Types of Dog Leashes

When it comes to dog walking, our furry little friends can be a... handful… literally. You’ve got to feed them, clean them and walk them!

Big or small, all dogs need a walk every now and then, some daily. And as owners, we love to do it but dogs don't always make it easy. Wouldn't it be nice if they could walk beside us without the need of any equipment? Ah yes, the dream of every dog owner but alas this is not the case. We all need a leash.

Almost every dog owner or walker uses a leash. Very rarely will you see a dog being walked without a leash and generally we, at Pawsitive Steps Forward, don’t recommend it no matter how much you trust your dog, especially in busy areas. You never know what anyone is thinking let alone a dog and in the blink of an eye everything can change for you and dog forever. Do you really want that?

So to prevent that we have a few types of dog leashes we’d like to recommend to you

1. The Standard Dog Leash.

   
   
   

   

   You can find this dog leash in literally any pet store you go to. Its length is usually anywhere between 3 to 6 feet long sometimes longer depending on the store and purpose of the leash. If you're a new dog owner or beginner dog walker, this leash will likely be the first leash you get and for many dog owners, your last. The average dog leash is very well made with the purpose and goal in mind being simply for the owner to control their dog and keep the dog from going too far or running away.

   
   

2. The Retractable Dog Leash

   

   

   This leash has grown in popularity over the last decade because of its very easy looking design and nature. The concept is simple, instead of having on designated length that you must abide by, you can adjust the length on the fly. Some of the other positives of this leash is so that your dog doesn't have to feel like its getting yanked or snagged, instead they'll feel a much softer tug backwards. And while the concept is generally sound the practicality of it is piss poor. The retractable leashes I've seen all have pretty poor designs. They're bulky, so they're annoying to hold. You have to constantly be mindful of not letting the leash get too long because these leashes extend all the way to 16 feet for some weird reason. And they're overall very weak. Any dog over 30 lbs will likely break the leash if they're a tugger/puller personality dog. I don't recommend these!

   
   

3. Hands Free Leashes/Waist Leashes

   

   

   Now these leashes are for professionals or just people who want to keep their hands in their pockets. I personally use these exclusively because they are so easy to use, you simply strap them around your waist and connect it to your dog and your on. They also free up my hands so I can multitask things like making a call, eating some food etc. Another huge benefit of this is that the average person will find a much easier time handling and managing their dog's pulling and tugging while using these leashes because your dog has to pull your whole body instead of just your arm which has injured a lot of people since the dawn of time. Having your armed tugged furiously can cause some serious damage. If you have a big and strong dog and if you're a very light person (130 lbs or less) I may not recommend this leash as much because your weight is not enough to anchor the force of your dog. But even in that case there are still many handle assisted hands free leashes out there for people who still need to pull their dog to keep control

Those are the 3 main types of leashes to keep in mind. There are definitely variances between them like the double dog leash or rope leashes. In time you'll see those and maybe you'll like them better but for the most part all of you will likely end up with one of these 3.

If there are leashes you want added to the list please comment below and I'll gladly add them or at least consider them for another more in depth article on leashes. Thank you!