Extendable leads and why they are best avoided.
Whenever I arrive at a consultation and see one of these, I quietly shudder a little. It's virtually guaranteed that the dog I'm about to meet will have no lead walking manners whatsoever. With little dogs they will run from your left to your right and back again, leaving you in constant danger of stepping on them or being tripped over by the aforementioned excuse for a lead!
With larger dogs they will lunge towards anything that interests them and you'll end up flying in their general direction on the other end of ten metres of nylon string. You'll hear a guitar like twang on this line as it simultaneously breaks the dog's vertebrae and dislocates your shoulder. That's if you managed to keep hold of the handle.
Control
When out in public it's important to have great control of your dog. Using a standard lead, the dog is nearby, making it much more likely you keep it bay when passing another dog, squirrel, screaming child, skateboard. If your dog has 3 meters of slack s/he could easily run into the road. I've seen it often when the dog pulls the handle out of the owners hand completely and makes off.
Body language
A dog that is pulling hard on a lead is displaying the body language of aggression. This could lead to trouble with other dogs. On a long lead you then can't act quickly enough to prevent this scrap from taking place.
Risk of injury
Thin cords act like knives when pulled over flesh, they can also cause nasty rope burns. I saw someone get badly injured when a small dog ran around them to chase another dog in my local park. It's not just dangerous to people it can do the same of worse damage to children, your own dog or someone else's.
Good lead walking
It's a pleasure to walk a dog with good lead walking skills, being pulled around is no fun for you or the dog. You know that you are safe and your dog is fully with you. Lead walking is also good mental exercise for your dog and with positive reinforcement training builds trust between dogs and owners. You rarely seen this achieved with the extendable lead.
If you let go
The lead handle will bounce along behind your puppy, in effect chasing them. If they are scared they will run to get away from it and you may never see them again.
It's brilliant recall, positively trained loose lead walking, not an extendable lead you need. Contact me for help
