[Britster]

I do use a Flexi at times but I don't particularly like them for most people. Just like any other tool, a lot of people are really dumb about them. I've seen people in pet stores, etc, letting their dog ALL the way out on the flexi lead and come all up to other people/dogs and not even paying any attention to what their dog is doing. What if another dog it ran up to wasn't friendly? Or people that let their dogs run all the way and pull at the end of the 26ft? I do think there is more control on a regular 4ft or 6ft leash. On regular walks, pet store visits, vet visits, etc, he's on a short leash.

However, I think they are great for certain instances, like you say. Open fields, etc. I use one for potty breaks at night. We live on 3 acres. During the day, I use a 50ft rope but for a quick potty trip, we use the Flexi. Just to give enough space to sniff around. Or if we go somewhere that the 50ft is not appropriate but the Flexi is more so.

Btw, I've owned three Flexi's. Two of them broke. lol. I keep using them though. I had one that said "up to 26lbs" and my dog is 16lbs and broke one SUPER easily. He didn't even really pull that hard, it was so odd. I remember being shocked that it snapped that easily. Second one he did pull quite hard, because he saw deer and bolted but I still didn't think it was all that cool that it just broke. But irregardless, we still use them in open areas - he's pretty good off leash anyways so I'm usually not too worried about him not coming back, but just something to be aware of.