I use a retractable leash for Gracie. I got mine at Target for $9.99. I've had it since she was a puppy and she's 4 now- no problems. I never have it at it's full length either but she's not a puller.
I used to have lhasa poo and he was a puller. He had a much nicer retractable leash - instead of being all cord the bottom part was a regular leash so if it wrapped around your legs you wouldn't be scarred for life.

We were on my grandmother's deck one day and I had put the handle of the leash under my chair so he couldn't run off after the ducks and sure enough, he snapped it.
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"If you have men who will exclude any of God’s creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men." — St. Francis of Assisi, 1181-1226