Retractable leashes are bad when they are in the hands of stupid people.


There was a newspaper article a few years ago where this moron had gotten her finger tip amputated by the improper use of the retractable leash ( they come with instructions, for God's sake - how hard is it to read and follow instructions?!? ).

This woman did ever thing that the instructions told her not to - she used it on her uncontrolable dog ( gee...she had a dog with no obedience training...color me amazed. ) and tried to attached it while the dog was trying to get out of the car ( also not recommended by the instructions )

And low and behold...something bad happened. I am still confounded why this rated a newspaper article.

And to top it off, now the idiot is trying to sue the company that made the leash *plus* she was trying to get them outlawed as "dangerous"

God, I hate stupid people!!

that's actually sort of impressive, in a bad way.

In reply to your question Jennifer, yes they have a very strong clasp at the end. You can reel them in (something like a sailfish) using the thumb lock (pull, lock, pull, lock). Like Will says, never reel them in using your free hand, either with the cord version or the nylon web version. Read the instructions.

We have some great public walking nature trails all over town and traffic is very low or non-existant in other areas and I find Shadow very easy to control on those walks and I am always watching for the potential "hazards".

Sandra, I know they retract hence retractable leash they Do NOT reel a dog in and for a dog pulling on the end of the line you CANNOT use the method you described because you cannot get slack in the line for the lead to retract before relocking. Unless they came out with a totally new fishing reel design I'm unaware of, in which case please show me a link I'd love to see one

When Hans was young and smaller the retractable leash was great to use at the beach. But now that he is grown, I wouldn't trust it. They don't seem strong enough to me and as others have noted it is hard and maybe dangerous to try to pull the dog back to you with them if he won't allow any slack in the line. Oh, he's dog aggressive too. Don't want to deal with that with a dog who is 20' away at the end of his leash.

Jennifer, I've used mine the way Sandra describes to successfully reel large dogs to my side. My arm is quicker than they can pull.

The problem is it certainly isn't fast in a emergency.

I have both and prefer the webbing over the sting type retractables hands down.

They by no mean replace the standard leash but will always have a place in my gear box.

They do not do the reeling, you do. Lock, pull, unlock, move your arm forward, it will retract, lock, pull, unlock, move your arm forward, it will retract. I have done this many times with a large (pulling hard) GSD and it only takes seconds to get the dog next to you. I have the Classic All Belt for dogs up to 150 pounds.

http://www.flexiusa.com/

Lee, I've tried that method with both the cord and webbing styles to show that it doesn't work. Unless I'm not doing it right, are you supposed to leap forward? For a dog that is constantly pulling, unlocking and thrusting the arm forward only gives them that much more distance to go forward, it doesn't create slack that get retracted. If the dog isn't pulling and is just sort of walking around at the end of the lead then yes you can reel them in but if they are pulling it doesn't. My emphasis is on a dog that is pulling that this method doesn't work. Or I should probably rephrase and say that it doesn't for me in the times I have used retractable leashes. And I used them specifically to demonstrate that method of reeling a dog in when pulling.

I don't think they are horrible or that nobody should use them but there are too many "ifs" for me, long lines work better and are cheaper especially if you make them yourself. They are not difficult to carry if you have a quick link or a few knots in the line to hold onto, or put several handles down the length of the line.

Retractable leashes do have a place but not in my tool box

Sandra, I am aware of how that method works.

I found the flexilead useful when Chula was a small pup, but I never use it on her now. If she's pulling and I'm reeling it in, it's pretty easy to get a web burn from it. The webbing is very slick and hard to get a good grasp on.
I used to think having the 20' cotton line was a pain on a casual walk, but I much prefer it to the flexi now.