Extending Leads

I was just wondering what peoples opinions on these are, they are band at our dog training club though they have never explained why. We had one for our collie cross when we first got him but one day the lead stopped but the dog didn't, it had snapped where the lead met the the cord that joined it to the clasp. Although my two get 2 walks a day off lead, where there are few dogs i would like to give them a bit more freedom on there other three walks but these are in places there are many dogs, the odd teens on off road bikes and other hazards, so i need to keep them on a lead as i don't totally trust their recall.

i have one for toro, only for use in the likes of country park walks, sometimes, kids ,horses, bikes joggers fishing people, so she has to be on for a wee while so the extending one just gives her a wee bit to rome on x

I use them and have no problem. I have shibas and Lennon, the youngest, cannot be trusted off lead - not his fault - so an extending lead gives him a feeling of freedom, while I still have control.

I use one for my JRT as he suffers selective deafness so it gives him some freedom while keeping him safe.
I also have one for my Rottie x GSD but won't use it as she is a big powerful dog and if she was to suddenly take off in persuit of something i couldn't grip the large handle tight enough and it would slip out of my hand.
I think they are fine for small dogs providing near roads they are kept in and only on free extendable where they can't run into a road.
I don't like them on larger dogs.

Sorry, can`t bear them! I`ve seen so many dogs nearly get run over with the flippin` things, and also suffered rope burns from some ankle biter deciding to tie us in kots. They are dreadful for dogs who hit the end of the lead at full speed and encourage some owners to forget about training a recall because they can just reel the dog in. OK rant over - I know some people swear by them and I know a friend finds one invaluable for her senile dog but personally, I don`t use one.

not a fan here i prefer to use a normal lead

i have a dog that cannot be let offlead in most places as can be aggressive with other dogs so I use an extending to give him a little freedom. however I never walk him on the pavement with one - just switch him onto it once in the park.

At the weekends etc we take him into large fields and let him run. I think they have their place but dont think they are for every dog or every owner.

I have them BUT never ever use them to walk the dog on the pavement with or use them to train with. I rarely use them but have them when i'm going somewhere (say a park) where it asks for dogs to remain on a lead. That way the dogs have a little more freedom then on the end of a short lead. When I'm driving along and see people walking them on the pavement I just cringe. The dog is either 10 foot ahead of the owner so very dangerous for the dog. Or the owner forgets to put the brake on (which can and do fail).
I can see why they're banned at your training. They weren't designed for training your dog. Not only is a normal lead far less bulky, imagine doing a down stay, you put the lead on the floor, the dog takes off bashing everything in it's path. That's when it gets dangerous. I've never seen anyone at training use one. But then they're told to use a lead the moment they walk through the door. If they haven't one, our club sells them. So no excuses.

I don't like them.
20 years ago when I had my first dog, we did use one and the rope burns - ouch.
We did only use it in the park. It always amazed me the people using them on the pavement, who can't have thought, ten foot in front could be ten foot to the side - and that's under a car!
Once we went to training class and discovered a long line - that's what we used until we had the recall trained.

Dont like them either,but have had one for years just in case.
Did have an irate dog owner give me a mouthful one day, I was in the park,with three collies (I'm sure you know whats coming) let my three off collies being collies charged off, unbeknown to me the little dog who was yards away from his owner(who was reading the paper at the time!) was actually attached by a flexi that was hidden in the grass, collies run between owner and dog, dog moves and the force of three dogs flips little dog up in the air. Apparentley this was all my fault!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I remained silent...of course!!!

Jeanette