Perfect Leash?

I hate walking my dogs on leash.  I avoid it whenever possible and try to make it as comfortable an experience as possible.

My leash from Ruffwear goes a long way in making things better - you can clip it around your waist and walk hands free - love it!  And when Coulee pulls, she isn't pulling my arm out of it's socket, she is just tugging around my waist.

Retractable leashes drive me nuts.  If the dog is out far, you can't reel them in when you need to.  Your dog can very quickly get tangled around several objects in the blink of an eye.  You can't loop anything around your wrist so if you slip on the ice and fall you will drop the leash and the dog will be running free (which happened while I was dog walking a client's dog - thankfully the dog didn't actually go anywhere other than over to lick my face). And I always wished you could let the leash do it's thing but to be able to set a maximum length - i.e. - you are crossing a field, you can let the dog go to the full length, but when you are crossing the street, you can set the maximum to 6 ft.

With short dogs, I find keeping a regular leash the right tension so that they don't step over the leash and become tangled is a very fine line. Their short little legs don't give you a lot of leeway here so I can see the benefits of a retractable. A retractable leash always has a bit of pressure so that it doesn't droop down for the dogs to get tangled. I've always wondered why no one has designed a 6 ft leash or a way to adjust the maximum length.  And finally someone has.  And they've got a thing for your wrist too!

PS - I found out about this from Phetched.com.  A GREAT source for different dog products.