At Charles Sturt we love seeing our residents spend time out with their dogs and doing the right thing to ensure their dog’s safety, and the safety and comfort of others in the community.
We all enjoy taking our dogs for their walks and giving them as much space to range as possible. In SA, leads (even retractable/extender leads) cannot exceed 2m in length in those spaces where dogs must be on a lead (e.g. all public footpaths, within 5m of a playground, Henley Square, Coast Park or the foreshore between 10am and 8pm during daylight savings).
In locations where your dog can be off lead (e.g. some reserves, the foreshore before 10am or after 8pm), we completely understand the value of having a longer lead in developing your dog’s recalls back to you and building trust between you and your dog in open spaces.
Longer leads can be purchased from some pet stores or training clubs and are often made of good quality, strong webbed fabric. They are great for building that confidence in your dog that they will come back when you call them (make sure you reinforce them heavily for coming with a tasty food treat, a ball game and more freedom to roam again!), but are not for any interactions between dogs, dog-dog play or meeting new people. There is far too much risk involved in getting tangled in the lead, and you are still legally required to ensure your dog doesn’t jump on or rush toward other space users.
With all this in mind, we do not recommend the use of retractable leads in our off-lead spaces (and can only be used to the 2m length on normal walks). There are several reasons we don’t recommend retractable/extender leads. They might:
- Snap/break if the dog lunges forward (especially if it’s a large breed)
- Scare the dog if the handle drops on the floor, and sometimes startle them into running without being able to get away from the scary thing
- Malfunction if the button stops working and stop retracting/ expanding (especially if used on our foreshores)
- Encourage pulling as the dog gets used to feeling pressure on their neck to range further from you
Most importantly, they can and have caused very serious injury to people and other dogs if the thin rope-lead gets caught up in legs/wrapped hands or fingers or ankles and pulled tightly. Rope burn and lacerations are very serious injuries associated with their use. Even good quality long leads can pose risk of injury and must be used carefully.
We encourage our dog owners to enjoy an outing with their dogs on a normal 2m lead, or, if in an off-lead space, an appropriate longer lead or off lead if the dog is under effective control.