Most of you know that I am a gear girl; but, my gear has to be quality and useful. Poor quality is just garbage, useless; and sadly much of the stuff that is sold is just that, garbage. So onto leashes, I love a good leash and I hate bad leashes, I will elaborate.
A leash is not just a leash
I have a lot of leashes, let me just put that out there. For me there are different requirements for a leash; most being length but some a difference in material. My favorite leashes are mostly cotton webbed unless I am walking in the rain and then it is nylon. I have been using cotton web leashes for a very long time; but again they must be of good quality. They must also be wide enough, anything under 5/8” is too narrow, at least for me.
My issue with most nylon leashes is that they can slip through your hand and can cause injury or pain. It can also be difficult to hang onto a nylon leash with a big strong dog. If you are going to go with nylon then choose a shorter leash with a padded handle like the Frontrange one I use from Ruffwear that I love and use often. It is 5’ long and has a padded main handle and a second one midway down the leash.
The length
My leash length preference is a person thing. Just today I took Elsa and Riggs around the lake. It is a beautiful, spacious area to walk the dogs and they must be leashed. There are other folks walking there so I like my guys to be fairly close. I do not like reigning in and out a ton; plus I do not like to have a surplus of leash to deal with.
Leash length preference
Walking where there are lots of other people and dogs - 4.5 feet 3/4” wide
Less people and able to let my guys stretch their legs - 6 feet 5/8” wide
A handful of people walking where my guys still have
to be leashed but can be further away from me - 10 feet 5/8” wide
Any longer than 10 feet should be reserved for training purposes. Extension leashes? Don’t even get me started on those useless things. More on extension leashes in the next blog.
Our dogs have to be leashed for much of their lives; a leash should not be a burden for us to hang onto and walk our dogs with. All leashes are different and I’ve been through a lot.
Hows your leash game?
You can find all my favorite stuff on my products page.