What is the best length for a training lead?

[Amaxapax]

I'm looking into purchasing a long lead for my dog aggressive rescue dog. I'd like to use it for recall training, but also to give him a little more freedom to run around in open spaces when we are out on a walk. His recall is pretty good but disappears entirely at the sight of another dog. Given his needs, is a 10m lead sufficient, or should I choose a 15m lead? He is a GSD/border collie cross, around 22kg, so certainly not small, but not enormous.

Having just bought a longline for recall training my pup I'd say start off shorter and work your way up.

I bought one of these 20ft/6m leads and one of these 10m ones.

The 6m is plenty for nice loose lead walking around the park giving him enough space to sniff and run a little and as I bought a 6ft 1.8m lead from them at the same time I sometimes clip the two together to give him a bit of extra length. The 6ft lead is also great for allowing him freedom to meet and interact with other dogs whilst I am still in control, but not restricting his movement and body language and ensuring there is no tension through the lead which might affect his reaction.

In fact I've only used the 10m line a couple of times when I wanted him to be able to run with our older dog more freely. I do intend to use it in larger open spaces such as the beach though.

Bear in mind, the longer the line the harder it will be to handle effectively without getting tangled around you, the dog, any trees in the vicinity etc and the really long-lines can also be a right pain to reel in as your dog recalls.

Also, a longline should only be attached to a harness, as dogs can get serious neck injuries from flying to the end of a line and not stopping.

That's brilliant. Thank you. I think we'll start with 10m. He is such a good and lovely dog, but can't socialise with other dogs so I so need to be able to keep him within reasonable distance. I want to be able to get him back before he's completely lost it and is running at another dog, leaving me to apologise frantically. Again.

If he's likely to run at other dogs, a good tip is to tie knots at intervals along the longline to give you something to grab without it slipping through your hands.

Best to leave it on the ground trailing and step on it in a emergency. Rope burns on your hands are painful.

I agree leaving it to trail and stepping on it is the best way if possible, but if you are holding the lead and the dog takes off, which is possible with a FA dog, by having the knots there you are more likely to stop the rope slipping through your hands and prevent rope burn.

It also means you can stop the dog before it reaches the full length of the lead, which can be critical if an FA dog is heading towards another dog - or person if they're FA towards people.

With a dog that has FA, it's a judgement call in each environment as to whether you can allow the lead to trail or you may need to regain control more quickly, in which case you need to be holding it. I've seen larger FA dogs yank a line out from under someone's foot and on some occasions pull them over in the process.

This is really helpful. I got a 10m lead today and took him out. He seemed to enjoy the freedom to sniff. We saw a couple of dogs who were quite far off, so I called him back before he fixated and then did the click and treat routine. He seemed much happier to go back to trotting about and sniffing than he would have been on his normal lead had he seen a dog. We're also working on loose lead walking and I'm trying to click and treat when he sees another dog but before he pulls or barks. I did hold the lead, but I'll try letting it trail tomorrow morning when we're less likely to see other dogs.

Now my fingers smell strongly of chicken and liver treats and he's passed out on the floor, so good results all around.