Different Types of Dog Leashes
So, how can you decide to choose a leash and abandon the other? Yes, it is according to your dog. In this section, I am not speaking about the quality of the leashes but instead talking about general types of leashes that we can summarize in the following list:
- Standard flat leash: The most common one that almost every owner buys. It comes with a clasp at the end to attach it to your dog’s collar or harness and generally between 4 and 8 feet long. You should choose it in 80% of the situations, most common of them when you are sure that your dog is well trained to move beside you as this leash can slip easily from your hand if you were surprised by a running dog…
- Bungee and stretchable rubber leashes: These leashes have pros and cons. The first one is the reduce stress on the leash because they are stretchable, so they will attract the dog towards you whenever he pulls. Making it easy for older or young people to walk their dogs as the leash will be very helpful. However, from a training point of view, all the trainers will tell you never to buy such a leash as you have to train your dog to move beside you instead of just trying to buy some aids.
- Gentle leader headcollar: Uhhh, do I really have to speak about those leashes? Well, they’re the worst. Forgive me, but these leashes are treating dogs very bad. The theory of this leash is that you should put your leash around the dog’s muzzle that he will look like a horse wearing his harness, and whenever he tugs you, he won’t be able to breathe. It is self-reinforcing, and eventually, your dog unlearns pulling the leash. I am sorry, guys; I am against this. Most of the time, when you see a dog wearing this thing, try to be out of his way as he most likely will be very aggressive due to the stress on him (and his walk isn’t lovely at all).
- Harness lead: The harness lead is one rope designed to be formed around the chest area as a harness, and the rest of it will be its leash. The leash helps to direct the pressure towards the dog’s chest instead of his neck, which can be useful. It gets tightened more and more whenever the dog tries to pull on the leash. However, it is not the best leash in everyday life, but it is considered one of the best leashes in Agility Training or competition training.
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Slip lead (NOT FOR EVERYONE): Slip lead is for training purposes, and it is not intended for long time usage. Please, reread what I have just said carefully again!
The slip leash acts the same as Harness lead, but instead, is formed around the neck, not the chest. Making your dog cough whenever he pulls, and he has to stop pulling as this hurts his neck. While this may be good for old-school training (which I hate), however, it is intended to be used during training sessions only, not for an everyday walk. -
Retractable leash: While this leash is beautiful, I am not recommending it. The Retractable Leash is a leash of which you control the length — making it very long or very short if needed. While this may seem the best choice for all dogs instead of letting them off-leash, for example, this leash doesn’t give you full control over your pet, which risks your both lives.
The mechanism of this leash works as follow, you have a button in it that you can allow the leash to have a variable length according to where the dog can go and when you need to return the dog back, you press the button twice (The first one to stop the leash from increasing its length, second one to reverse its direction -decreasing the length-). So your dog can come closer. The problem is in surprises; you need to do it very fast with no mistake! Otherwise, your dog can already quarrel with another dog, and you still can’t grab him. That’s why I don’t recommend it unless you trust your quickness.
What Is a Good Leash?
A good leash is basically a leash that you can depend on. A lot of leashes get really rapped off from the first walk, and we all know how hard it is to grab a dog who is playing in the mud without a leash. A good leash also must be suitable for any environment, no matter how muddy, witty, or hard it is.
Good Leash VS Cheap Bad Leash?
So why should you worry about buying a good leash when you can really buy a 10$ one and still have your dog attached to you in some way?
Well, you can buy a very bad cheap quality leash and still have your dog connected to you. However, if your dog saw a squirrel and decided that he must run after it right now, will you be confident and sure that the leash will be trusted not to be cut off easily?
That’s why you should worry about the leashes you buy because it matters, especially when your dog isn’t trained to come back to you when he runs
With no further discussions, let’s start to look at our top leash in 2021! However, the leash aren’t ranked from the best to the worst, all of them are great, and they are in random order! No company is better than the other!
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