Dogs on Long lines.

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BSL2

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So upset, if I hadn't checked horses when I did, this could have ended so differently😔. Controversial, but so many dog owners in my town are lazy. Easier to let dogs run free out of control, than have on a short leash and be walked. That takes effort. Or have professionally trained to recall. Ahh, but who wants to pay for training, when they can run free.....I did share a post to others.

"To all dog owners. This is meant as a friendly advice post/a heads up to what can go wrong. If you are exercising your dog on a "longline" because it's recall is poor, please keep the dog where you can see it at all times, be able to grab said longline. I have just found a small dog caught by its longline, wrapped around my horse field fencing. It had scrambled through sheep wire, and was caught in brambles. Luckily for this little dog, it wasn't kicked by scared horses or strangled by its own lead and I happened to see something odd going on in the fence line. Unlike the old days, there are fields, fenced safely for hire, where dogs can run off lead, if not trained to recall. Thankfully, this little dog was reunited with his owner safe and well."
 
TheOldTrout said:
Lucky little dog that you found it.
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It's really upset me, if my horse had been at the top of the field I can't say I'd have noticed. I'm a small dog owner, I have to look to the sky, incase of raptors😱 When out, my dogs are on leads or in our private paddock with me close by. I just don't get this lackadaisical approach to dog ownership .
 
Cinnamontoast said:
Had one bound up to Mitch in the woods today, on a longline (but not attached to the owner) and very in his face, owner futilely calling it. Jumped at me, tangled round me and Mitch as I walked down the path. I had to tell it to get down!

I'm so glad you found the little dog. Can you imagine if a raptor had grabbed him?!
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I have nightmares. I will never have small dogs again, just too stressful. I keep seeing the dog in the hedge, all the grass trampled down, the rope around the fence post, thank god our youngster didnt squidge him. He was so thirsty when offered water😔 and feel for you walking your dog, so many numpty owners😡
 
BSL2 said:
I have nightmares. I will never have small dogs again, just too stressful. I keep seeing the dog in the hedge, all the grass trampled down, the rope around the fence post, thank god our youngster didnt squidge him. He was so thirsty when offered water😔 and feel for you walking your dog, so many numpty owners😡
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I said the other week I'd never have little ones, I'd be panicking if bigger dogs went up to them. Hadn't considered the raptor issue, lots of red kite round here!
 
BSL2 said:
I have nightmares. I will never have small dogs again, just too stressful. I keep seeing the dog in the hedge, all the grass trampled down, the rope around the fence post, thank god our youngster didnt squidge him. He was so thirsty when offered water😔 and feel for you walking your dog, so many numpty owners😡
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Did his owner say what had happened?
 
Clodagh said:
Did his owner say what had happened?
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What made me really cross, was when I rang number on collar(at least dog had that) the wife had to call out to husband to find out if they were missing a dog...I did give lecture when they collected. Dog is 11 months old, longline is training aid😲, I said you may as well just taken him out and hanged him...At this point I wasn't out to make friends.....😡😭
 
BSL2 said:
What made me really cross, was when I rang number on collar(at least dog had that) the wife had to call out to husband to find out if they were missing a dog...I did give lecture when they collected. At this point I wasn't out to make friends.....😡😭
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So he was trotting around unattended on a long line? Omg!
 
Clodagh said:
So he was trotting around unattended on a long line? Omg!
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We have a massive field on the other side of hedging that's surrounds our sheep wired field. All I hear is dog owners screaming/shouting for dogs that don't recall. I heard husband whilst wife was on phone "i told you ive lost ****. " I despair.
 
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BSL2 said:
I have nightmares. I will never have small dogs again, just too stressful. I keep seeing the dog in the hedge, all the grass trampled down, the rope around the fence post, thank god our youngster didnt squidge him. He was so thirsty when offered water😔 and feel for you walking your dog, so many numpty owners😡
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Bless him, sounds like he was there for quite a while.
 
Annette4 said:
I use long lines, without them Ginny and Dobby would never have any freedom on walks. That being said, I am always attached to the end and they are rarely at the end of it. I've never understood those who use them any other way.
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I get that. My daughter uses a lunge line on her English Buĺl dog because she is a bit erratic in her recall. But my daughter chooses an area where she can see the way ahead is clear and keeps the line ready to pick up. Not letting the dog go off out of sight. I'm not against long lines, just people who don't watch their dogs.
 
