Right, let me get this straight. On another thread, you were perfectly comfortable with bashing me, bashing my trainer and accusing me of being unkind to my dog - despite never having met me, my dog nor having ever witnessed any of our training.

Yet in this thread, you are castigating me for daring to state that in my humble opinion, extending leads should not be used by busy roads???

And you don't see a double standard here on your part?

This thread was not aimed at you.
This thread was not about you.

I had no idea that you even used an extending lead - how would I???

If you choose to do that, near a road, that's up to you. But it's absurd for you to complain that I started a thread expressing a personal opinion about extending leads in busy suburbs!

And this is not, as someone said, an 'anti flexi' thread!

It's purely about using those leads in busy areas.

Um ok so apparently you missed the point.

No, I didn't.

Just pointing out your double standard.

I'm not having a go crysania but is it not just safer for your dog if you say use a 6ft leash near roads just encased the impossible did happen? I know someone who lost their dog due to the impossible after never having a problem in 7 years.

Yeah...you did. I was making a sarcastic reference to yours.

But whatever. The reality is that I was referring to many other posts in this and not just yours because it happened to be the first. You judge other people (it's folly to use them near the road!!) but don't like when people judge you.

On my walk tonight (with my flexi ) I just thought of another advantage to it: It only takes one hand to control. With a 6 foot leash I frequently have to grab parts of it to keep Dahlia from tripping on it (and I wouldn't ever want a shorter leash than that as it gives her NO room to explore). Tonight I have little function in one hand and can't grab onto anything with it, so I'm thankful for the retraction and the ability to lock the leash down at a few feet, all with one hand!

As I said before, Connor, she's under brilliant vocal control and she doesn't bolt, doesn't go into the road unless we're crossing it (and even then she stops and waits for me to give her permission). She's a "path dog" -- very rarely does she ever stray from the sidewalk and what's on either side (and between the sidewalk and the road is usually about 10 feet).

The impossible can ALWAYS happen. I could drop a 6 foot leash. I could fall and drop either leash (been there done that with both leashes, especially in the winter -- each time Dahlia stopped). A car could drive up and kill us both (or just me -- happened here recently...car swerved and killed the woman walking the dog).

If I had a less reliable dog, if she wasn't highly trained to vocal commands (especially stop!), if she was a huge puller, then I wouldn't walk her on it. But I know my dog and I know the chance of anything happen is next to nothing.

So thanks for your concern, but I'm fine walking her the way I do.

Yeah well, you know what they say about sarcasm....

You've still ignored your own double standard.

Several days ago you accused me of being unkind to my own dog - and you've never met either of us.

You advised me to walk away from the best trainer we've ever found - and you've never met her nor seen her train a dog.

Yet here you are, tonight, up in arms because I expressed a personal opinion about the use of flexi leads in a specific area - near busy roads.

I can remember using an extendable leash on Zara whilst doing some retrieve work.... I through the toy and as she ran after it... the leash snapped.... I am so lucky she has a great recall... I'm not a fan of them if i'm honest.

I have to admit I cannot IMAGINE how so many people have had them snap. When I first had Dahlia I'd let her chase the geese on the flexi and she'd hit the end HARD (hard enough to yelp, which was why I stopped letting her do it and trained her to do it off leash) and it never snapped. The only time it snapped back at me was my own fault. I accidentally hooked the leash to the thing that kept her tag on (again, in the first month I had her) and when she rushed forward just a bit it bent the metal and snapped off. But it wasn't a fault of the leash, just the fault of someone not paying attention!

Are the ones that are snapping the corded ones? Flexis or knock offs? I get a new one every year and haven't had it snap or stop working.

I do? I have a shirt that says "Tact is for people not witty enough to be sarcastic." Is that what you mean?


Nope. Don't have a double standard. But I notice you have no issues with judging others yet get all angry if someone dare judge you.



I'm not up in arms. I'm not the one going all caps lock and bold text crazy. I've been explaining to people why I, personally, think that not everyone who uses a flexi near a road is an idiot. Do I think idiots do it? Sure. But like everything else in dog training, it's a tool. Tools can fall into the hands of idiots or they can be used sensibly. I've thought long and hard and trained my dog to be safe on a flexi.

I've trained her to voice commands, including stay, stop, wait, slow, and come. If the flexi fails, I can easily use any of those to get her to stop on a dime.

I've trained her not to pull.

I've trained her to slow down when she gets near the end of the leash.

I didn't even HAVE to train her to stay out of the road (that one she did all on her own).

And I made sure I knew how to use the leash before I ever went out with it (practiced locking it, etc.). I also made sure I got the right leash for her weight and got a tape leash instead of the corded ones. I refused to get a knock-off as I think the original is the best and most reliable.

So what I've been doing is explaining that with plenty of training and a bit of smarts, your dog can be safe even by a road. Heck, there's a lady in my area who walks her dog 100% off leash, on sidewalks near the road even during rush hour. The dog stops with her, moves with her, walks in heel position the whole time. Some might call that stupid, but I don't think she is.

On the flip side, I've seen idiots let their dogs run out into the road on their flexis. I've had one person who wanted to let her dog meet mine (even though I told her that my dog didn't much like young rambunctious dogs) and who released the button to let the dog rush forward (resulting in my dog getting upset, trying to get away, and getting a bunch of burrs in her tail when she backed into a bush of them ). I've seen a guy who consistently walks his three dog aggressive chihuahuas off leash and says "They're just little dogs!" when they come rushing at my much bigger (leashed) dog. I've also seen people abusing head collars (giving the dog a pop on them), hang their dogs by flat collars when they "misbehave" and do all sorts of other things. Are head collars bad? Are flat collars? Are people who use them doing it out of "sheer folly"? No. Of course not.

So why assume that everyone who uses a flexi near the road is?