When I run for city council
 

I will have a landslide loss, because my primary platform will restricting dog leashes to be no longer than three feet.

I've gone fly fishing with a shorter spool than these reels people call leashes. What's the point of a leash, if the dog can go anywhere and do anything within 30 feet of you?

Also it doesn't keep the dog disciplined, or teach him to heel if you're letting the dog wrap himself around a tree while chasing a squirrel.

Anyway actually use these for with their dogs? Just curious of the appeal. I can't count the number of times I've seen a dog trotting across a street thinking "poor little guy's on his own", and a block behind the owner ambles through, and the lovely garroting tool comes into view.

just my 2...

I use a 3 or 4 foot standard leash for my lab and it is usually wrapped around my hand to keep him from wandering very far. A dog should be beside its master not running off.
Anyhow, I think these are the same people that begrudgingly started using leashes when it was legally required. "Make me leash my dog! I'll show you!" then purchases a leash so long that they may as well not be using a leash.

My parents-in-law have a pretty big boxer, and they use a 3 or 4 foot leash.

Around here, most leash laws specify 6 feet or less, but this is widely ignored. When I see the long leash, I see that the dog is taking the human for a walk, not the right order at all. In line with this, the dog owners should be licensed, not the dogs!

I hate retractable leashes. And that's an understatement. I can emphasize how much I passionately and thoroughly dispise them.

They do nothing. Their only use is as a three foot moving trip wire strung across every path, sidewalk, and street in my neighborhood. I've seen dogs entirely across a street with that little thin nylon chord providing the tiniest bit connection to their dim witted owner. And if I yell at the person to reign in their dog, they turn around to look for their dog and dumbly try to pull it in or run after it trying to get the little racheting mechanism to engage. Not even on the path, which I don't use very often, but walkers on the path with their dog darting out at me in the street before the person can realize it and push the lock button!

They should absolutely be illegal. Only solid, non retracting leashes of 3 feet should count. I'll keep ranting, this is really an issue for me.

I almost hit a small dog turning in to the grocery store in a car once because of this. A little weiner dog (dauschaund?) about 25 feet in front of a pedestrian on the sidwalk. There's no way I could have seen the dog behind the bushes, but I had my eye on the pedestrian who freaked out and I realized what was happening. That would have been pretty sad.

I use one of those leashes that extend to 15ft, but always keep it at 3ft along roads, any walkways, or near people. The only times I let it out are when we get home (my own yard) and at a point where we walk through the middle of a large park (usually at night).

A big enough dog and one of those invisible black cords could make a mess of me if I wasn't paying attention.

Sounds like you have some votes, James. Your candidacy may be more viable than you think :)

I think a samurai sword mounted vertically to the fork eyelets would make most leashes you run across irrelevant. :)

+1

Riding on a MUP, a woman was standing in the shade chatting while her little mouse bait poodle was across the trail. By the time I stopped, I had pulled about 3 feet of slack. Any faster, and that dog would have had a broke neck.

Funny, the wench seemed to think it was all my fault.

All reminds me of a sketch from the comedy show "Not The Nine O Clock News"

Small dog, retractable leash with very powerful spring. The rest is up to your imagination :)

Back from when Rowan Atkinson was funny..

And yes you would have my vote

Ed

I think leash length depends on owner, and dog. Regrettably every dog owner, and dog aren't as perfect as they think they are. Then they put some gianourmus (cant spell) leash on it oh my Poopsy Woopsy is such a good dog. Then it runs off scares of humans and wildlife. The procedes to deficate all over the place. I watch a dog that is very large, and horrible manners despite obediance training. So it gets the small leash. While my dog is older 10+ not to sure he is mellow doesn't run off, and stays by me so I give him the larger leash but he is always in control. I would like to see more leash free parks where I live, but only certain dogs behave well there

"Overinflated sense of entitlement" is a phrase you want to use describing your platform. Maybe "self-absorbed jacka***s" too. We've got the long leashes, the no scoop poop, and the no leashes owners around my place. It seems like the majority of dog owners where I live are a freaking menace.

i had one of those retractible leashes for my cat (don't ask), and it gave me large painful friction burns all over one of my hands. in the grip of terror (don't ask), i reached out for the leash which i'd never used before, and in the fracas, the cord was whipped hither and thither, and it burned the crap out of my hand. sucked. i returned it for a full refund. heh.

How the heck big is your cat?
http://p.vtourist.com/1442807-Travel...n_Thailand.jpg

So, at the risk of professing an unpopular opinion... :)

I always walk my family's Black Lab mix with a retractable leash these days. It's about 15 feet long and allows him to amble around and sniff and inspect things as he likes. I walk him mainly in a quiet residential area (picture 1950s suburbia) and surrounding park and school grounds. Whenever I see anyone approaching, I immediately shorten the leash up to 5 feet or less, so that I can keep control of him, although it's rarely needed.

I've only had a problem with him harassing other dogs and a jogger or two, and this was when he was a rambunctious juvenile and I was 12 years old. Also, when he was young and strong (he broke a couple chain collars) I would walk him with a short non-retractable leash to keep him under control. He's now an old dog, about 13, and using a retractable leash allows him to explore the foliage and scents comfortably, although he mostly trots along a few feet from me.

So in summary, I don't think long retractable leashes are a bad thing. The real problem is owners not controlling their dogs. When you're walking a dog, and the dog or the leash might get in someone else's way, the responsible thing to do is to tighten up the leash and keep them under control! Just my 2 cents.

