Retractable Leashes & Your Dog Training Safety

From Zane

This is a post that was done by one of my colleagues on Facebook this morning. She gave me permission to re-post this to my blog. It’s very important for dog owners to know that just because its sold in the big pet stores doesn’t mean it’s safe! Thanks to Tracey Lamerbert and if you need a good dog walker in the San Diego area contact her!

I thought i would share this with any of my friends that own a dog and use the very popular retractable leash.

This morning as i was out making my rounds. I was heading up Alga and saw a client walking her dog. Happy bear a very friendly,energetic cocker spaniel knows my truck well and loves me lots

He heard me coming up the hill with 7 other cars and all of the sudden darted out onto Alga. My heart jumped! We were all traveling about 50mph…He came within inches of a on coming car. His owner in a panic had a hard time controlling him with the retractable lead and like most of them,when the dogs darts doesn’t lock correctly. Now she will not be using the retrractable lead on busy streets.

Here is a little more information on the dangers of theses leashes:

A veterinary rant on the plague of retractable leashes in our midst

A plague of retractable leashes is upon us! Though that statement comes perhaps ten years too late, I’m happy to offer you my take on this important subject here and now.

Call me a hater, but I HATE retractable leashes. Here’s why:

I’ve never found one that didn’t click and stick or unspool suddenly at the exact wrong time (like when a stray cat crosses your path and an oncoming car has to slam on the brakes to spare your dog’s life). Sticky situations like this serve to illustrate how the “canine lunge line” can serve to thoroughly foul up your control over the animal.

Last weekend, my aunt’s dog was on a placid walk up in northern Florida when another dog came bounding suddenly from the end of a twenty-foot super-Retracto. Dog-fearful Trixie did what any other encroached-upon dog might under the circumstances. She bit the dog.

My aunt, being the responsible dog owner she is, offered to pay for the care of the bitten dog and called immediately to determine what measures she might take to prevent similar incidents in the future.

My take? It’s the other owners fault. And not just because lovable Trixie spent six months as one of my foster dogs before finding a home with my aunt. If my aunt truly had control over Trixie and the bitee’s owner didn’t have control ever her extendo-apparatus, then, well, it seems pretty clear, right?

The same situation plays out in our waiting room on a regular basis. Owners with ill-behaved or over-stimulated and stressed dogs often lose control of their charges. No degree of thumb clicking and hand over hand reeling-in will suffice when the thin line is already wrapped thrice around an elderly woman’s ankles.

Retractable leashes do have their places. But heavy dog interaction zones are not among them. Pet owners thinking about using this kind of leash as their tried-and-true standard would do well to consider the vet’s point of view: They’re a liability.

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