Flexi leads...

lottiepony

lottiepony

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Personally hate them find them a bit lethal in the wrong hands etc etc Anyway I may have to sin and buy one as my lovely mother who dog sits occasionally for me worries about letting Ruby off lead on walks. She lives in the country and Ruby is very good off lead and will come to call etc but mum is just such a worrier lol Think it could be best option for her though as she feels bad keeping her on her lead as knows she loves a good run about unless you lot have any amazing ideas! I've tried telling her not to worry but she wont have any of it lol oh and just looked online and had no idea how expensive they were!!:eek:
 
Hypocritical I know, I don't like them but I use one for my young dog, but never near a road and the dog responds to voice commands from a distance and it is shortened for passing people, other dogs, horses etc. Mine is an 8m tape one and it was about £15 off Amazon.
 
I have one and use it responsibly. Get one that is tape all the way down, don't get the ones that have a little bit of string for about a metre nearest the clip thats clicks to collar, and get one that the maximum weight is more than your dog just to be as safe as possilble.
 
Ditto the above, they are fine if used sensibly and never near roads. There was a post on fb only this weekend from someone who saw a dog on the end of a flexi at full length run into the road in front of a car. Luckily, the dog only suffered a broken leg but plenty have been killed. I have heard of several cases where the lock has failed so keeping them locked short on roads is obviously not 100% safe.
 
I use them daily to exercise boarders & foster dogs and have never had a brake fail nor had one snap. I have had the tape ones twist and fail to reel in so only use the line ones and on a buckle collar with the safety loop. I use a size up from recommended.
I also have wrist loops on the handles so I can use two hands without putting the handle down.

I would only ever use a Flexi branded one. Some of the knock offs are dangerous.

Like all tools they are good if used properly but can be unsafe in the hands of idiots.
 
I loathe them on principle because so many people use them wrongly but in practice use one daily - only ever on the dog that reliably responds to voice commands, not the puller, and I use the Flexi Giants that are all tape and with a very strong brake.

I don't like them used on collars but the flexi/harness combo gives probably the least control over a dog so probably good that more people don't do that. :p
 
I use one every day. I "lock" it at a short length when walking on the road and when joggers or other dogs are around in case she trips someone up. Despite years of lunging horses very successfully, I have never cracked using a lunge line with her and like that I don't have to reel her in to shorten the lead.
 
IMHO the cord ones should be banned as one nearly garrotted my dog as she run into it (she could not see it) and I have seen some nasty wounds to owners legs caused by dogs running round the owners. The tape ones have a place with certain dogs but never on the roads.
try www.pawstrading.co.uk their prices are good and delivery is free
 
Sorry . . . hate them . . . IMHO they're dangerous and unnecessary . . . and too often to be found in the hands of people who don't know how to use them properly.

P
 
My old dog was attacked by a dog on a flexi lead in our local woods yesterday. The lead was so long the owner had no control. The dog had free rein to grab my dog by her neck, shake her and then turn her over and pin her to the ground, when the owner got her dog away mine was unable to weight bear on her hind leg and was shaking uncontrollably. So no I'm not a fan.
 
Used to use one for my little madam but found it lethal especially when i dropped it and grabbed it by the cord as a quick reaction!!!!

Now i use a lung line, shes walked on a halti so i have full control and exercise her on private land, she is an asbo with other dogs and has very poor recall. :(

xx
 
Hate them! Hate their owners! :D Had two of my oldies out today in a local park as they don't require too much strenuous exercise anymore. Was heading home to the car, so clipped them on the leash, summited a hill (20 foot from gate to road) and saw woman with young adolescent husky on flexi waving madly to friend in distance, totally oblivious of the woman with a border collie who was doing her damndest to keep it focussed on a ball and avoid! Husky then lunges over to BC .....about 15 yards away.....and drags the owner right over to it!!!! :eek:

Not sure what the exchange was, but BC owner and dog go off in one direction and Husky bod comes towards me where there is a confluence of paths. So I shout out 'Hi...which way are you going?' She points to the right, BUT keeps coming straight towards me with Husky boinging up and down. I say 'OK., but can you keep your dog away from mine whilst on leash please?' (The one has bad arthritis in the spine and if bumped, jumped on or knocked it hurts him and he, very reasonably then gets a bit grumpy and will tell the 'offender' off. ) 'Oh mine's on leash too!' she replies!!! 'Didn't stop you getting dragged over to the BC though did it?' says I! :rolleyes:

Cue profanities from her, which were totally unnecessary.
 
blackcob said:
I don't like them used on collars but the flexi/harness combo gives probably the least control over a dog so probably good that more people don't do that. :p
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What is the problem with a flexi lead and harness?? I use the lead and harness daily with my small terrier as she has no recall and so cannot be allowed off lead and have never had a problem.
 
Flexi leads have their place, but I prefer the control given by a long training lead (the sort with a clip at each end and two rings along the length of the lead) as you can shorten or lengthen it depending on circumstances. Great for control, and long enough so that you can put a loop round your body as a 'brake' on really big pulling dogs, as well as clip-fastening the dog to convenient trees/posts/benches when necessary.

Not as expensive as flexis either.
 
CazD said:
What is the problem with a flexi lead and harness?? I use the lead and harness daily with my small terrier as she has no recall and so cannot be allowed off lead and have never had a problem.
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You've never flown 'Air Husky', clearly :p :p :p

With a big strong dog that pulls, or even a small dog that pulls, the harness attaches to the strongest part of the dog and all you have to control it is a lump of plastic in your hand.
 
Wot CC said. :p

No good for big/strong/pulling dogs and the most useless thing ever for a reactive version of any of those, you're anchored to the strongest part of the dog with nothing but a thin line and a lump of plastic while the snappy snarly head end is free to lunge and snake about as it pleases.

I am a hypocrite because I walk one of mine on a harness and flexi or lunge line daily but after lots of work she is no longer any of those things. :)
 
The best ever was the Dalmation with a flexi attached to a halti. Way to break your dog's neck.... I would have said something, but I was too busy bleeding after the dratted thing wrapped around my bare leg and made a creditable attempt at sawing it off:eek::rolleyes:
 
*hangs head in shame* I now use one on demon terrier as he has no recall when he sees another dog. His is on a harness but he's only little so controllable in that sense. He's also muzzled as he's not adverse to having a lump out of other dogs (Can you see why I have to hang my head in shame??:o)

I always swore I wouldn't use them as I've seen horses trip over them and the damage they do when they get tangled around people/other animals but I just couldn't handle a long line due to horrible, mucky people not picking up after their dogs and the line trailing through poop!
 
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