I used one for a while (I don't like the whole plastic hand thing) - always on lock on "normal" lead length near roads, and only ever unlocked when I wanted him to have mooch room on fields and the like while practicing recall. Then started swapping between a normal lead and a flexi because the handle drove me nuts.

Ditched it a while ago when his recall became ok (and when the tape started to look frayed) - never trusted it 100% but it was useful for the place and time we were in. As for training lines - well I've never mastered the art of not tying my legs in a knot and ending up falling over on my backside to use them properly so the flexi was a compromise on that front.

Ones that have made me cringe recently - dog bowling along the footpath by a busy road at full length on a 10 foot flexi... and the ultimate cringe one - someone walking a GREYHOUND on a flexi and neck collar (if they're bad for normal dogs - they're potentially deadly for greys with the speed they can get up to full running pace and the "snap" when they get to the end of the tape)

I agree with parts of what everyone says. No I am not sitting on the fence. I can understand the annoyance of people who use them properly for the right reasons, seemingly thinking that they are being called stupid. I can also see how people hate them with a vengence. From what I have seen, there are very very few people who use them properly. Many times I have had to jump out of the way of little dogs on long flexy leads who attempt to trip me up,by wrapping themselves around my legs, especially when I have my two large dogs on leads with me. It is actually very scary, and the owners of said dogs always appear to think that it is amusing, which it is not.
I have tried to use the training lead for both of mine, it is 25 ft long and I am afraid that cant quite get the the concept that it has limits, they seem to forget and just charge off. So have given up using it. They both recall 80/85% of the time but I would like to improve on this, hence the long lead. Having read on here about the ways they are used properly, I can see that there is a good use for flexys and will not hate them anymore, just hate the people who use them stupidly. Julie

Well here's another lazy owner ( according to some) who uses a flexible lead, guess what she does not pull ( imagine that) and to be honest it's the-only way of gaining a little freedom on her walks . Mind I could always be really lazy and just let her oflead and do as she pleases with other dogs

Flexis are not the spawn of the devil, for many dogs and owners they're a life line.

Oh to be so perfect, sitting in judgement of others who don't aspire to your standards!

Yes they can be dangerous , as with most things it's not the tool it's who's on the end of it .

So I will carry on being a lazy owner thanks!!

They have a totally different outlook on things to most other breeds. It's very hard to overcome a few thousand years of being bred to think for themselves. All three of the of the Tibetan breeds here are as smart and shrewd as dogs get.

I can't say Chinese breeds are any better having owned a chow and four shar-pei. My friend had many adult shar-pei and in the 15 years of knowing her dogs inside out, there was one you could 90% trust off the lead. 90% is good for a lot of things, but what can happen in the 10% isn't worth thinking about. He was a bit of a one off as I used to do obedience and agility classes with him. Even then, it was easier keeping him on a flexi lead outside the confines of class as he had an incredibly high prey drive. In the park, bless him, he would put himself in a down stay when he saw something he wanted to chase and wait for me to come to him. He was a rare shar-pei that was eager to please, rather than just eager to please himself. I had his niece and if I asked her to do as much as sit, she would just squint at you and wag her tail furiously... "No speek eeengrish!" Funnily enough, when I showed her a treat, she suddenly remembered she was bilingual. Should sitting involve a cold or hard surface, she would execute the fastest sit you have ever seen.

Mine have learned "STEADY!" when they get near to the end of the lead and will stop. The TM can stop on a sixpence and he often charges about, getting within a foot of the end of the lead then turning an running in the opposite direction or round in an arc. I've not been dry land waterskiing for quite a while.

I always use the size up for the weight of my dog. The shar-pei are on the 3:8 (I prefer the 8 metre ones), which is technically strong enough to hold the TM's weight. But taking no chances, I have him on the flexi giant. The shar-pei's lead is about 12 years old and still in tip top nick. The giant one is over 5 years old and like new.

The first flexi I used, not sure what size it was for but it broke with an ancient border collie who put just enough pressure on to extend it. 2nd one was for giant breeds, broke after about 3 months of me using it just to let Rupert (Lab sized mutt) out to toilet in the garden as the fencing wasn't adequate to let him out completely unrestrained. Both times it was the braking mechanism that went. It's been that that's gone every single time I know of that ones broken.

I used a line and harness for 2 years and hated it. Always soaking wet even in the summer with the morning dew. Often covered in grass clippings, mud and goodness knows what else. And in the winter freezing cold and wet. Yuck!

I now use a flexi. My gsd doesn't pull because she has been taught not to pull. But she can have a wander further out in the long grass where I don't want to walk. As long as she doesn't get to the end of the flexi and put pressure on it then she is fine. If she did that I would reel her in and practise walking to heel.

It means I can walk her at busy times without wondering if she is going to go awol. I keep away from other dogs and owners. And if we are walking next to a road I lock the flexi and use the lead bit that clips onto the collar. It is stronger and thicker than any lead I own.

What's not to like? Anything can be misused.

I used a flexi lead with a dog I got from the RSPCA and nearly 20 years later I still have a small scar on my hand from when I tried to pull her back. Luckily she was reliable and I could let her off the lead within a week

Personally, I don't see how dogs can get much more exercise on a flexi - all I see is dogs pulling on the lead and ignoring their owners. Maybe this is more a fault of the owners?

Don't like flexi leads since my pup ran to the end and kept running coil and everything came out
ATD x

Like several others here, I used a long line and harness; used it for months, in fact. It did not work for us at all.

For those who loathe the Flexi so much, it's quite simple: don't use one

The rest of us, who find them very helpful, shall continue to do so!







For some people, they are a solution

There's a really nice guy at our local park; he has a Beagle. He says he cannot get the recall in place enough to let her off leash, so he uses a Flexi. In an ideal world, yes maybe he'd work harder on the recall. But he's always had Beagles and seems to know the breed well. For him, the Flexi is a solution!

Another lazy owner here

I think the proper 'flexi' leads are great, wouldn't buy a cheaper versoin though.

I use a tape one one with teagan (48kg), never had it break, and i'm not stupid enough to grab hold of the actual lead part.

She isn't stupid enough to run to the end, but as she's DA she can't be let off lead, so this lets her potter and trot more than 3 feet away from me, but keeps her close enough to come back if a dog approaches.
I don't walk near people, so no chance of it getting caught round their legs etc.