We have recently found out that there are quite a few areas around our town that are restricted during certain parts of the year because they are bird sanctuary areas and they don’t want anything disturbing the birds during mating season. Unfortunately for us, most of the area where we normally walk Ayla is protected by this sanctuary rule and they have set a rule that from March 15-June 1, dogs should be on a leash while walking through this area. So that led us to the conclusion that we needed a new retractable leash for Ayla because the one we had before was suitable for dogs up to 40 pounds (which she exceeded long ago) and she also ate it apart during her puppy days.

When we met the woman with the two Irish Wolfhounds, I noticed that she had really nice retractable leashes. So I started looking on eBay for something suitable for Newfs…and I found the Flexi Giant.

After using the leash for about a week now, I think I can safely say that both hubby and I love it…and Ayla seems pretty amused with it also. Usually when Ayla walks down the street, she carries the leash in her mouth. Sometimes she wants to try to play tug-of-war along the way which can be rather frustrating when it’s raining. But with the new leash, we can keep walking a bit further while she tugs and then she’ll realize the game isn’t working and catch up.

I did fear that she might try to wrap herself or us around a few trees since she’s not very used to walking on leash when we get to the regular paths…but so far that hasn’t been an issue either.

Of course, we have noticed that several of the people around here really don’t seem to care about the ordinance at all which makes us wonder if there are any penalties or anything like that…but since it’s our first bird season here, we might as well follow the rules at least once. And this way Ayla also can’t be tempted to run into the little stream beside the path as the weather (hopefully) starts warming up.