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.

Nothing to do with extendable leads, OP.

They do have some limitations, but for a well trained, sensible dog they are perfectly fine.

I'm considering adding some velcro signs to his harness to indicate that's he's a senior, not that I think it will make much difference. Most of the idiots who aren't taking responsibility for their dogs, are usually on the phone or listening to music so loud they can't hear a single thing in their surroundings. I'm so sick to the back teeth of this, honestly.

Most people's Insurance doesn't cover extending leads but people don't read the small print
You are considered more in control on a fixed length long line than an extendable one

I couldn't agree more - it's the same in my small town. I have a medium-size, very friendly dog who gets very confused when shouty frou-frou dogs on extendable leads lunge at her.

Worse still - Two weeks ago, i was leaving our local leisure centre, minding mu own business and a woman standing by the entrance had a chihuahua on an extendable - which rushed over and bit me on the calf. It actually fetched blood and caused a sizeable bruise. That dog could do the same to a small child.

And what if people fall over the extended lead?

They are trip hazards as illustrated on this thread.

People evidently don't give a shit if anyone gets hurt because of an extendable lead.

So don't let them off the lead. Sorry, but dogs don't need to be off leads. Train your dog to have recall somewhere safe, and if that is not possible, keep your dog on a (short) lead.

This is my experience too. Our dogs are rescues and sometimes reactive. We walk them rurally on extendable leads, and always pull them back when other people or dogs are approoaching. But the number of yappers not on a lead that run straight up and bark in their faces is alarming. The owners will always trot up later and say, "Don't worry - he's friendly" and I always say, "Yes, but mine is not!" And even the friendliest dog can take umbrage at another dog running straight up and barking in their faces.

Did she even apologise for the dog's behaviour? 😵‍💫

It’s a lack of training issue more than a lead issue really, it begins and ends with an irresponsible owner. Extendable leads have their uses and in the correct hands alongside the right training they are absolutely fine, same with the long line leads, great in the right hands, dangerous in the wrong hands when there’s a dog running around with a 15m lead trailing behind them.

I do agree though that people seem to think small dog = no need to train them. We have a big Labrador and spent a ridiculous amount of time, patience, energy & money on lots of training when he was young, it has all paid off and he is perfect now. My husband & I always say if our dog behaved the way most of the little dogs on our usual walks do then we’d get a lot of shit, probably reported to police, people would be giving us the evils, but because it’s a little dog it’s just “ah well”

Not true. In the last few weeks of her life my ancient Border terrier, being walked slowly on a short lead, was attacked by a large bulldog-type being walked on an extending lead by a woman with a buggy and a toddler. She had absolutely no control over it. Her dog decided to go for mine and in trying to hold onto the toddler the buggy was pulled over and she let go of the lead. We also have someone locally who walks their lunatic collie on an extending lead and has managed to trip so many people over and cause so many injuries that the police are involved.

What you do when small, yappy, in-your-face unsocialised dogs come at your dog is to yell at the owner 'I'm going to kick your dog if it comes close' and follow through if necessary. The owners learn.

Well, I don't have my lead extended where people might trip over it, around others is short and locked, same as the other dog is on a 'normal' lead. Makes no difference if it's an extendable or fixed lead, if it's used properly, and not by an oblivious twit who would have the dog off lead I'm sure, and still not bothering to interact with it, if it hadn't caused them some inconvenience in the past to do so.

I have a small dog that I spent (and still spend) a lot of time training, however he's reactive to some dogs when on the lead. You never know, some he'll be fine, some he'll be hysterical. Good as gold when off-lead though.

Small dogs are naturally more anxious than big dogs, its not always the "useless owner that cba training her dog".

In our council area, on pavements and shared use tracks, leads longer than 3'3" are banned under local bylaws. It's not made one iota of difference to the people who use extending leads.

This kind of thing really does piss me off...
Making these bylaws/rules, about anything and not bothering to implement them just let's the rule breaker think they're above it all.

Either follow up when using bylaws with actual consequences or scrap them altogether as the ones that won't follow them do have a point when they look you in the eye and ask "who's gonna stop me"

Absolutely agree. Driving recently, waiting at red light, a couple had a dog on fully extended lead. It ran into the road as the lights changed. Two lane road, I braked but anyone coming up on the outside of me couldn’t have seen it.

