Dog Lead Hazard - Grr!

clickrumble

Out last evening for a nice 20 mile ride around the lanes of East Hants. Was coming downhill along a lane and in front was a car parked on the left and a woman standing by it talking to the driver with her back to the road. Plenty of room for me to go past, so I thought, and I kept going at quite reasonable speed. When I was very close to the car I suddenly noticed that the woman was holding a thin dog lead, one of the sort that unwinds, the dog being on the opposite side of the road hidden in the undergrowth. You’ll be glad to know that I managed to stop and stay upright, so no injury to self or dog but I think I have 2 flat spots on my tyres now. I pointed out the woman that it was a highly dangerous situation, but was rather annoyed when she and the bloke in the car seemed to think the whole thing was amusing.

bompington

Better than the response when it happened to me one time (on a cycle path) - after pulling a quite impressive endo and stopping just as my front tyre touched the lead, I received a long, nasty, foul-mouthed and agressive rant from the owner. I was in Fife at the time, mind you.

EDIT - as a dog owner myself, I should point out that flexileads are a complete abomination. A dog either needs to be properly trained to walk to heel (without fail), in an environment where it is free to run, or on a short lead. There is absolutely no need, ever, for a long lead.

keef66

" as a dog owner myself, I should point out that flexileads are a complete abomination"

Ditto. Bloody dangerous things. If the dog's at the end of a 20 foot string and you suddenly need to reel it in like a salmon, the process takes too long. If you try to speed things up by hauling on the string itself you end up with friction burns.

Short lead or off lead, in both cases with the dog under control / supervision.

Don't think they'd have been laughing if you'd hit the lead and pulled the dog into your spokes / chainring

whoof

Highway code

No. 56 Dogs

Do not let a dog out on the road on its own. Keep it on a short lead when walking on the footway, footpath, road or path shared with cyclists or horse riders.

I walk dogs for the RSPCA and they do not allow these long wind-in leads as they are dangerous to both the dog and the person walking the dog. There have been instances of dog walkers having dislocated their shoulders when the dog sees something runs after it gets up a head of steam before coming to the end of the lead.

I love dogs but loath irresponsible dog owners but I also love cycling but loath irresponsible cyclists.

Chunky101

gone

sloppyschleckonds

Chunky101 wrote:

bompington wrote:

EDIT - as a dog owner myself, I should point out that flexileads are a complete abomination. A dog either needs to be properly trained to walk to heel (without fail), in an environment where it is free to run, or on a short lead. There is absolutely no need, ever, for a long lead.

Utter ****. And I suppose your children should be seen and not heard and any dog/child that fails to meet your standards of training should be euthanised?

Bloody hell

t4tomo

Chunky101 wrote:

bompington wrote:

EDIT - as a dog owner myself, I should point out that flexileads are a complete abomination. A dog either needs to be properly trained to walk to heel (without fail), in an environment where it is free to run, or on a short lead. There is absolutely no need, ever, for a long lead.

Utter ****. And I suppose your children should be seen and not heard and any dog/child that fails to meet your standards of training should be euthanised?

There speaks a man with a flexi lead who thinks hey are a good idea

sirmol

The long extendable leads have their uses - We have had many rescue dogs and all have been trained to recall using that lead. We have both - the lead is not the problem (as always) it is making sure the owners think about their surroundings and when they allow their dog to extend etc.

kajjal

Sirmol wrote:

The long extendable leads have their uses - We have had many rescue dogs and all have been trained to recall using that lead. We have both - the lead is not the problem (as always) it is making sure the owners think about their surroundings and when they allow their dog to extend etc.

I would agree it is down the owners and as in all things some are irresponsible or oblivious. I nearly got taken out by one on a wide track mountain biking, owner one side dog in bushes on the other. They tried to blame me but i just smiled and carried on.

Chunky101

gone

birdie23

whoof wrote:

There have been instances of dog walkers having dislocated their shoulders when the dog sees something runs after it gets up a head of steam before coming to the end of the lead.

That sounds incredibly painful!

bompington

Chunky101 wrote:

bompington wrote:

There speaks a man with a flexi lead who thinks hey are a good idea

Never said that, but I am a cyclist, motorist and dog owner. We all have a responsibility to use a little courtesy, intelligence and accountability when out and about. Not being in control of your dog by using an extending dog lead in the way described by the OP is irresponsible. Speeding on a cycle path shared with pedestrians and dog walkers is irresponsible. Claiming that all dogs must be trained to walk to heel without fail isn't irresponsible, it's just naive.