Well, that can be the answer to every problem in the world - it's not the thing, it's the person behind the thing. That's true, but beside the point. If the unfettered use of the thing, whatever it is, causes a bunch of problems in larger society, then the unregulated use of that thing needs to be examined. That's why there's leash laws to begin with- because other people's dogs can be a real menace- and a lot of people use those long leashes basically as a way to comply with the letter but not the intent of the law. I'm not saying where you are the law should be as such, but there's a lot of places where it probably should be.

I've lived in a couple places where people's attitude was basically "no one has the right to make me put my dog on a leash" so they'd either do no leash or one of those super-long non-leashes. Everyone always thinks their dog is the exception but usually they're just deluding themselves to the point that when something does happen, they blame the other person, or animal, or the situation, and so their dog remains the exception and they get to keep their attitude.

But say a dog off a leash or on a non-leash comes after my cat, do I have the right to kick that dog as hard as I possibly can to keep it from mauling my cat? Would that be OK? Maybe it's a smaller dog and I seriously injure it and it ends up dying. Is that cool? If this person felt it was OK to not have their dog on a leash or a really long non-leash, and the result was it was about to kill my cat, since they're not really controlling their dog - the point of leash laws- am I OK with killing their dog to save my cat?

You know, sort it out. I think jamesdenver's point is those super long leashes don't control a dog and create new problems all their own. It doesn't really matter what you do or what your dog is like. If it is indeed a problem regulations should be changed, or if that's too much an infringement upon liberty, then expectations lowered, as in, maybe everyone else should start treating a dog at the end of a 25 foot leash as a dog that's not on a leash at all.

Those things are useless for border collies. Never give fast dogs slack to accelerate unless you want to experience shoulder dislocation. They're also useless for tying your dog up next to the pub patio

I agree with you. The intent of the laws is for people to have their dogs under control, and in some places a 6- or 4-foot leash requirement is totally appropriate for that goal. There's no such requirement in my hometown (to my knowledge), but there are posted signs like that in some park and school grounds, and I comply with them whenever there are other people around.

There you have it... unfortunately the cause of the problem is people who refuse to control their dog, even when specifically asked to face-to-face. The leash law provides a way to enforce this requirement when a certain limit is crossed, but doesn't really address the root of it.

Yep, I'd say you have the right to kick that dog. If you were a farmer and it attacked your chickens, you could shoot it. The other dog owner would likely be outraged, but I think a court would back you up. Of course, gunshots and litigation aren't a very nice way to conduct neighborly relations. Responsible control of dogs in the first place is a better way to go.

Yeah, I agree with the points. It's just frustrating that the problem could basically be solved by more common sense, courtesy, and dog training... rather than increased regulations. It's kind of like the fact that some drivers think that the Speed Limit means they have a right to be furious if they're going less than that speed for even a moment... the law allows the authorities to punish offenders, but not really to create more civility.

I guess I think dogs and leashes are similar: if you keep your dog under control and consider the wishes of anyone else who might be around, you'll never have a problem. A couple of examples: my neighbors across the street have a yippy little dog, which is always kept in their yard. While it's always fenced-in, it barks up a storm at every single person who passes, and sometimes all night long for no reason, yet the owners do nothing about it. On the other hand, I was riding on a multi-use trail by the beach two days ago. I rounded a corner and there was a tough-looking guy and girl with two German shepherds wandering free. As soon as the guy saw me, he called to the dogs, and they stood quietly behind him as I rode past.

I walk our dog on a retractable leash. We have 2 acres of land with an invisible fence, and the dog is on that about 360 days a year. The one week a year we take her on vacation, we're generally walking in the woods. She loves running around sniffing everything. As I'm walking, she runs 12 feet ahead, finds something to sniff, keeps at it as I pass her, and when I'm 15 feet in front and tug at the end, she runs past me and finds something else to sniff. So the spring leash keeps us both sane.

However, if anyone else approaches on the trail, I pull the leash up to minimum length (about 4 feet) lock it and heel her. Letting the dog on full unlocked length is very irresponsible and dangerous. But not everyone who has a spring leash is an idiot.

Hehehe, that's just like my family's dog. I know what you mean about "keeping sane" :)

Michigan is a great place for dogs... and humans!

Simply put, if you need a leash to control your dog (and you have to wrap it around your hand too!), your dog is not properly educated. If the owner trained the dog well, and is keeping an eye on it, I don't care if it's on a short leash, retractable leash or no leash. It's gonna be fine.

I honestly don't understand why this is such a problem though. Maybe I live in an area of particularly civilized dogs and dog owners. Maybe I don't use the MUPs often enough. But I can't remember a single time I had a trouble with a dog in this city, and I encounter plenty of them.

Now, when I walk dogs for the Humane Society, I do have a problem with the sidewalk bikers who appear out of nowhere and go within inches of the dog... I know it's not you, guys, but I feel if I can't offer a leash rant, I should provide a suitable replacement.

No. Especially if it's a small dog and really no hazard to you. You shouldn't punish the dog for the owner's mistake if you can help it. Go after the owner, not the dog.

I use a retractable for a Beagle. Most of the time the leash is kept very short, and in that instance it is actually much inferior to a normal leash, because you can't sense where the dog is or what it is doing without actually looking at him. It comes into its own in the park where there are few people. Got to let the nose dog sniff around, but you can't let it off leash.

Wrong. I wrap his leash around my hand because the flippin thing is too long and I am cheap. End of story. My dog is well trained. No need to generalize.

Too many people abuse the privilige of dog owning. The general public sucks