I just want to say I hate retractable leashes, for the most part. I used to use one in my own yard (large yard) when we didn’t have a doggie door (we didn’t have a fence then) to take the dogs out to potty. I also used to work part time in a pet specialty store and I would cringe when these ladies would come in, talking on their phones, and letting “junior” go all out on their leashes! InkMarie, we would definitely have the owner in one aisle and the dog in another. They would only pay attention if “junior” would knock product off shelves. And, of course, they wouldn’t offer to help pick up said merchandise. We also had the dog in another aisle doing its “business” and when we told the owner they’d say, “My dog did that?”! Whew…..I don’t miss any of that lol. I agree that the only place for retractables is in the middle of no where. I used to go to dog festivals in the summer and they would stop you before you entered the park if you had your dog on a retractable. They’d either ask you to use a borrowed leash from them or leave the park, yay! Of course these people were dog savvy. I also still have the one I used to use in the yard somewhere in all my dog paraphernalia.
Btw, to the poster……this is not intended to offend anyone, but please reconsider getting a vest that says “working dog in training”. Your dog isn’t really that, and the people that seriously need vests like these for their dogs get flak quite a lot because people don’t trust that their dogs are truly what they are, sort of like the handicap parking permits that sometimes get misused. When those who don’t really need them take advantage it hurts those who do. For lots of stories about this go to http://www.dogster.com and look under the service/therapy dog section. Again, I’m not saying this to offend anyone. I have Therapy dogs and sometimes people I know will try to get me to take them places using their vests that I know they shouldn’t go….I decline because it just wouldn’t be right.
