Flexis

[Lucy & Yogi]

I love my flexis, especially for long walks in areas like conservation areas and hiking trails where the dogs must be leashed, as they do allow the dogs to sniff and act like dogs without walking right beside me the whole time - but I have found that I need to replace them after about a year.

I used the tape ones first - I like the visibility of the webbed lead, and it is much gentler on exposed skin if/when it gets wrapped around my leg. However, as someone else mentioned, in the snow they get wet and frozen and don't retract well. All that moisture going inside with the webbed lead also rusts out the spring (who actually drapes out a wet leash to dry overnight before retracting it?) resulting in an ineffective retraction. After the leash is dead they do make good tie outs for the (unfenced) front yard if someone is out gardening with me, or long training leashes - just crack open the case and cut out the webbed lead inside. They're also good for hanging bird feeders, tie downs on the truck, camping, lines for stringing canoes through shallow water etc - strong enough and have that convenient clip on the end to make removal easy!

Now I use the cord ones and they last a bit longer, retract better in bad weather and are lighter and smaller to carry - two flexis in one hand is not easy with the bulky handles. They are also a bit less expensive, which is nice when they are being replaced annually. The spring inside that makes it retract smoothly tends to get stretched out and less effective after a year - I need to be able to reel the dogs back in and don't trust a Flexi that isn't working properly. Also, dog fur gets wrapped around the line and causes jams - these can be pulled off if they come back out of the case on the line, but I'm sure there's a fair bit of berner fur inside the case too!

Jen
Cessi and Tucker