This is what I was going to say. I take my DP's dog for a walk on an extendable lead and he is very nervous around other dogs and likely to snap if they get in his face. He has good recall and I'll always shorten the lead near roads or if other dogs are near. It just gives him the flexibility to have a bit of a run, while remaining on lead, when we're in the park.

I too agree that the non-existent training of other people's dogs is the big problem here.

My FIL's dog is like this. He's a lovely dog with the kindest, most loving nature, but has zero recall. When we take him out we keep him on lead, but FIL will let him off and then has no ability to call him back if he's being a nuisance to someone.

There are places and times that I refuse to even go for a walk with FIL now (like the time he wanted to take him out for a walk when it was 28 degrees). Unfortunately it's his own dog that will end up paying the price for the lack of training and I don't want to be around to see it, but we can't make him see sense. He's just too lazy when it comes to training. My FIL's idea of training is if a dog uses the garden to go to the toilet, and it infuriates me.

When he got the dog (as a puppy) he'd said to us and BIL that he'd only get a puppy if one of us would agree to take the dog on if he wasn't able to any more (as he gets older). We agreed on the proviso that the dog was appropriately trained. Thankfully FIL is in good health because neither us or BIL fancy taking on a dog that's so poorly trained that we'll have to try and teach an old dog new tricks later.

Then use a field?

I foster and most of the dogs (spaniels) come to me with no recall - I don’t use a flexi line as it’s putting a plaster over the issue and not fixing it. By the time the dogs leave me, I’m usually fairly confident in their recall.

Some dogs can’t recall. But that doesn’t mean you walk them on an flexi lead - you give them a secure field so they can properly stretch their legs.

I used an extendable lead when my dog went blind, it gave her a sense of freedom, but meant I could keep her safe and gave her confidence to have a little wander knowing that she was still attached to me.

I use an enclosed woodland space. A retractable lead works extremely well. It allows her to take in all the sensory stimulation she needs as well as encounter other dogs in a safe way. A private use field wouldn’t give us the same experience.

Exactly this! In 60 years I have never used one before but with my current rescue it has been a useful and appropriate tool during training. Even now I like to know that I can stop her if panic takes over and she doesn't hear me.

I do agree that they can be annoying when used badly, our town centre seems to be full of dogs wandering along on a loose lead with the owners paying no attention to them. I've been jumped up at with muddy paws by over friendly dogs, been lunged at by aggressive dogs, tripped over dogs that wander into my path. But it's not the lead that's the problem, it's the useless owners.
Maybe instead of banning flexi leads we should petition for some sort of assessment being required before people can buy a dog!

I'd never heard of fields until now, but a quick Google shows that they're not that commonplace and not within easy reach of most people in UK cities, certainly not if you walk your dog twice a day and don't have time to put them in the car and drive them for up to an hour in either direction.

Fields have their uses but price would quickly rack up if this was your solution. Our local fields to hire is £15 for 45 mins, if you were doing that every day then thats over £400 a month. Alternatively people can absolutely use an extendable lead if that works for them and as long as they are using it sensibly and keeping the dog close when around road/other people/dogs there is really no harm done.

They are really dangerous. My friend's mum broke a bone tripping over one of these stupid things. I think they may have to be banned at some point as it is clear that people are not using them responsibly. I don't really care about "fields being expensive" - people need to factor in these costs before getting a dog, or just don't get one in the first place.

YABU re extendable leads, it’s not the leads that are the issue, it’s the stupid dog owners. I use a normal lead on a day to day basis and off lead in suitable areas. If we go to a place we haven’t been such as woodland I will pop her on the extendable lead until I’m happy she is confident to be off. She is a rescue and some woods spook her, no idea why.

I have also had strong words with the numpties who walk their dogs on extendable but don’t have control.

The one I use is £10 a session, use regularly 3 times a week - but it's not just the cost to consider, taking a dog to the same place over and over again without variation isn't really enriching them or giving them stimulation. I vary the other walks, beach, woods, pavement walks and as I've said in a pp, have managed to never trip someone over or cause an issue because I'm concentrating, haven't got my face in my phone and realise that my dog is my responsibility.

I have been tripped by others, and more than once been 'trapped' on pavements or at work when people have the dog at the full extension and not paying the slightest bit of attention - but they're usually the self absorbed type in general and the dog and lead are an extension of that (pun intended!).