I'm not a huge fan of them, but because both of my dogs are strong, I am always paranoid it would fail one day. In the right hands in the right place they are fine, I do worry when I see dogs on fully extended leads right by the road, I couldn't do it.

They can be lethal in parks too, when not used properly, or with a reactive dog at the end. I see people tangled up in their own leads quite a lot, or wrapped around a tree

I'm not a fan of extending leads either. I can see they have a place for dogs that can't go off lead, when used correctly by an alert & responsible owner, in certain places. But that's it!

I was driving along a busy road not so long ago & saw 2 elderly ladies at a bus stop with small dogs on extending leads. All of a sudden one of the dogs leapt out into the road whilst playing with it's friend & I has to swerve quickly to avoid it. The owner was trying desperately to reel the dog in but was obviously all fingers & thumbs & had clearly not been paying attention to her dog as she was chatting to the other lady. I gave such a blast on my horn I probably gave them all a heart attack!

Then yesterday I was walking my two dogs off lead in a park when I saw a man with a lab puppy on an extending lead clipped to it's collar. The puppy was desperately pulling to get over to my dogs so I asked the owner if it was ok if my dogs could say hello to the puppy & he let the pup come to meet my dogs. All the time this 16 week old puppy was bouncing & pinging around at the limits of the extending lead, to the extent that she was doing back flips when she reached the end & got jerked back. I couldn't help but worry about the damage this was doing to the poor puppy's neck, throat & spine . I asked the owner if he was intending to take the puppy to training classes in the hope that I could recommend my friend's classes (knowing that she gives a talk on the dangers of extending leads & the potential for damage, esp in young dogs, & all backed up by pictures & evidence from a vet nurse!). But the elderly owner was a "I've had labs all my life & I know what I'm doing" type, so unfortunately I wasn't going to make any headway. I did suggest that a well-fitted harness would be better if he had to use an extending lead but I don't know if I got through to him. So sad.

Later on I met a 6 month old black lab pup off lead, with great recall, well socialised, happily bouncing all over my dogs, doing a lovely "sit" when offered a treat. Such a difference!

I've got one (hubby insisted it was the type he wanted when we got the dog) but I don't like it much, to the point where I went and bought a normal lead for walking to and from the park. It's just not as comfortable in my hands to hold when I want the dog close to me as a normal lead wrapped around my hand if I need it to be. I tend to swap over when I get to the park, and strangely now hubby's started to do the same as he's realised that, as usual, I'm right

I've used one in the past for Pepper because of her recall issues but we're back to the long line now which I prefer.

Apart from all the safety issues with them - I've had one break and fly back at me, or someone's dropped the handle and it flies towards the dog, but they also give horrid rope burns! Last summer someone else's dog managed to run around me and get the lead behind my bare legs, very painful.

They can have a place but need to be used with a harness, very carefully, and be a good quality one that's not going to fall apart the second time it's used.

J.

I saw that happen to a dog walker for the DT once. They somehow managed to drop the flexi, which flew towards an extemely scared & spooked lurcher, who, needless to say bolted straight back towards the kennels which would have meant crossing a busy road. I was walking two DT dogs with my mother so I shoved my lead into my mother's hands & managed to head off the lurcher & catch it. I took it straight back to the kennels as it was completely terrified by now & explained to the staff what had happened & quite rightly they agreed that it was too early fot this pinging & spooked dog to be going for walks anyway.

I do agree that it's insanity for any dog to be off leash in a busy area or any area outside of a park/field - oh don't even get me started on this....!

But: the extending leads are, in my humble opinion, risky no matter who is holding them, because the locking mechanism can fail and I've heard of a number of cases where this has happened.

I would never recommend using a flexi lead when walking along a road. I always used to carry an ordinary lead. I had the experience of a flexi lead mechanism failing, luckily while in the woods with my old boy, it's difficult to use a flexi lead when it's failed too miles of cord!

Now I walk 4 at a time I use 6 foot leather leads.

Yes-this happened to me when I was walking Cherry who is reactive to strange dogs.....

I was walking on the pavement next to a main road going back home and I saw a man coming with a Lhasa Apso off-lead. I swapped my dogs over to the opposite sides of me so Parker would be nearest the Lhasa as he is fine with other dogs. Parker + Lhasa were having a meet and greet when the lock on Cherry's lead went and she drove the Lhasa nearly into the road trying to head-butt it.

Not a nice picture you'll agree. I couldn't apologise enough (even though I thought the owner was a plonker walking a dog off-lead near a main road) but it was an accident (the dog was unhurt). Now when I walk Cherry on the pavement I hold the end of the fabric line of the lead rather than the handle so this couldn't happen again.

flexis.

bah!

even in an open fieldan be a nuisance.

walking my client's hyper rotti on a long line next to my friend walking her hyper husky on a long flexi..

jumping up and play fighting.
lines get tangled.
its the long line that needs unattaching from the flexi cord, took a while as well.

when this has happened to me with 2 long lines they have always untangled pretty much naturally as we step back.

I would never use one for walking a dog on a road however I will be using one for Ludi in open spaces whilst we teach recall. I do have a long line but because he is so small I just found myself getting it all tangled up as he only uses about half the length

When walking on a pavement dogs should be walking to heel and under control, how can you do that on a flexi