A Guide to the Best Dog Leashes

A reliable leash is a necessity for all dog owners, needed from the moment your new dog comes home. This is because the leash plays a vital role in the safety, security, and training of your dog. In most places, a dog leash is a legal requirement when you are out with your pet in public places, and for good reason: for many dogs the leash is the only barrier to prevent running off, and in a training setting the leash helps communicate through pressure and allow the dog handler to maintain control over the situation.

With all the uses for dog leashes, it comes as no surprise that different types will serve better for some dogs and some situations. You will find a wide range of different dog leashes on the market, all with pros and cons of their own.

Standard Dog Leashes

The one leash we always recommend at Lugaru K9 Training is the standard leash or flat leash. Standard leashes have stood the test of time for good reason. They are the most common type of dog leash, ideal for everyday use and all levels of training for your dog. These basic leashes are usually 6-foot strips of nylon, leather, chain, or braided material that offer a loop grip at one end and a clasp attached to the collar through the other end of the leash.

The reason that the standard flat leash is recommended over most other types is that they are reliable, no-nonsense tools that are lightweight and easy to manage. They’re ideal for pressure-and-release training, as it’s easy to intuitively control leash pressure in a manner as fine-tuned as flicks of the wrist.

Changing your grip on the leash allows you to quickly adapt to any new situation, and the fixed length and tension allows you to actually regain control of any situation gone haywire like lunging, flight responses, and having to maneuver around tight quarters and sticky situations.

Retractable Dog Leashes

This type of leash has a nylon cord that you can extend to any length you want within the given range. It also has a lock mechanism in its plastic handle which allows you to set the desired length of the leash.

We almost never recommend flexis and other types of retractable leashes, for a host of reasons.

Firstly, retractable leashes are unreliable, and can be easily broken; once the lock feature is damaged, your dog will have full reign over the maximum distance allowed by the leash. When that happens, it can take a very long time to manually reel the dog back in, and by that point it can be too late to respond.

Retractable dog leashes are also a potential hazard to your dog’s safety in the case that the handler accidentally drops the leash while in retractable mode. In this situation, a standard leash will simply fall to the ground where it can be picked up quickly. But if you drop a flexi, the leash will still retract, and the handle portion will zip towards the dog. This can scare dogs at best, but dogs can in fact be injured by this, especially small dogs.

From a training perspective, retractable dog leashes also give the average pet dog way too much freedom. In a trained dog like the ones who come out of our training programs, this can be a non-issue; we work with our client dogs with the goal of them being reliable on any tool, not just the ones we prefer. But in a dog that isn’t trained to the same standards, or isn’t quite as far along in that training, this can have very serious consequences on both the training and the dog’s immediate safety.

That said, it’s really not that retractable leashes are useless; that’s really not the case at all. In reality, it’s very similar to harnesses, in that they are both tools designed for specific situations. Where the harness was designed with sledding and carting in mind, the retractable leash was designed with retrieving in mind, so that hunters could stay linked with their dogs while training and working a retrieve.

At Lugaru K9 Training, we use flexi leashes and long lines for recall training, perimeter training, and other situations where we may need to temporarily allow a dog a little more freedom while working them on reliability. They’re also quite handy for potty breaks in safe spots, or if your dog doesn’t yet recall reliably.

Bungee Leashes

Bungee leashes started rising up over the last several years as a band-aid to cover the issue of unwanted pulling in dogs. The bungee leash is typically a nylon or similar fabric with an elastic portion that allows some give. The train of thought is that this give will soften the pressure on a dog when it begins to pull, thus lessening the stress on both the dog and the owner.

This is true to an extent, but because this is a band-aid and doesn’t address the pulling behavior itself, dogs will continue to pull and stretch the elastic until it is worn out, which puts the situation back where it began. I can’t even count the number of times I’ve seen dogs walking on bungee leashes with the leash being pulled and stretched to its maximum length, making the feature kind of useless.

Additionally, bungee leashes also pose a similar concern that flexi leashes do: giving a dog too much freedom before it is earned. This elastic leash can make it difficult to regain and maintain control of a hairy situation, and can put dogs in potentially dangerous situations.

However, like the flexi leash, the bungee leash isn’t without its place. Bungees are great for exercising with dogs and doing activities where you could use a little give in the leash to allow for some forgiveness around change of pace and sudden stops. There are adapters for bungees to allow for hands-free jogging, biking, and more.

When deciding to use a bungee leash, be sure to select one with a non-elastic portion near the attachment point to the collar, so that you can quickly grab your dog in cumbersome or dangerous situations. And always make these decisions with the specific dog in mind, as some dogs (like those that pull excessively or have issues with reactivity) may not be ready for these activities.

Slip Leads

The slip dog leash has a loop at its end, which you can easily place around your dog’s neck. This leash gets tightened in an evenly-distributed fashion when pressure is placed on the leash from either end. A good slip lead will have a stop, which helps set the collar portion’s starting size and allows the slip lead to be placed “high and tight” behind the dog’s ears; this placement is ideal, because it avoids contact with the dog’s trachea and provides the greatest level of control over the dog’s head.

