WARNING...Lucy's Flexi lead broke

We have only had Lucy's flexilead since June 06. She was 4 months then and is now 13 months weighing 17.5 lbs. The lead is supposed to do for dogs up to 26 lbs. It is a standard 8 metre (cord not tape) flexi size 1. The cord broke off where it joins the tape that goes to the dog clip.

We always use an ordinary standard lead near roads thankfully so we were using the flexi in a "semi-safe" situation in the country, just letting her have a run but still keeping her on lead. Scary but of no danger to her in this instance.

Just warning anyone who uses Flexis to be aware of the risk in case they use them near roads. For total security you can't beat the conventional webbing leads..... in my opinion.

I shall take it back to Pets At Home tomorrow as I still have the receipt and they are supposed to be guaranteed for 12 months. I do still want to use flexis but may get one that is for medium dogs and therefore stronger, or maybe one that is all tape rather than cord.

Has anyone else had a similar experience?

Kodee...you are so right. It was probably a one-off ocurrence but a warning to ME and maybe others to do a routine check, maybe aim to do it on a weekly basis, of all the equipment I take for granted.

Our darling doglets are worth that extra care. I shall not take things so much for granted from now on.

I've read of sevral cases like yours.There was a thread on Dogpages where people were of their bad experiences with them. Many like me, have had hands cut and some dogs have been injured when the chord has got snagged and pulled tight across the their legs. others had cases of the mechanism locking , so they couldn't controlthe dog as they wished, luckily not in adverse conditions.

Also the Flexis that are not really Flexis but knock-offs from some other manufacturers (Lidl often sells such 'no name' flexis) are said to have a higher incidence of breakage.

They are just so risky near traffic in so many ways -- easily pop out of your hands, easily tangle, easily can pop out of the 'lock' mode if you are even slightly off when putting the lock in place, leaving the dog to run out in traffic... I like using them for Lily when in the park as it lets her have a nice long run and she doesn't pull on them at all; but I wouldn't use them anywhere I needed to keep a dog safe and controlled.

We have had two of these types of leashes break like that in the past, so we check them all the time. One was an old one that had done years of service, so we could understand that it had worn out. But the second one was relatively new. It had frayed down near the same spot where yours broke, but a bit higher up in the narrow part. We think that in dashing out the door and making a turn around the house quite often, Pepper was forcing the line to run along the corner of the house, which is eventually bound to damage it. I watch out for that now. I had also noticed that it wasn't retracting smoothly, which was probably a hint that something was going wrong. Fortunately, both of our experiences happened in safe places.

I agree that the wider nylon leashes with loop handles that you can put your hand and wrist all the way through or grip more securely are, overall, safer. I've had the experience of slipping on ice and falling while walking with the retractable leash, and the first thing that happens is that the plastic handle hits the ground and snaps out of your grip--and away goes your dog. (I never go out of the house in winter any longer without cleats on my shoes/boots.) That was scary. Fortunately, she came back to me right away as I shrieked for her! (This was recently with Milly.)

Currently we are using genuine Flexis to walk them on our property, which I hope are going to give good service. But we generally use the other type of leash for more populated environments.