Dog Leashes
Essential item 8 of 10 brings us to dog leashes. Again, we’re listing the things we use just about every day and for the sake of organization we placed them in the order of when we use them during the course of an average day, not in terms of importance or any other ranking factor.
Even with the best-trained dog who exhibits absolute recall (no such thing; it doesn’t exist) a responsible pet parent will still need a dog leash. There are numerous laws and ordinances which require dogs to be restrained at all times, both in public and private places. A dog leash meets this requirement.
If you’re only going to buy one leash you really can’t go wrong with a standard six-foot, one-inch wide, nylon webbing with a metal clasp. It is what we use every day with our two dogs. However, when they were puppies we did start with a smaller and lighter version mostly to make sure the clasp wasn’t too heavy and a cumbersome burden attached to their collars. The same would be true if you have a smaller dog.
We also must confess that over the years we’ve owned many types and sizes of leashes. For training purposes many prefer a four-foot leash and some even utilize a dog leash at the 2-foot length to keep the dog close as it learns to move in close unison with your steps. We even have an exceptionally long dog leash at 30 feet we used during recall training. It allowed us to walk away from our dog but if she decided to run away it was a lot easier to catch.
While we prefer the one-inch nylon webbing type of dog leash for its superior strength-to-weight ratio, other popular materials include leather, rope, and paracord. Leather leashes are cool but they do tend to be the heaviest and careful attention and care must be maintained to make sure they don’t get wet and then dry out and become brittle and cracked. With rope leashes, we really like the ones made of the rope rock climbers use. It’s very strong and also non-abrasive. Paracord is that really awesome nylon roping used in parachutes. The individual strands are typically the size of shoelaces and the manufacturers weave them together for increased strength and comfort in handling.
Whichever size or materials you select, the most important factors to consider on any dog leash are the two ends – the clasp and the handle.
The clasp should be metal and the eyelet big enough to quickly and easily attach to the D-ring on any collar or harness. Bolt Snaps are the most common type where you slide the opening down with a lever on the side and it is returned in place by a spring in the shaft. We don’t particularly trust this type of design and have seen far too many either wear out on the spring or have too much play in the bolt which allows whatever it is clasped to break free. Plus, the requirement of having to use your thumb to keep it open when attaching or detaching can prove cumbersome. We’ve been using the quick-release type of closure seen in the picture. It quickly attaches to the D-ring by pressing down against it, and opening it back up is an easy-to-do press against the clasp to create the opening.
The handle of the dog leash should be a dedicated loop that you don’t need to manually separate to create a hole for your hands or fingers. We mean its natural, resting state should still be open and not have the sides of the loop resting against one-another. You’ll want it big enough to accommodate your entire hand, even with winter gloves on, but not so big it can easily fall right back off again. While we don’t regularly hold the leash around our wrist, it is convenient to be able to do so when you need access to both hands (fumbling for a poop bag, operating your cell phone, using your door keys, etc). Also very important is the handle of the dog leash needs to be comfortable to hold. This is where the width of the straps and maybe any padding, like we cover in the dog harness and collar reviews, are key factors. Just like we speak about how the increased pressure exhibited by narrow straps on your dog with their collar or harness can be a painful or even dangerous experience, the handle will be applying pressure against your fingers. So unless you have a tiny dog who never pulls, we recommend a leash with the strap at least one-inch wide. And if the strap isn’t wide, or doesn’t have padding (ours don’t), at the very least make sure it is smooth and non-abrasive. It’s going to rub a lot against your hands and fingers and you don’t want it rough and scraping.
Finally, a couple of extra nice features, while not necessary may be useful can include the addition of reflective material or smaller additional clasps near the handle. If you often walk your dog in the early mornings or evenings being extra-visible in headlights is not a bad thing (or if you do drop the dog leash and you’re chasing them with a flashlight, etc). The smaller additional clasps up near the handle can also prove useful for attaching the poop bag or even treats while training.