Appeals for dogs lost several times a week on social media in the New Forest. What will it take for owners to decide that not letting their dogs out of their sight might be kinder than letting them loose to get lost and sometimes end up dead? I feel like banging my head on the wall every time I see one of these dog lost posts. As for long lines, they are great attached to a suitable harness and used responsibly but do some trainers sctually advise letting go of them in open spaces by any chance? That would definitely be a recipe for disaster with our sight hounds.
 
planete said:
Appeals for dogs lost several times a week on social media in the New Forest. What will it take for owners to decide that not letting their dogs out of their sight might be kinder than letting them loose to get lost and sometimes end up dead? I feel like banging my head on the wall every time I see one of these dog lost posts. As for long lines, they are great attached to a suitable harness and used responsibly but do some trainers sctually advise letting go of them in open spaces by any chance? That would definitely be a recipe for disaster with our sight hounds.
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I'm so with you, re social media "lost dogs"...so many...heart breaking
 
They’re a useful tool, but need to be used as you describe! Either with a human holding the end, or with the end dragging but in easy grabbing distance. I can’t imagine having one attached and not knowing where the dog was, or even that it was missing 😱

My parents used one on their pup when she was going through a phase where she’d recall reliably, but wouldn’t let anyone close enough to put a lead on. She thought it was a really fun game of keep away. Long line on = problem solved, within a few months she’d learnt it was actually a very boring game that didn’t work.
 
What a horrible experience @BSL2, thank goodness you found the dog unharmed.

At least a couple of times a month my mother has always taken her dogs to the big sandy beach at the nearest small town. It's very popular with tourists in the summer and dog walkers, joggers, families and horse riders the rest of the year. About 10yrs ago she and I were walking our dogs there and I nearly got taken out by a large dog with a trailing SAND COLOURED long line. The dog was running very fast down the beach, dodging from one group of dogs to another to try to get someone to play, and you could see people dodging the trailing line as the dog flew down the beach. My mother tried to suggest that it wasn't the place for a loose line but the owner just couldn't see the problem.

It was so dangerous, the line was the length of a lunge line and really difficult to see, in such a busy environment it was so obviously an accident waiting to happen. The beach also has a lot of damaged groins (with the beach much higher on one side than the other) so the dog was in danger of hanging itself if it got caught up. My mother met her twice more and then avoided the beach for six months and fortunately when she returned she didn't come across the other owner again.

If potential dog owners had to pass some sort of common sense test it sure would rule a lot of people out...
 
You hear awful horror stories from dog long-lines; the worst I heard was a dog being walked near someone's horse (you know what I'm going to say here) and the dog got under the horse's feet. The "long line" was nylon cord, and it got wrapped around the horse's legs and practically de-gloved it. Horrendous.

Wish someone somewhere would ban them.
 
The hooligan has a long line that I make occasional use of in large, open quiet areas. (He damn well knows how to recall but alas his obsession with chasing anything and I do mean ANYTHING that moves over-rides this so I’m extremely choosy about where he’s allowed off lead… a lot of secure dog fields are even a No as if they’re adjacent to a road he obsessively runs back & forth chasing traffic). Said long line is neon coloured & so can be seen from space, is thick enough not to cheesewire my legs if I don’t predict a sudden change of direction and has a handle that remains held onto by me at all times! I can even grasp the concept of recalling him & reeling it in if we have the misfortune to encounter other people.

I can totally get dropping one with no handle on the end as a training exercise in a controlled environment but not somewhere with hedges etc to wrap it around (& not when allowing the dog out of sight!)

I will admit that as the trailing longline gets so vile I tend more towards the demon flex lead when it’s muddy & awful / when I don’t want to bring a separate bag with me.
 
If I'm riding and see someone with a extended lead or rope I tell them to pull it in, it's so dangerous to have them around horses.

Some idiots that walk near me use them in the woods so the dogs get caught up on all sorts of things, they only really work in open spaces or if the dog stays on the path which most don't.
 
I use one semi regularly. I'm attached to the other end and she's simply not allowed to get tangled up in things/people or bother people/animals when she's on it. Same as when she's on a short lead or off lead.

The idea that someone would allow their dog to wander around unsupervised on one gives me the heebie jeebies. Sometimes i wonder if people even like their dogs.
 
Poor dog! He had a lucky escape there. It makes me sad when people seem so unconcerned about their dogs.

I have just started dropping the long line for our dog, in appropriate spaces. Or letting it trail with me still holding the end. The idea is to still do what I would want do if she were fully off lead to help training (ie always being in sight and not too far ahead or behind, walking next to me to go through gates or when we pass someone or can't see up ahead). Probably we won't ever do lots off lead in public places but it would still be nice to do the training and even when holding the line not rely on that only for control.
 
I walk my jrt on a long line and it's a godsend. She can have a run without fear of me loosing her if a hare appears. I am always attached to the end of it and under no circumstances would I let her near the horses on it. Its just common sense. I think they definitely have a place but as usual it's the daft owners causing the issues.
 
Agree it’s people without any common sense causing the problem, it’s a training aid to help keep your dog under control. If your dog isn’t under control whilst on it you shouldn’t be using one. Should be being used as the equivalent of a short lead around other dogs/horses/humans.

I also think that without exception, longlines/flexi leads should be attached to a harness, never ever a collar…
 
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