The only time I use retractable leashes is at rest stops when we’re traveling, and not always then. If it’s a small or busy area I’ll use regular leashes, but I find it useful to be able to let the girls get a little romp time if there’s an open area, and I don’t have to also romp through wet grass or high weeds and un-picked-up poop. It’s also handy when the dog-walk area is essentially an embankment. I can stand or amble along on the sidewalk and the dogs can navigate the hill. My goofy Lab loves to “surf” hills She’ll get running and then fling herself down on her side and slide through the grass with this ecstatic look on her face, leap up, and do it all over again. MUCH easier on me if she’s on a flexi-lead!
I tend to stay far far away from other people if I can when I’ve got the dogs along, not because they are mean, but because other people (with or without dogs), are often clueless and I don’t have the patience to deal, more often than not. Especially not at the end of a 14 hr drive in a car full of dogbreath!
Oh, and you ain’t seen mayhem until you’ve seen some moron ignoring their a dog on an un-braked flexi-lead at a horse show! Horses tend to panic when something unseen grabs them by the legs. 1500lbs of panic is not fun.
You have to pay more attention with retractables. How could you not?
Anyway, I walk two smaller dogs with two retractable leashes. I also have a double leash for when I know there will be crowded spaces. Except for the people crowing for normal leashes, I agree with what’s been said.
When encountering people, I read body language and start with the assumption people don’t want to meet the dogs. However, they get a lot of attention because they’re super cute.
Two things to add, both things I saw a long time ago. A dog who was leashed, but no human was within twenty feet of it. It was trotting along, holding the other end of its leash in its mouth. (My son said, “Mom, that dog is walking himself!”)
The other was a guy who saw a rabbit on my front lawn. He promptly knelt down and took off his dog’s leash so it could chase the rabbit. I was right there, and protested. “Aw, he’ll never catch it!” Which he didn’t. That’s not the point.
Side anecdote: We had one person who would do this over and over and over, day after day - and my husband finally lost his shit on her. Screamed and yelled and told her to knock it the ever loving fuck off. Well she called the police. Said my husband was harassing her. Police show up, she’s standing outside with her dog right in front of our house on the street in front of the window where my dog is with her dog - and my dog inside going apeshit. Keep in mind she could have moved three feet to left or right on the street and my dog would have been fine. The issue is the she and her dog are standing RIGHT THE HELL IN FRONT WHERE THEY HAVE NO BUSINESS BEING! She’s telling the cops how my husband is harassing her by telling her to move the hell on. Cops see her deliberately working our dog up by where she’s standing and letting HER dog behave - cop tells her to knock it the hell off - she isn’t being harassed, she’s harassing us by stopping and standing there when she knows that my dog gets nuts about it, and that if she continues to harass us, there will be repurcussions. I didn’t know assholery was a ticketable offense, but hey - I haven’t seen her since.
Sometimes I’ll let my dog go up to the fence of a barking dog because 80% of the time the barking dog stops barking when they get to sniff each other. I do move on quickly if it doesn’t work though.
Yep. I always carry treats AND pepper spray. If the treats don’t work to stop an approaching dog (I toss a handful in his face or slightly to the side of him) then I have the spray. Never had to use it but it’s there if I need it.
I haaaate retractable leashes. People always give the dog way more length than is reasonable (if your dog can walk up onto lawns and reach the street, the leash is too long) and it’s impossible to reel the dog in quickly if something unexpected happens. Also, this.
The OP’s suggested rules are reasonable, though I have a question about this one:
“Always carry enough baggies for poop. If I’m not carrying a full roll, I at least have 2x the # of dogs of baggies.”
Criminy. If you need that many bags, either the dogs’ diets need adjusting or you need to carry larger bags. I carry one plastic bag of the type used to package my purchases at the supermarket, and it is more than ample to handle a Labrador dump (the beast nearly always poops in the course of a walk even if she has done so shortly before leaving).
I love the list - if dog owners in my neighbourhood would abide by it, we wouldn’t have a problem with dogs here at all. As it is, I barely go a day without seeing someone breaking any number of those rules (the worst offender is the off-leash business; if I had my way, I’d eliminate off-leash areas altogether, because dog owners here just won’t do right in them).
