[Suburban Gal]

“…but I’m sorry I can’t in all good faith recommend a retractable leash, especially to a larger dog like yours. I feel they can be a danger to the owner and dog. One just does not have the control over the dog with these kinds of leashes. Better control is achieved with regular leather 6ft. leashes, imho.” – Mom2Cavs

I’m sorry you feel this way.

While a regular 6 FT leash always does offer the best control, there’s no reason why one can’t have really good control of their dog, regardless of size, on a retractable leash.

I’ve walked German Shepherds on retractables and have never had any problems using them on German Shepherds and, as you know, German Shepherds are 80+ LB dogs.

I’ve also used them on my Keeshonden, a medium-sized spitz breed from Holland that weighs between 30 and 60 LBS, and I’ve never had any problems using them on my Keeshonden, especially White Paw as he was a very well-trained dog that knew how to listen and always do what he was told when he was told to do it.

If you have a dog like White Paw that’s exceptionally trained via formal training or a dog like Lexi, my last German Shepherd, that acts well enough without all the formal training, then there should never be any concern over using a retractable leash.

It’s all about how well your dogs behave on a leash or how well you make your dogs behave on a leash, as is currently the case with Gizmo who’s NEVER really been on a leash prior to his adoption.