Retractable Leads, as anyone who knows the level of training I expect of my clients dogs are not a good idea, here is why you should bin yours NOW !
Reason 1
Your dog can be as many as 10 metres away from you, walking the same pace as you, why not have it by your side walking at the same pace as you instead ? It will give you more control over your dog, and will stop anything going badly wrong, like your dog suddenly veering off of the pathway into the oncoming traffic !
Reason 2
Your dog can venture too far forward on a walk and when it turns a corner can run into trouble, another dog, a person, bike or car, and you will be powerless to do anything about it.
Reason 3
With the flexibility of the Retractable Lead comes the chance it could just snap, that could snap just as your dog reaches maximum speed and you decide to put the brake on or it gets to the end of the line before you put the break on!
Reason 4
Have you seen the burns caused by these things when they run against human skin, hands etc, because let’s have it, we have never been shown how to use them properly so the instant reaction if the dog bolts is to grab what is a piece of cord, which in turn burns straight through your skin causing you pain.
Reason 5
You meet another dog owner who also has the crazy idea of using a Retractable Lead, dogs tangle up together and the next thing you know your dogs are scrapping, but you have knitted a tank top with the leads!
Reason 6
Dogs can harm themselves by pulling on the Retractable Lead (yes they will still pull on the lead!!!!) and running and hitting the ‘end of the line’ can cause neck damage and more.
Reason 7
The dogs have more freedom - yep thats a down side, they have more freedom and more likely to pull at the end of the line, which to other dogs may give off the wrong signals and before you know it you’re 30 feet away from your dog which is now scrapping with the other one
Reason 8
You have to carry what is a bulky piece of kit the whole time you are out with your dog. You can drop them, which then spooks the dog, to the point that the item spooking it is now chasing them down the path, then anything can happen !!
Reason 9
Like any other ‘gadgets’ that try to take a simple process and complicate it, they can go wrong, the lead can snap, the lead can jam, the break can jam - not helping you in getting your dog back with you - dog gets into trouble.
Reason 10
If you can’t get them to walk beside you nicely before you put them on a retractable lead, they sure as hell are not going to once they are on it!!
Reason 11
It could cost you …. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/12020411/Cyclist-wins-65k-compensation-after-becoming-entangled-in-dog-lead.html
