an unfortunate incident

[Tuckervill]

Devil's advocate. I had two Jack Russells and used retractable leashes when I walked them (mostly in campground settings). I never allowed my kids to use them because they couldn't control the dogs the way I could. I paid attention to the stinkin' dogs! It was like a ballet, having those dogs on a leash. Retractable leashes are the only way I could walk those dogs. I never had any "incidents" with them, except for the time some stupid dog owner had their dog's leash attached to a FLIP FLOP and thought that would hold the dog down and their dog attacked mine!

Yeah, yeah, training and all that. Those dogs are gone and I have more sane dogs, now. Retractable leashes are only as good as the people using them. Properly used, they're fine.

Also, from a pedestrian's viewpoint on a gravel road, every car is fast--and has the potential to throw rocks at almost any speed. Also, the dust that is thrown up is terrible. Bikes throw rocks in gravel, too. The pedestrian only knows this, and doesn't know if the driver/cyclist is paying attention enough to stop in time, or if she is taking the pedestrian into account. It's a vulnerable feeling walking down a road when a big noisy thing comes along. I experience this myself, and it's an instinctual feeling, that vulnerability.

Karen

[Flur]

Retractable leashes are only as good as the people using them. Properly used, they're fine.

+1. There are no bad leashes, only bad owners.

We use our retractable leash to walk our mini dachshund on the MUT at the lake by our house. He gets excited by people and wants to run up to everyone to get petted (he knows he's cute!), so when the path is narrow I can retract it to it's lowest setting (2.5 feet approx.) and keep him close. When the path is wider I can set it at a normal leash length (4-6 feet), and when we get to a clearing we can pull off and romp in the grass with a longer leash. And all this without losing blood flow to my hand like I would with a regular leash wrapped around it. This leash is a godsend pretty much everywhere (not just the MUT) b/c 4-6 feet can be too much for such a little dog in tight areas, but in more open areas w/o people or dogs around we can give him the full 16 feet and let him run a bit (we don't have a yard so this is great for him).

That said, in MN most paths are divided into pedestrian only and bike/skate. Usually they are separate paths that run parallel to each other with grass in between, and the bike/skate paths almost always are either one way, or two paths parallel, each one way, or one path with marked lanes, and they're all marked with pictures of bikes and the direction arrows. So when I say I walk him on a MUT, it's the pedestrian/stroller/dog walker/jogger path next to the bike/skate path.