Eextendable dog leads

The whole point of having dogs on leads is to keep them under control.

These extending dog leads are basically bits of string on a reel, and how much control do you have with a bit of string?

Besides, with a standard lead with a loop handle, if you need to exert a bit more leverage, you can slip the loop about your wrist and wind your hand round the lead so that it's not just your fingers that are taking the strain - how do you do that with a lump of moulded plastic?

Theoretically you can wind the lead in to bring the dog closer to you and more under your control, but that’s assuming that the dog doesn’t out-strength either the spring in the reel or the person that’s holding it!

I can remember walking with a friend who had a yapper-type dog on one of these leads: even though the lead was fully wound in, the dog was darting all over the place, in front of me, around me – more than once it almost had me over. Even though fully wound in, the lead [and the person holding it!] exerted about zero control over the dog.

And it’s even worse when you’re visually impaired!

I can see a person standing on one side of the pavement. I can see a dog at the kerb. But how am I expected to see the thin bit of string that’s linking them until I trip over it?

If you’re too fat or too lazy to run with a dog to exercise it properly, don’t have a dog!