What do dog trainers think about retractable leashes?
Emmalee Orn
2025-06-12 06:14:49
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: 7
Retractable leashes have no place in dog training. If you go to a dog park or almost any gathering of dog people and their dogs, the worst-behaved dogs will be the ones on retractable leashes. It’s sort of a chicken or the egg thing: What came first, the poorly behaved dog or the leash that teaches him nothing? The products can retract only when there is not tension on the line. You really cannot grab the part of the cord that retracts into the handle and pull even a smallish strong dog back toward you. They more or less train dogs to pull against pressure, by rewarding/reinforcing the dog when he pulls against the product’s spring in order to reach something he wants to investigate. Getting to sniff something he was curious about is a reward – and behaviors that are rewarded get repeated. Yes, a person can lock the handle and prevent the dog from pulling the line out of the device, preventing him from getting this reward. But then, you may as well just have a fixed-length leash.
Sigrid Schiller
2025-06-01 17:56:17
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: 7
As a trainer, retractable leashes make me cringe. When I’m out with my dogs and see an owner heading my direction with a dog on a retractable leash I immediately head the opposite direction, give them a wide perimeter, and wait for them to pass. They are dangerous for you and your dog. People have received serious burns, lacerations, and even amputations as a result of trying to handle a bolting dog attached to a retractable leash. Dogs have received injuries to the throat/neck as a result of abruptly hitting the end of a retractable leash. They ruin your dog’s loose leash walking skills. Retractable leashes function through tension, when on a retractable leash your dog is literally being trained to pull against the tension in order to reach their goal. They break, these products are not fail-safe, given enough wear and just the right amount of force retractable leashes can and do break. They are rude to those around you, retractable leashes make it very challenging for you to control who/what your dog interacts with. You should never use a retractable leash in an area with other people moving about.
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