Do any of you guys use one of these?  Are they any good?

Hi... i use the wide tape one, alot stronger than the thin cord ones. ideal when you have a breed of dog that cant be let off unless in a 8ft high fenced area. not many of those about :D
i also use a 10ft horse lunge rope for long walks on the beach. im lucky the beaches here are rarely busy :-)

just remember to keep the lead "locked" when near busy roads... stops any nasty accidents.

I think if John used a wide tape one or a lunge rope, his likkle puppy would not be able to move :D

Yes, I use one, as Jane said, keep the brake on near roads.

Ditto. It only takes a split second for a tragedy to happen so the lead must be locked when near traffic.

Flexi-leads are great when used correctly but they take a little getting used to. I imagine it's a lot easier with a little Lhasa Apso on the end of the lead as opposed to 8 stone of enthusiatic Lab X ;) You do get what you pay for so the Flexi brand is dearer but more robust than some of the cheaper ones and the all-tape are stronger than the cord and can be locked shorter too.

LOL @ sandrah
sorry i forget not everyones puppy is built like a tank ... :-)
kai was only little for about a month after we got him :D :D

They are very good at training dogs to pull...........

I am the opposite...i have just bought Tyson the shortest lead i could find!!! I definately DONT want him to start pulling!!! ;-)

I saw a CKCS almost get hit by a car the other night when it tried to run across the road to see Tyson!! It was on a flexi-lead. The owner didnt even seem bothered either!!! :-(

>I am the opposite...i have just bought Tyson the shortest lead i could find!!! I definately DONT want him to start >pulling!!!¨

You will find your dog WILL pull on a really short lead! A short lead will always be tight, and that will automatically make the dog pull away. A 6 foot lead which can hang in a loop, losely, is the very best thing. Obviously the dog needs to be taught NOT to pull, but what they want is a lead that is NOT tight. Once the lead tightens they start pulling.

Marianne

I have only just got this lead, and he already knows not to pull (because i stop immediately). I find this lead a lot better and it does hang in a loose loop while we walk, because he is so big/tall. I feel more in control of him with this lead because i would not like to be catapolted (sp) if he decided to dart after something!! 6 stone of dog is a lot of dog to hold!! :-) He has never been alowed to pull, ever, because i knew that it would be a problem when he was fully grown if he did. (17-20 stone )

>I have only just got this lead, and he already knows not to pull (because i stop immediately). I find this lead a >lot better and it does hang in a loose loop while we walk, because he is so big/tall.

Ah, good! :) I was having visions of one of these really idiotic leads which is nothing more than a handle and a clip!! :rolleyes:

Marianne

LOL :D I havent seen any of those!!! But mine is definately not like that...it is definately a lead, just a shorter one. ;-)

Really short leads sometimes don't help either, as the dog doesn't get the chance to make the choice about walking beside you......

Thats why i trained him to walk without pulling on a normal size (about 6ft) lead at first. I have just got him a new, short one recently because i feel more comfortable with it. :-) Now he walks like a good boy....well most of the time! ;-) (he is still only 5 months old) :D

I'm one person against Flexis. Apart from the safety aspect, you can't teach a dog anything much whilst on a Flexi, as the handle is to bulky to handle easily, and you don't have an actual lead to grab hold of with your spare hand should you need to for instance pull the dog back or whatever.You just do not have the control you do with a lead.  I don't believe a dog gets much more exercise on a Flexi than on a normal 6 foot lead, as they tend to just walk to the end of it and continue to pull, the only difference being that the ower is further behind, and the dog can move in a semi circle.  However they do have their use when training recalls!

Marianne

I think that they are awful.  Nothing worse than seeing a dog pulling an out of control owner!!  But do have one for teaching recalls in public places.

Personally I think they are the spawn of the devil and for lazy owners who cannot be bothered to train their dogs to walk to heel, who find it convenient to be "unaware" of their dog cocking their leg on someone's gate post/fence or worse, who like to give car drivers heart attacks as they wait for their dog to dart out in front of their wheels, and that bloody cord has been responsible for injuries minor and severe to people and other dogs, including rupturing a cruciate ligament.

If I ever had to use a long line for recalls I would use a lunge rope.....

However the big handle I suppose is good to bash other out of control dogs over the head with.

ROFLMAO :D

I think it depends on the dog and owner.
My Shih Tzu is ideally suited to a flexi lead, he doesn't pull (only enough to extend the lead) he walks nicely on a normal lead aswell.

We regulaly walk through farm land and Oscar has to be on a lead or he would be in danger. On roads he walks on the flexi at it's shortest.

If your sensible they can give your dog that extra bit of freedom to stop and sniff for a second or two or stray from your side without going too far, until your in a position to let them off lead.

Not all dogs just go to the end of the lead and pull, mine certainly doesn't.

I trained my dog to walk on an ordainary lead before introducing a Flexi. I find it invaluable in busy parks, for example, where I want him to have some freedom to move about but don't want to let him loose.

Hate flexi leads. Echo what tohme says abotu them, they are also hard to hold and not the right length when locked short.

I like a mid length lead, short enough to prevent a dog lunging so far ahead of me that im pulled off balance (try it, the further in front the dog is the more off balance you are).

I DO use a VERY short 'handle' on my saluki on road walks. Because despite her age and her apparent frail construction, when she lunges at a cat or a bird or a figment of her imagination, on anything longer she'd have me off my feet. However she doesnt pull, just the 'surprise lunge' occasionally.