Lookit the ears on that one! I bet she can hear a can being opened two blocks away!
I carry pepper spray with me at all times in my neighbourhood; I had it up and ready to go when an asshole had his pit bull-cross off-leash in an on-leash area, and he threatened me with physical violence if I used it on his dog, which was cavorting all around me and totally ignoring him. Fucker. (The guy, not the dog. It’s not the dog’s fault her owner is a major dick.)
In our county the leash law states the length cannot exceed 6 ft. Even if retractable.
We have an off leash problem in my neighborhood. A few years ago there was a jogger attacked by a wandering Chow mix. Apart from the county law, leashes are also part of our HOA rules. I have 2 chihuahuas. One is tiny and timid, the other is a rescue with a history of biting. Mine wear separate leashes on harnesses so I can jerk them into my arms in a flash if there’s danger. And since I’m so used to little dogs, big dogs approaching are pretty intimidating, regardless of how friendly. I don’t like dirty paws and slobber on me. And I don’t want to throw that filthy tennis ball.
There’s a man down the street with a Great Dane he lets sit in his front yard off leash. This guy is a police officer! WTF! So I pretty much can’t take my own dogs on a responsible walk in my own blasted neighborhood. Pisses me off! We go to a couple different parks instead. Also, 1 block over there are 2 different houses where the people lazily open their front doors to let Fifi pee in the front yard. We all have fenced in back yards! Is their back door painted shut! Sheesh! Coming home yesterday one of them was running straight towards my car. He stopped to pee on their mailbox but it made me slam on my breaks because it looked like he was headed for the street. The stuff in my passenger seat went flying onto the floor and it gave my heart a pretty solid jolt. The man was standing there watching in his doorway. I gave him the evil eye and shouted a few 4 letter words. He’s probably oblivious.
Also, we appropriately vaccinate and worm our dogs, I don’t know what’s in your dog’s slobber or feces. Dogs run up to our fence to greet our dogs and the exchange of snotty snorting begins. I don’t want my dogs nose to nose or butt with another. Even at the park!
Another retractable-leash-hater…I suppose they might be OK for toy dogs, but I’ve never used one on my larger dogs (Rottweiler, black Lab, and my little one is a 25lb JRT x heeler cross). I do walk them at times on a 20-foot lead but I can reel the dog in quickly when necessary and they’re under good voice control anyhow.
I’ve had Rottweilers since 1985, and in general they tend to be aloof with strangers (although well-mannered and polite if raised and socialized well and stupidly affectionate and goofy once properly introduced), can be hostile to other dogs and are generally intolerant of in-your-face interactions with strange adult humans or other dogs.
I cannot TELL you how many times I’ve been walking or biking with a well-trained Rottweiler and had to respond to a clueless off-leash dog owner who assures me “Oh, he’s friendly” with “Mine isn’t!” It automatically puts me in the position of Owner Of Mean Breed of Dog when actually my dog is better-behaved and legally contained than the undisciplined romping off-leash dog.
I’m all for romping off-leash dogs because IMHO dogs ought to be able to run all-out on a regular basis, but not on public trails or parks, please.
Thinking that the default should be that all dogs are either secured in one’s home/yard or marched about Hannibal Lecter-style for “safety,” never permitted to interact with anyone without express permission, is disturbing.
You might want to read what your local law specifically says. In my city, dogs are required to be on a six foot leash in public, but there’s no leash requirement for dogs on their own property. The police officer and Fifi’s owners would not be breaking any law here.
It’s not your Rottweiler’s fault. I think most dogs on a leash react defensively when approached by an off-leash dog. I’m astonished how increasingly common it is to meet hikers on trails who make no effort to leash their dogs.
From our county’s website…
“Cats and dogs may not run loose or have access to streets or sidewalks in unincorporated Harris County.”
I live in an unincorporated city in HC.
99+% of dogs will never harm anyone, yet there is complaining about unleashed dogs even on their owner’s private property. Insisting that every dog should be on a six foot leash or behind a fence is unreasonable. Even prisoners are often eligible for work-release programs.
She’ll get running and then fling herself down on her side and slide through the grass with this ecstatic look on her face, leap up, and do it all over again. MUCH easier on me if she’s on a flexi-lead!