Long line or extending lead?

firefish

I just have a short lead at the moment for my puppy. I see a lot of people with extending leads, but when you look on line trainers don’t seem to recommend them and say a long line should be used. What do you all use?

tk123

I prefer a lead / long line because it’s wider/thicker so easier to grab if you need to, you don’t have the safety aspect of the flexi possibly cutting you / somebody else (I had a metal one wrapped around my ankle when a dog got zoomies one time) / another dog if it wraps around them or dislocating your shoulder from the jolt of the dog running and the lead stopping, it’s also (IMO) going to be easier to teach the dog to walk well on lead vs letting them free range on a flexi all the time.
I do have a flexi but I only use it for when I let my dog paddle in the river so he doesn’t take off - but more so I don’t have a long line dripping wet when he gets out and going mouldy.

deadlybuzzman

A flexi lead is basically a long line on a spring-loaded spool. Any time I've ever seen trainers online using a long line at full length is when they're working in the one spot with the dog and it's recall isn't rock solid. When they're walking the dog it's rolled up and the dogs a set distance from them.
When I'm walking my dog I use a flexi lead so she can have a good wander and sniff without me having to stop. If I want her on a short lead I just keep it short all at the touch of a button whereas it's a pain in the arse to let a dog do the same on a line

Cherry Blossom

My dogs very quickly learned the length of the flexi lead. As above it allows the dog more freedom to mooch about sniffing the sniffs. My Sheltie spooks and tries to run home on occasion so he had to be on the lead all the time. The flexi lead allows him to display natural behaviour while also being safe. He knows how far he can be away from me so never gets a jolt from the flexi lead as he walks towards me if he’s nearing the end of the line. I’m talking about small dogs though. I don’t think flexi leads are safe for large breeds as there is more scope for injury to yourself with a flexi lead on a large dog.

zedhead

We use a long line. We had a flexi lead and one day my partner dropped it. The bang on the ground spooked the dog and he took off like a bolt, then it kept hitting him and making him run faster. By some miracle he knew the way home and was waiting for us when one of us went to look and the other was madly running around the local area (we had only had him 2 weeks). The trainer said that its a really common occurance along with the mechanism on them breaking and causing injury.

We mostly use a short lead when walking our local area, but for weekends when we can get somewhere with a bit more space we let him roam on the long line and practice our recall with him and other things like stay where there are distractions. It can be a bit cumbersome reeling it in manually when you want to reduce the amount of lead he gets you get used to it pretty quickly.

AndrewJRenko

If you're walking on a shared footpath and cycle lane, particularly with a smaller dog, be conscious that cyclists may not see the extended lead stretched across the cycle lane, especially if the dog disappears behind a lamppost or into undergrowth.

Keep the lead tight to keep the dog/lead off the cycle lane or keep a very good look out for cyclists.

em_cat

I’m not a fan of the retractable leads either but here’s something I watched at the weekend.

Myself & Esmae had been taking a well needed rest while we watched the funniest thing I’d seen in while.

A fella was walking his incredibly cute older jrt & was in the process of trying to leash her with a retractable lead, however, he called, dog returned to man, man bent down to clip on harness however the little dog never stopped just toddled thru his legs & turned around to keep on walking, man missed the harness. This kept on going on for about 10 minutes all the while I literally was of no help what so ever bc I couldn’t contain my laughter.

He finally said to me this is normal for her, Daisy, in the past he said it’s taken near 20 minutes of him bobbing up and down trying to clip her harness & he often has a headache when he gets home, I suppose it’s from all the blood rushing to his head bobbing....I apologised for laughing & he took it in jest, thankfully...

We don’t use them as I probably would drop them too and Esmae would freak out and Mr C would run off.

cocker5

firefish wrote: »

I just have a short lead at the moment for my puppy. I see a lot of people with extending leads, but when you look on line trainers don’t seem to recommend them and say a long line should be used. What do you all use?

IMO it depends on the individual owners and the dog to be honest.

Retractable leads can be a huge benefit for dogs who like to explore and sniff..

We have a retractable 8m tape lead from flexi (up to 50kgs) for our springer (21kg) and we use it ONLY when hiking up the mountains when we are passing through farmers land, or areas where they’re are sheep / wild animals etc. So he can still have a good walk / sniff etc. Other than that he is off lead 90% while hiking (3/4 times per week) - he has excellent recall and a GPS tracker / stays insight.

3 times per week we walk him around the town where we live (6km loop) and he is on a normal lead and walks between us.

Retractable leads should never be used anywhere near roads, where there are other people in close enough proximity or your passing people, for larger / stronger dogs and definitely not to rope or cord .. the tape leads are far better.

It’s all down to common sense to be honest or lack therefore by some dog owners which give the retractable leads a bad name .. but do they have a place in dog walking .. in the right hands!

peasant

I really don't like retractable leads.

Had a few...gave up on them.
They can be hard to grip properly, the brakes may not work right and at full tilt and full extension even a small dog will rip them right out of your hand.

They may be useful for small-ish dogs in dog parks and the like where you have to have your pooch on the lead and still want to give them some freedom to move...but always pay attention.

With the big lump of a dog we have now, he is either off the lead where it is safe to do so or on a short-ish lead of about 2.5 m.

While training his recall he was on a long "lead". Basically one of those 30 m ropes that Lidl sell from time to time for a tenner. He was just trailing that lead and whenever he wouldn't react to being recalled you could just step on the lead, slow him down and/or grab the rope and reel him in (gloves mandatory ). We used that only for a few weeks until a reasonable recall was established.

nsnoefc1878

I've a 28-30 kg collie/shepherd and the 50kg flexi is useless with him, he wants to attack every large vehicle/tractor/trailer/cyclist etc and he'd pull you across the road if you arent prepared.
I dont like the flexis but as others have said they allow the dog to explore and have some freedom.
This guy grew up with us beside blessington lakes and was always off the lead there from day one, hes superb off the lead once there isnt vehicles or cyclists, you couldnt lose him if you tried. We only moved to an estate before Christmas when he was 2 and 3 months. But hes way too strong for that flexi to be safe and hes 20kg below the limit, so walking him on the flexi around here now is stressful and you have to be very vigilant. We tend to take him to parks and local woods every day so he can be off lead.

JustAThought

Most flexi leads have weight thresholds so you buy the one that is most appropriate for your dogs size.

They will also usually have a max unwind mark on the tape several loops before it is fully extended - this gives a bit of a failsafe for the lock/brake mechanism and should be taken heed of.

Personally for a heavier grown lab sized dog I prefer the tape variety as it dosn’t cut your lega off if he decides to romp around your ankles for fun or make a beeline across everyone for someones spread out picnic on the beach!

I had a long line but it was for watching hunting patterns and encouraging different hand and sit /lie / wait commands at a distance - not for pottering about.

Once you’ve destroyed a few arms and shoulders of decent jackets hoiking a 20m line about that is covered in scruff from the ground or is sopping wet and covered in mud or worse you will quickly learn and love the pleasures of the extendable lead for ordinary control and walking! (And the joys of clean dry warm glove enabled hands!)

peasant

JustAThought wrote: »

Most flexi leads have weight thresholds so you buy the one that is most appropriate for your dogs size.

The problem is hand strength, not line strength

The handle on flexi leads simply can't be held if you have a dog of some mass running into the stop at full charge. Especially not if the dog does so unexpectedly.

A proper lead you loop around your wrist, so no problem there.