Em

You can lock them at any length you want :) and the tape ones can be used as a two handed lead if that is the way you like to do your heel work its just a case of accustoming to a different feel of the handle rather than the noose of a traditional lead.  If you are frightened you would not keep hold of the handle you can attach a lanyard and then you have the same security as a lead.  I think they are a great when used responsibly ie away from traffic and passing people but where extra security is required such as livestock areas or in my case pheasant rearing territory ;) 

They should never be used on the street in my opinion, as the lock can be unlocked accidentaly.  They ahve their uses ion open spaces away from other people and obstructions.  If you ahve a dog whose recall is not that good or chooses to go selectively deaf they afford a bit more freedom on a walk.  For pups they do help with recall training, but for wily naughty adults they do not help here as the dog knows full well when it is on the Flexi or Lunge.  Tried a 30 foot long line, which worked only if she was udner 30 feet away from me, after that she knew I couldn't reach the end to make her recall :D  Having a dog trailing a 30 foot webbing lead disappear into undergrowth is not my idea of fun.  I had visions of her hanging herself but thankfully she came trotting back in ehr own good time about 10 minutes later while I was havbing a heart attack!

I do actually have one somewhere, probably in the cupboard under the stairs gathering dust.  Anyhow, I bought it years ago and tried it on my bitch before we had fully mastered the recall.   She kept getting tangled up in it; I hated that handle and generally thought it was more hassle that it was worth.  So it was made redundant

Flexi leads are really uncomfortable to hold if you have a dog that lunges forward, and it's too easy to lose your grip on the handle. Give me a nice bridle leather lead any day.

I use a flexi lead the small tape one, as my pup is only 14 weeks old and she is a shih tzu, so she'll not grow very big anyway. Had I got a big dog I most likely wouldn't use one, as like other posters I'd be scared of been pulled of my feet, but with my little dog I don't have to worry about that.

As Tracy (Ioxia) points out little dogs are maybe better suited to flexi leads and as the OP has a small dog I think in his case a flexi would be ok.

All the negative comments about Flexi leads seem to be coming from bigger dog owners and i have to admit I never used one with my Labrador as already stated, no good if your big dog lunges.

Even with tiny dogs, ive never found a particularly safe way to use them except for on a wide open field with no one else around.

And unless you do have a dog that will vanish into the wide blue yonder, wheres the point in that??

Having been tripped up by them, and having my dog nearly garotte herself running INTO a damn near invisible (yes it was a tape one!) lead stretched out, id rather avoid at all costs.

Also you just CANT tell if the spring inside is still good, until it breaks!

Em

< All the negative comments about Flexi leads seem to be coming from bigger dog owners >

well i must be the odd one out then lol... as i said earlier i use one with my malamute. i also used them with my previous dogs a german shepherd, a lab and a irish wolfhound X, not exactly little dogs :-)
but i guess with anything its all down to personal choice, training and how u use them :D

I think your right it does come down to the dogs temprement, training and owners personal choice. At the end of the day we are all different and our dogs are all different, I don't think what suits one person will suit another. There is never a right answer we can only express our own personal opinions.

There's another reason that size comes into it - if you have an ickle dog, on a normal lead, the lead is permanently tight before you even start walking - there's a lot more space between collar and hand than there is with a big dog.  If I took Millie out on a normal lead she would always be restricted to walking in line with my foot, fine if you want your dog to walk permanently to heel and that does suit some people.  With large waist height dogs, your dog can walk alongside you on a normal lead and its still slack and loose (as mentioned by someone above) and therefore gives them a little more freedom to move about, but there are those of us out there with ankle/shin height dogs for whom 'normal' leads don't hang in the same position.

I use an extendable lead for my scottie, however I use the biggest, strongest tape one.  The smaller kind ones tend to be stretchy and the dog can pull away from you easily if they are strong (particularly in case of the breed well-known as "the big dog on little legs!").

I'm lucky in that I live in a series of no-through roads that don't lead anywhere so we don't have a lot of traffic between us and the park, however when walking near main roads I keep the lead locked - my dog is a definate potential 'darter-outer' in certain situations, like leaves blowing down the street - but this brings me to my next point that its not the dog who needs to be trained to use flexi-leads but the humans.  I started off with a normal lead before progressing to a extendables, and I know the potential situations and triggers for my dog and when to keep the lead locked but can allow her 'free reign' once in the park.  However that 'free reign' is never completely free - even in the park my finger is always over the button for 'steering  and avoidance purposes'.  Me and Millie also have a 'clicking' thing going on whereby I can make a click sound with the button that says "you are heading somewhere I don't want you to, please return to course!" and she knows what to do, so I find it very useful! 

I can take my dog to a 'dog-walking' park and let her off the lead where she will stay with me and come when called, but my local park is more of a pedestrian park in town, where lots of unfriendly local dogs are exercised and therefore off-lead walking is not possible for Millie.  This is predominantly due to my own control issues - she knows how to recall when she wants to, but terrier instinct quite often takes over and her hearing becomes selective - my problem I know, and I don't have the time or the opportunity to perfect this and therefore I keep her on a lead 95% of the time which is why an extendable lead is essential for me and Millie until I can take her somewhere safe for 'off-leading'.

So it really comes down to the individual circumstances - if you have larger dogs with excellent recalls and you walk your dog to farmland where you can let them off, then a short lead for the road section of your journey is ideal but that's never going to work for me due to my location or dog.

And that's what you have to decide!