Flexi leads and the road!!!!

why??? why would anyone be so stupid as to stand next to a road with there dog on a flexi and not have it on short and locked?

i was on my way home last night from my mums, bf's driving, dogs are in the boot, he had slowed down(doing about 20) as we knew there were lights ahead and it was about 10.45 so roads quiet(ish) then i just about have heart failure as a stupid girl is standing on the pavment next to the road and her little dog runs into the road, boyfriends hits the breaks and we have slowed right down by this point and she pulled her dog back off the road laughing

needless to say by the time i got in i was still shaking ( i think more with anger that someone could be so stupid)

im just thankful that both me and bf spotted it and that we never run the poor wee thing over and no harm was done

Sadly there are some very very foolish people, I see no end of people walking along the pavement with their dogs on a flexi lead that hasn't been locked off, an accident waiting to happen.

Bet the silly girl wouldn't be laughing if your bf hadn't reacted quickly enough.

oh how silly! it worries me as i drive past ppl like this.
hope she might be a bit more carful after this close call!

Hmm, I've used flexi leads unlocked whilst road walking for nearly 20 years without problems, I know the possible hazards and therefore take steps to avoid them.

There are some idiots out there who cause accidents by not using a flexi correctly, but by that very token you should blame each indvidual idiot on it's own merit, not every person who happens to use a flexi.

I walk Cherry on a flexi and it came unlocked whilst we were beside a road so you can't always blame the owner. Things can go wrong sometimes too! I always hold it on the lead side now rather than the handle in case it happened again (though I bought a new one after it unlocked).

i know accidents can happen and i would have thought that too, but she was laughing as she was pulling her dog off the road.

i also apoligize if it came across as tarring all flexi lead owners with the same brush, i didnt mean it like that ( i used to use one on ty when he was younger, although like KO i used to lock it)

I have seen that happen, A little dog was being walked on the other side of the road and spotted Noodles, she ran straight into the road to meet him! It was lucky that no cars were coming.

Around here, quite a few people seem to think that having their dog on a lead at all is a sign of weakness, 2 other dogs have ran across the road to greet Noodles, a little terrier twice and a staffie, whos owner could not come and retrieve him as she was holding the door to her block of flats open (I assume she didnt bring her key with her, so eventually I had to walk Noodles over the road with the other dog still sniffing his bottom, and take them right up to the woman!

I do walk Noodles on a flexi off his harness as I dont have the dexterity required for long lines and he only gets off the lead in the park if there are no small dogs around, but keep it locked when we are close to the road!

I actually use a flexi lead with Max so I certainly don't think that people who use flexi leads are foolish - flexis have their place.

There is a couple who live locally who I often see, both him and her out with their dog, a gorgeous little staff, and a baby in a pram. The dog is always out way in front of them. I know that Max's lead is 26 ft and theirs looks to be a similar length. The road I see them on is in a village but it is the main road through the village and there is a lot of (fast) traffic through. I'm not sure how they would get their dog back onto the pavement quickly if it is over 20 ft away from them and it strayed into the road.

I personally found I wasn't comfortable trusting a flexi to hold the dog back near things like roads (even locked I just don't quite trust the tape) so I bought a second back up lead that's just a normal cloth one (was the finest reduced to clear one in PaH so it's blue and stripey and totally un-coordinated with his red harness) for pavement walking. Not for safety reasons - it's just more comfortable for me to have in my hand and adjust the length of by wrapping it round my fingers a couple of times. I use the flexi in the park when I don't want to take the 10m line out (it's very bulky to carry and now we're working more on off-lead recall anyway I just tend to cart the flexi around for when I want to pass dogs he doesn't know who might not appreciate being divebombed in greeting) or fancy a Professor Layton puzzle of trying to untie me and my husband's legs from the lead when he wraps it round us... but I don't like it generally for keeping him actually reined in - he's just thankfully not much of a puller. I ride the lock button like crazy though.

I hate it when you see a flexi leaded dog on the pavement (usually small, out of control and yappy) followed by its owner at max lead length by which time little Rambo's busy attempting to wreak havoc with a dog three times his size who's stood there looking very baffled by the entire thing!

Can I ask what you find the benefit of using an unlocked Flexi on the road is? I just don't see why there's a need to take a risk, you can know all the hazards and take all the steps you can, but accidents happen, well trained dogs can have a sudden blip/scare/wobble and walk into the road, why purposely lose that little bit of extra control on a dog when you're so near to fast moving vehicles that could be fatal (not just to your dog but to passengers of the car too if they swerved to avoid the dog)