I have been a professional dog walker for over three years. In that time, I have taken at least 5,000 walks (probably more) with a variety of breeds. Before my dog walking career, I was a Humane Educator, an Intake Counselor, an Adoption Counselor and an Animal Care Technician at a local animal shelter. The stories I heard there combined with my own research and my experiences have all led me to not trust retractable leashes. This is why I, as a professional dog walker, will always bring along at least two standard leashes in order to avoid ever having to use a retractable leash.
Below are the details of why I will not use a retractable leash.
The Handle
This is the portion of the leash with which I have the most problems. I walk lots of dogs, one right after the other, in all sorts of weather. This means I'm sometimes wearing gloves, my hands get sweaty, I'm often covered in dog slobber, I have many keys to deal with, I might be walking two or three dogs at a time, I have to pick up poop, etc, etc, etc.
The hand that's holding the retractable leash cannot do much more than hold the leash. With a regular leash, I can loop the end around my wrist and still use my hand knowing that the dog is secured. With a retractable, if I need to use that hand for any reason, I have to put the handle of the leash down or shove it insecurely under my arm or in a pocket. Either of those options are tempting fate. (And by "fate", I'm referring to the distractible nature of dogs. Oh look! A squirrel!)
The handle can be difficult to hold. If it gets wet from sweat, slobber or rain, that plastic becomes slippery. If I'm wearing gloves, my grip is not going to be as secure on the plastic as it is when I have a nylon leash. If the dog starts pulling, I don't have as strong of a hold on that big hunk of plastic as I do with a regular leash that I can wrap around my hand, something you do not want to do with a retractable leash.
The handle, if dropped, can frighten the dog. That plastic can make a loud sound on concrete or brick. It is probably not going to be very loud if it lands on grass, but it might thump against a tree or something and startle the pup. On one of my walks, I actually saw this following scenario happen:
A small older lady was bent over picking up poop when her Silky Terrier spotted me coming with the Shiba Inu I was walking. The Silky got overly excited and lunged towards us. The woman almost fell over and dropped the leash. The sound of the plastic hitting the pavement scared the Silky. She ran off getting more and more upset as the leash bounced after her. We were, fortunately, on a street that had little traffic. I was able to grab the leash as the Silky ran past and returned her to the woman who was in a panic. This whole scenario could have ended much worse.
The Retraction Button
The problem I have with the button is that it does not always work and, when it does, it is a pain to regulate. I understand that the idea behind the Retractable Leash is that it gives the dog the opportunity to roam. I am all for a dog being able to run around and roam while in a yard or at a dog park but not while on a walk. On the rare occasions when I have had to use a retractable leash, I locked the leash at a certain length so that the pup would not end up in traffic or under a bush with who knows what other critters.
Unfortunately, locking it can cause another problem. With it locked, the leash is slack and if the dog comes back towards me, s/he can then wrap it around me. I have been fortunate and have not received an injury from a leash wrap. Others have not been so lucky and have sustained rope burns, lacerations and even amputations. (Please refer to the articles I have linked below.*)
Another problem occurs when the button fails to work. This can be the fault of the manufacturer, the walker's finger either not compressing the button hard enough or slipping off of it or just a matter of regular wear and tear. Unlike the wear and tear on a standard leash, the mechanism for the button is in the plastic casing so it is not possible to see when it's getting worn down. No matter where the fault lies, the end result can be devastating. When I worked at the shelter, I heard different tales in which dogs got injured, and in one case died, because the button failed to work. In one of the stories, two dogs got into a fight when the walkers thought they were far enough away from each other but the dog on the retractable leash managed to snap the button and suddenly had a lot more leash to work with. Another owner had tried to lock the leash as the dog ran after a squirrel. The leash just kept spooling out despite the lock button being pressed and the dog was hit by a car and died as his owner watched not five feet away still holding that leash.
The Leash Itself
As I mentioned earlier, the leash wrapping around you can lead to rope burns, lacerations and amputations. Retractable Leashes will often have this warning, or something similar, on the plastic casing:
This, by itself, makes me not want to use that leash. The unfortunate thing is, since they put this warning on the leash, the manufacturer can say that you're at fault because your dog was uncontrollable. But even the best dogs, like people, have bad days and bad things happen. I will always do my best to minimize the potential for things going wrong. If that means I have to carry around extra leashes, then I carry around extra leashes.
I am around more dogs and more dog situations than most people and that is why I wrote this. I feel that everyone should be informed about the hazards of retractable leashes. I am including *four articles that explain the hazards of using retractable leashes:
