(thank God It Didn't) Extendable leads

I need to rant as this annoyed the hell outta me.

Last night my son & I was returning from the bus stop after walking my mum up for her bus. I had Coco on an extendable lead locked short as we was walking along the side of the road, when across the road we saw a young couple walking their small dog on an extendable lead also, but...instead of it being locked short the dog had free range.

Coco saw this dog and looked at it and carried on, this dog however saw Coco and next thing I heard was a squeal of brakes and this couple trying desperatly to "reel" their dog in from the middle of the road and this car about 2ft away from it.

Luckily this dog was unharmed and probably only suffered a nasty fright and I hope its owners have learnt a valuable lesson and never walk on the side of the road with a dog on an unlocked extendable lead.

Honestly some people amaze me with their stupidity. And the sad thing is these stupid people are in charge of a dog.

And even sadder they will probably have children at some time, and may be even a driving licence!

I have known people who have lost thier dog which had run out into the road in front of a car and killed because they were on a extendable lead personally I dont like/use them...never have ...for  people who prefer them... I think they should only be used in the park not road walking as you cannot teach a dog to walk to heel properly as you have little or no control.
(Its personal choice I know but my friend had clicked it onto lock but it failed and had heartbreaking consequences...)

~Roni

[quote](Its personal choice I know but my friend had clicked it onto lock but it failed and had heartbreaking consequences...)[/quote]

Aww that is awful, I didn't realise that they could fail like that, think a trip to pets at home is in order for a new lead. And I will just use them in the park.

Anyone know if they fail often?

The true "Flexi" seems to be very reliable, especially the tape type, I have two, one is about 15 years old now and still going strong.  I had a cheaper one once the lock did not break but did seize apparently from rusting.  My Flexies have very often been wet but have shown no signs of rusting in all these years so I presume all the lock components are "stainless"  They have a very positive lock action too and work very effectively when the lock is merely applied and not locked which I would not have said about the cheaper one.
Note: I never use it on a road without full lock on short length.

We bought a fairly cheap one from Asda's which we only use away from the road, this one started 'slipping' a couple of weeks after we got it - not a major problem for us as we have never used it when walking near roads but it would certainly make me wary of using one near a road.

Steve

Ive had my flexi compact tape leads for years and they have been really reliable although I only really use them at shows and occasionally at the park when Alf is being naughty

My mum got through two cheap extending leads which she bought from a market whilst on holiday, luckily both broke on the beach.

Luckily my dogs are tall enough for me to use the integral handle on the actual 'lead' bit, rather than the cord, when we're by the road (but it's still locked for safety). Unless the 'lead' bit's longer on the extendables for smaller dogs I can see there'd be a problem (unless the owner has very long arms!).

Thats one of the reasons the tape one is better I think, JG you have, in effect, a lead that can be locked securely at any length you require.

Does the tape one have a stitched-in handle at about 3 or 4 foot from the clip, or do you have to put your faith in the mechanism? (I've only ever seen the cord ones, you see.)

No, I wonder if that is a feature of the heavier weight ones.  As I say one of mine has been in daily use for about 15 years, rain and shine, well being in the NW more rain than shine, and never let me down so my faith soldiers on :)

I only use mine if one of the dogs is on restricted exercise, or if we're in a strange area, so they don't get a lot of use. ;) I prefer a normal leather lead for day-to-day use. I don't get in such a tangle! :D

I prefer to use a training lead to an extendable to give a little more freedom but still restrained I know they're not as long but I would imagine if you have more than one dog a extendable lead would get tangled up.

I have a heavy weight tape lead and it doesnt have a handle on the acutal tape.

I agree, even locked it could come unlocked bu accident and as you say it is too clumsy to have proper control of.  they ahve their uses,a dn I carry two in my bag for use in open unfamiliar places or for my naughty Jozi if I am in no mood for her occasional selective deafness.

Where I live there is a lot of traffic and still people walk their dogs without any leads.  Our cat was indirectly responsible for a GSD being killed outside our house when the GSD who was not on a lead saw her and ran across the road after her and was hit by a car.  The owner was very upset and kept saying "but she never runs off", I felt like telling her she's a dog, she doesn't think the same way we do I didn't of course - the woman was too upset.

The thing is however good the dog is it won't be perfect, lets face it even adult humans get hit by cars on the road how can we expect dogs to do better.

Steve

I got some abuse by suggesting at a trade show recently that all extending leads should come with a warning. Manufacturers and wholesalers INSIST that a dog on such a lead is safe and under control :+

Sadly this is often not the case, even when the lead is not faulty I have seen a number of instances when big dogs on them have been able to pull an owner over because they can get up a good speed on that lenght of lead (I dread to think what it does to the dogs neck). 

To add to Bluebells's comment, we watched as a friend we meet occasionally, with his big, +90lb part bred Lab, stood still while the dog took a lying leap off after something it saw across the field.  Owner just stood there, obviously expecting the dog to come to an abrupt halt when it hit the end of the lead.  Boy was he surprised when he went flying through the air himself and landed two or three feet away, on his stomach.  Oh to have had a video camera to capture the action and the absolutely stunned, surprised look on owner's face.  Neither dog nor owner was hurt.  Although DH and I had stomach pains from trying not to laugh out loud.