Neither did I, please learn how to use the quote function correctly.
In fact, please learn how to use an online forum correctly - I fear that you may have got the mistaken impression from the internet that "utter ****" is an effective way to open an argument, rather than being an effective way to make lots of readers jump to quite negative (and to be fair, perhaps erroneous) conclusions about your character.

byke68

I wish dog owners WOULD USE a coller & lead instead of letting them run about! Twice I've nearly come a cropper because of stupid owners letting their untrained mutts run wild.

zak3737

I'm a dog owner, and also an extendable lead user, and its rather naive of anyone to suggest that the 'extendable lead' is an abomination.
In actual fact, they're really good if you have a responsible dog. Dogs naturally want to sniff, and the long leads allow them to do that, and sure, I have to be able to trust my dog that he isnt gonna just run out in the road, and I'm careful when close to a road in that case.
Equally, when I'm away from any road, on Bridleways etc etc, he's off his lead, and always a reasonable distance from me, but comes to me at a simple whistle.
However, much as I'm all for MTB'ers rights to use Bridleways & Paths, I am getting pissed off at the idiots that come hurtling past me when the dog is in clear view, - assuming that he isnt going to suddenly turn into their path.
That insinuates that my concern is for them,.....which it isnt, and if one of them hits my hound in these circumstances, holy sh1t is gonna break out.

So - you see, there's irresponsible dog owners, and irresponsible cyclists....... I like to think I'm neither.

dabber

Zak3737 wrote:

So - you see, there's irresponsible dog owners, and irresponsible cyclists....... I like to think I'm both.

Did you mean to say that?

zak3737

lol - NO !! fingers didnt keep up with brain.......

dee4life2005

I do agree that those extendable dog leads are a bit dangerous when folk walk on cycle / shared-use paths. However, it's more the owner not being fully aware of their surroundings rather than the leads themselves. No different to us cyclists speeding along these same path not giving any consideration to pedestrians and these dog walkers.

Today I had a rather pleasant encounter with a dog walker, whom I'm assuming was a professional walker as they were out with nearly a dozen dogs and only 3 or 4 were on leads (of the extending variety). I could see them from a long way off and immediately thought "here we go" ... and started to slow down, but she was constantly looking about so saw me fairly quickly ... walked onto the grass at the side of the path and I'm assuming that she called on the dogs because they all came running over to her. Not a hint of hassle ... she thanked me for slowing down, and I thanked her for seeing me and moving to the side (although she didn't have to). Mutual respect ... as it should be.

Chunky101

bompington wrote:

Neither did I, please learn how to use the quote function correctly.
In fact, please learn how to use an online forum correctly - I fear that you may have got the mistaken impression from the internet that "utter ****" is an effective way to open an argument, rather than being an effective way to make lots of readers jump to quite negative (and to be fair, perhaps erroneous) conclusions about your character.

How's that? Perhaps if you'd gone to the trouble of looking at the tone of your own reply before you edited it you wouldn't have come across like a cunt in the first place. That rhymed with hunt by the way.

bompington

Chunky101 wrote:

bompington wrote:

Neither did I, please learn how to use the quote function correctly.
In fact, please learn how to use an online forum correctly - I fear that you may have got the mistaken impression from the internet that "utter ****" is an effective way to open an argument, rather than being an effective way to make lots of readers jump to quite negative (and to be fair, perhaps erroneous) conclusions about your character.

How's that? Perhaps if you'd gone to the trouble of looking at the tone of your own reply before you edited it you wouldn't have come across like a **** in the first place. That rhymed with hunt by the way.

I find this a quite remarkable attitude to take. Are flexileads an article of faith in your religion? Would you shoot someone who drew an offensive cartoon of one? Because that's the only reason why I could think anyone would get so wound up about it. Disagree if you like, better still make a well-argued case to the contrary, but I didn't actually insult your mother - just vented an opinion. About dog leads, FFS!

EDIT: or perhaps you're a Fifer? :twisted:

fenix

Didnt James Bond have a gizmo on his BMW for cutting things like dog leads ? We just need to get it adapted for bikes and voila - problem is over.

the_hundredth_idiot

I've got a flexi-lead for my dog.

I generally use a (shortish) fixed length which keeps him close at heel when walking along paths next to roads and the like. When in open areas, I usually let him off the lead altogether as he's well behaved.

Where the flexi-lead comes in useful is long country walks where I'm not certain what's around the corner - e.g. an unexpected field of sheep. In those situations, a flexi-lead means he still gets chance to have a bit of freedom and roam back and forth rather than having to match my pace, but without risk of a stupid mistake. Very few dogs are 100% reliable - why take the risk?

Lookyhere

The Hundredth Idiot wrote:

I've got a flexi-lead for my dog.

I generally use a (shortish) fixed length which keeps him close at heel when walking along paths next to roads and the like. When in open areas, I usually let him off the lead altogether as he's well behaved.

Where the flexi-lead comes in useful is long country walks where I'm not certain what's around the corner - e.g. an unexpected field of sheep. In those situations, a flexi-lead means he still gets chance to have a bit of freedom and roam back and forth rather than having to match my pace, but without risk of a stupid mistake. Very few dogs are 100% reliable - why take the risk?

^^^^ this, flexi leads have their place and it sounds like your my type of dog owner, unlike some who think fido is human and everyone should love him as much as they do.