directory.

You could say this about every single thing in use today. You can’t go banning everything just because fools will be fools 🙄😂

Honestly, I think that the extendable leads also have their uses, and I use them myself from time to time when I need a hand free. But they should only be used once the dog has learnt to walk on a lead, otherwise they make things worse. I think a lot of people just don't realise that and use them because they're convenient.

The leads aren't the problem, it's the dog owners who don't treat their (mostly small - you mention a Chihuahua, that's the prime example) dogs like dogs because if their size. The dogs then become neurotic and aggressive because they haven't been trained - not because of the lead.

Gosh I hadn’t thought of that, thanks for your insight 🙂

I use a dog field 3 times a week for freedom/running around/training and an extendable lead the rest of the time in different places - because going to the same place over and over is not stimulating, and I've managed to never trip someone or allow my dog to harass people or other dogs with it because I'm not an idiot.
Same can't be said for others with their off lead or extendable leads and dogs with no control. Every time there's an issue it's always my dog on the short, locked lead that's under control, by my side and minding her own business and another dog off the lead or at the end of an extendable and either the owner is 15 minutes behind or they smile on indulgently as their dog tries to get to mine, either aggressive or not socialised and doesn't understand my dogs 'no' cues, so just carries on regardless.

The issue is the person not taking responsibility for the dog they chose to get, not the lead itself.

I use the flat tape, because the wire is dangerous and like I do for the other dog who's got great recall - short and by my side around others, extended/off lead when it's suitable. A long line is not as effective at stopping a fuck off in it's tracks and slower to reel in with a lot more to juggle in your hands than just the handle of an extendable lead, it doesn't work as well for me as the extendable. Funny thing is, inside the secure field the recall is rock solid, probably because she's tried to go after something and failed, so there's nothing luring her to do one when she follows a scent.

So no, I'm not failing my dog, I'm being responsible and taking into account that my dogs ears turn into decorations when she gets a scent and is therefore unreliable with recall, but also needs varied exercise and stimulation. Don't tar everyone with the same brush, I don't see an off lead dog and automatically assume it's going to come over and harass me, despite having negative encounters on a regular basis. I take each encounter as it comes.

I totally agree that some people use them as a poor substitute for training, my theory is they've spent a few hours looking for it after it's fucked off a few times, because it has no recall either through lack of being arsed to train it or because it's like mine and the recall is intermittent, despite training, and so bought an extendable lead so it doesn't fuck off, but they don't put any more effort in to actually training or controlling the dog. That's the issue, people who don't bother to take their surroundings and other people into consideration, not the type of lead they use.

And to those saying they fail, yes, they do, anything can fail, especially when not maintained properly, it's always been the bit that clips onto the harness that has gone first with the leads I've used, one on an extendable and one on a normal lead - but again not being an idiot I noticed and replaced. Not because I'm some sort of saint but because I want my dogs to be safe and checking the collars/harnesses/leads is part of that, as is keeping them under control.

Yet.

Extendable leads are fine when coupled with a harness. It's never a problem with the lead, it's the person using it who isn't paying attention, doesn't have good reactions, or doesn't know how they work.

A lot of dogs would be incredibly miserable without them.

However, I think using them with regular collars instead of harnesses should be banned as it puts too much pressure on their neck when they pull and are suddenly stopped with force, as a lot of people do.

Yup, YANBU. I'm recovering from a fall where I was tripped up by some moronic dog on a long lead running wild whilst the moronic owner ignored it and then started laughing when he was running around my ankles tripping me up. Stupid, stupid woman. They need banning - BOTH leads and moronic dog walkers who havn't a sodding clue!

Perhaps owners should have thought about properly training their dogs and thought where they could safely exercise them BEFORE buying the damn things.

All these ‘has your dog not got any recall’ types are a joke. You have obviously never met a rescue who with the best will in the world needs a lot of time to be trained and in some cases may never reach anything like the stage where you could let them off.

I kind of agree.

Sick of pavements being covered in shit, or hearing stories about unethical breeders with tens of dead and diseased dogs, or of children killed by a dog, of seeing suffering animals who can barely breathe because their owner thought a dog with a squished nose looked cute, of my picnic food being stolen, belongings being pissed on, kids knocked over and traumatised, footballs being burst, feeling anxious that if we go to our local green space an aggressive breed could attack someone. Saw two grown men in a fight cos one of their dogs had attacked the other recently.

And that's before we get onto the dogs abandoned, sold on cos owners can't cope, or left at home 8 hours a day.

The dog as lifestyle accessory trend is just abhorrent.

What are you talking about? People shouldn't get a dog unless they have access to their own private enclosed field?

I was simply pointing out that it isn't a given that everyone has access to this like killingoffmyflowersonebyone seems to think. I suspect the majority of people don't have one near them.

One of my worst running injuries was the result of an extended lead across a path and the dog's sudden movement in an unexpected direction (ie, where I'd intended to go around it).

The idiot humans who can't retract the leads when around other people/dogs are the problem. That was the only time I've been tripped up by one and I must have encountered hundreds over the years. I remember walking the family dog as a teenager with an extendable lead and it seemed obvious to keep it retracted except when it's 100% safe.

I have a large breed and he gets approached by yappy little dogs all the time, one actually jumped up and bit his face so he pinned it down in a flash.

My dog was on the lead and the yapper wasn’t , I pulled him off, all fine. whenever I see that woman now, she scoops her dog and jumps in a hedge 😁

i just say very calmly to people who let yappy dogs jump up at mine that he is not friendly, and will go for them unless they call their dog back. It always works.

i say it in a very unbothered way, non-aggressive, which seems to work best. “ if your dog gets in my dogs face he will go for him, just so you know”

but yes it bothers me that I have to keep my dog on the lead and the little dogs run rampant

1000% agree. Small dogs are the worst IME; I have a reactive dog and I am sick to the back teeth of dogs running up to my dog, baring their teeth and barking and snapping at my dog - this is what caused my dog’s reactivity in the first place, one careless owner let their dog (which is now a banned breed) savage my dog, so my dog is a total emotional mess (we’ve had therapy and training to try and overcome the attack which nearly killed my dog). Do not get a dog if you cannot train or control it.