MIDDLETOWN, CT — Animal control officers in Middletown have sent out a public service announcement about retractable dog leashes after several mishaps.
Essentially, they bashed the restraining system altogether.
"Retractable leashes have a button that you can push to lock the length or you can let the dog run out, often up to 25-to-30 feet," Animal control officials said. "In the last 3 days, we have handled multiple dog bite incidents, where dogs were on this type of leash."
The problem is, animal control officials saids, once a dog is 20 or more feet away, "you have absolutely no way to reel the dog back in."
They continued, " If you try, you can very easily get a serious burn to your hands from the leash. Basically, you have no control over your dog at all when it is that far from you, period."
Animal control officials said dogs have been killed by cars locally because leash buttons have broken and dogs have run into streets.
"When we deal with problems involving these leashes, we instruct people to throw them away," animal control officials said. "When people donate these leashes to us, we throw them away. You can call it retractable, flexi, adjustable, etcetera, but we call them problems waiting to happen.
"Please use a standard 6 foot leash when walking your dog in a public area and in close proximity to other dogs and people. This will help you to properly control your dog and keep everyone safer. We just want everyone to be able to enjoy the outdoors safely."
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