Slip leads are going to be most common in veterinary offices and animal shelters, where the easy-on-easy off and control of the dog’s head is very important. That said, a high-quality slip lead can also be appropriate for daily use with many dogs, as they tick a lot of the boxes of what we recommend in a leash and in a training tool.

Remember that when using a slip lead, the dog should still have a flat collar or other gear to carry their identification even though the leash has its own collar built-in.

Our recommendation is to always have a slip lead on hand, even if you walk your dog on different tools. From leashes breaking to encountering stray and off-leash dogs, it’s really a great tool to have in your toolkit, whether that is for a primary leash or just for emergencies. Slip leads have come in handy in many situations for me in the past (I’ve even reunited some dogs with their owners because I had a slip lead on me) , and I continue to carry an extra in my pack to this day.

Choosing Materials

At Lugaru K9 Training, we almost always recommend a simple standard dog leash with a length of 4 or 6 feet, depending on the size of the dog. But even amongst standard dog leashes, there are a lot of different materials and options available, and each has its benefits and drawbacks. The most common materials used to make standard or “flat” dog leashes are fabric, leather, chain, and reflective or braided variations of all.

Nylon:

 Nylon leashes are considered the “standard” of standard dog leashes. Nylon leashes are solid and durable, and they are the most economical to buy. Generally speaking, they are easy to clean, fairly durable, lightweight and comfortable in the hand, and you can go for just about any color, pattern, or design of your choice.

The downside of nylon is that it is not the most durable of leash material options. Dogs can easily damage nylon leashes in just a few moments of chewing, which can be a real issue if your dog is a heavy chewer or a leash-biter.

However, nylon leashes are great for most dogs starting out in training because, despite their only moderate durability, they are incredibly affordable to replace and even repair if need-be.

Rope and Rolled Fabric

Rope leashes are very similar to nylon leashes in that they are usually made of fabric and have the same general pros and cons, with few exceptions. In a rope or rolled leash, that fabric is formed into exactly what it sounds like: a rope.

This structure makes the leash generally more durable than a standard nylon leash, but it also causes the leash to sit a little different in the hand, and can be more difficult to loop for a one-handed grip.

However, a rope or rolled fabric leash is still going to be lightweight, and will usually soften with regular use.

Leather

Leather leashes are classic and long-lasting; however, they are a bit pricey because of their source material and general quality. Leather leashes are my personal favorite, as they have outstanding durability and feel very comfortable in the hand. They’re pliable enough to loop for a one-handed grip very easily, and they aren’t easily damaged by chewing and daily wear. I have leather leashes for my personal dogs that I’ve had for years, and they are still in the same general shape as the day I got them. Leather has more natural traction than nylon and rope, so you can have a really firm grip on the leash without slipping if you use a leather leash for your dog.

While leather is durable and long-lasting, it’s not without its drawbacks. Leather needs to be maintained in order to stay in good shape; this consists of cleaning the leather on an as-needed basis, oiling if the leather becomes dry or brittle, and waxing to protect your investment. I use the same products on my leather leashes that I do on my leather dog training shoes.

This maintenance is really not very taxing, and how much attention you’ll need to give your leather dog leash really depends a lot on the kind of wear it’s experiencing day-to-day. Back in my days of walking dogs for a living, I’ve had otherwise good-quality leather leashes full-on snap on me because the dog had been chewing it, causing it to get brittle over time. If that same leash had gotten a little TLC, I think it could have lasted much, much longer.

Chain

Metal chain leashes look very trendy; you see them a lot on bully breeds and other “tough” dogs. Style aside, there’s a practical reason you might see chain leashes on strong dogs: metal is the toughest material you can find for a leash.

Chain dog leashes are popular because of their durable and sturdy material. You will find chain leashes of different weights and sizes, and some with nylon or leather braided in. Keep in mind your dog’s breed and its weight when selecting the length of this chain leash. Ensure that you choose them for heavier dogs because they are not suitable for small puppies and toy dogs because of the added weight. The weight also makes them less ideal for pressure-and-release training, because it adds that extra pressure onto the collar at what should be “neutral,” i.e. no tension at all.

Be that as it may, dogs with a habit of chewing their leash will be the most ideal candidates for a chain leash because it eliminates the possibility of a leash-biter or chewer breaking free from their leash. Please make sure you still constantly monitor your dog when using a chain leash; it’s easy to think that choosing the sturdiest material will mean the least supervision, but that’s really not the case. Chain leashes are generally less comfortable and less pleasurable for dogs to chew on, and it may temporarily “band-aid” a leash chewing or biting issue, but excessively biting or chewing the hard material may cause damage to a dog’s teeth. Supervision and addressing the behavior is still required.

Which dog leash is best for my dog?

With so many options available, dog owners are often undecided about buying a dog leash. Our professional recommendation is that if you are looking for a dog leash for regularly walking your dog, then the best option to consider is to select a standard 6-foot dog line made with either nylon or leather material. If your dog is particularly strong or has habits that make the training process difficult or more risky, other options are available. There is nothing wrong with having more tools in the toolbox, so you can always pick the best one for any situation.

Which dog leash, or combination of, do you use for your dogs? Let us know in the comments!