Choosing Your Dog Leash

It can be overwhelming, standing in an aisle in a pet store, trying to decide on the right dog leash for your best friend. Which size? Length? Leather or nylon? Or fabric? Studded or with rhinestones? The choices are nearly endless, especially if you are looking for a leash online. The purpose of this little guide is to help you decide!

First, do you want or need your dog leash to match your dog’s collar? If so, you’ll need to take this into consideration and possibly buy both as a set. There are so many sets available I couldn’t possibly go into each type here, but you can get sets made from anything from leather to nylon and everything in-between.

If you are obedience training your dog, you will want to choose a long, 30-foot-long dog leash. This will enable you to teach commands from a distance, like “come” and make sure you reinforce the action by tugging on the leash.

When walking your dog, you’ll need a different type of dog leash entirely. I suggest either a four-foot or six-foot leash. I do not advocate the flexible-type leashes (Flexi-Lead) as this does not actually teach your dog to stay with you, but lets them walk ahead of you, thereby showing their dominance over you. In training your dog, the length of the dog leash is important because you want to be able to keep your dog right by your side in order to teach commands like “sit” and “heel”.

The construction of the dog leash depends on what you’ll be doing with it. For a long training leash, nylon is a great choice because it is lightweight. Thirty feet of leather leash can be pretty heavy! But for a walking leash, leather might be the perfect choice for you. Sturdy and attractive, a leather leash will only get softer and more supple with age and use.

Make sure whatever dog leash you choose has quality hardware for the connection to the leash. By doing this, you’ll ensure that your dog won’t come loose from his collar while training or walking. Good luck!