Long lines are our absolute favorite piece of dog walking gear, and they’re our specialty! A long line is a simple yet effective tool for giving dogs more room to sniff, explore, move at a natural pace, and engage with the environment in a way that’s difficult on a traditional 4 or 6 foot leash. Using a longer leash can make walks more enjoyable for you and your pup while giving you peace of mind that your dog is safely connected to you.
Using a longer leash comes with safety considerations and it takes some time and practice to get comfortable handling one. The’yre not inherently dangerous, and using one doesn’t have to be complicated. But they do require more situational awareness and active handling than a shorter leash, especially when you move into longer lengths of 20 ft and up. While they take some time and practice to learn to use safely, we believe the payoff is well worth it!
Here are our best tips for using a long line safely.
Is a Long Line Right for You and Your Dog?
Before choosing a leash length, think about the dog on the other end of it, and about your own comfort level. Ask yourself:
- How big and strong is my dog?
- Can I safely manage my dog if they pull hard at the end of a longer leash?
- Do I feel physically stable and comfortable handling my dog on a longer leash?
- Do I have any physical limitations or challenges that may make a longer leash unsafe?
- How much leash am I realistically prepared to manage?
- Where will I be using the long line?
- Is the environment safe and appropriate for using a longer leash?
Be honest with yourself. If, after thinking through your unique situation, a longer leash doesn’t feel like a safe option, for you and your dog - that’s okay!
The First Step: Choosing the Right Leash Length
If you’re new to long lines, we don’t recommend starting with a 30 ft leash and hoping for the best. Start with something just a few feet longer than what you’re used to. An 8, 10, or 12 ft foot leash can make a surprisingly big difference in the quality of your walks while still feeling very manageable. You can always try something longer once you’re had a chance to practice your handling skills and have a better feel for using a longer leash. There is no prize for using the longest leash possible.
If you try an 8 or 10 foot leash and it feels quite manageable, you might consider a 12 to 15 feet leash for hikes, decompression walks, sniffaris, beach trips, or travel. 20 feet can be wonderful for quiet beaches, fields, parks, and larger open spaces. Thirty feet and beyond can be fantastic for big open areas, Sniffspots, and training - but be aware that using lengths of 30 ft and up require significantly more situational awareness and management skills, and aren’t recommended for beginners. Read our best tips about long line sizing.
The “best” long line length is the one you can use safely and comfortably in the environment you’re in.
Equipment and Safety Backups
Before you start working with a long line, make sure both you and your dog are set up with the right equipment for a safe and comfortable walk.
We recommend using a long line with a comfortable, well-fitting “Y” shaped back-clip harness rather than a flat collar. If your dog reaches the end of the line unexpectedly, a harness helps distribute force across the body instead of concentrating it on the neck. We love Ruffwear, Kurgo, or Hurtta for medium to large dogs, and Voyager and Puppia make great step-in harnesses for small dogs.
Your dog should wear a flat collar with up to date ID tags whenever you’re out walking. Even if the leash is attached to the harness, the collar provides an important form of identification if you and your dog are ever accidentally separated. We make collars with built in ID tags which are great for jingle free walks.
We also recommend carrying needed items like treats and poop bags, as well as your wallet, keys, phone, or any other items where you can access them easily. A waist pouch, treat pouch, or crossbody bag can all work well. The fewer loose objects you’re carrying, the easier it is to keep both hands available for managing the line.
Consider a Backup Connection
Using safety backups are great for peace of mind when you’re out walking.
A safety strap connects the base of your dog’s leash to a secondary point of attachment such as their collar. If your leash clip fails, or if your dog gets out of their harness, your dog will still be attached to you and the leash via the safety strap.
A waist to leash strap can clip to the leash handle and then to your belt or waist pack strap, creating a backup in case you lose hold of the leash. Our waist to leash strap does have a quick release buckle so that you can safely detach if needed.
A built in traffic handle (an option for all of our custom leashes) can be helpful for securing your dog close to you quickly and easily when needed. We offer pre-set placements as well as custom traffic handle placements for all of our custom leashes.
A stand alone traffic handle can be clipped to your dog’s harness and used in the same way.
Safety backups can be used anytime but are especially helpful with fearful or flight risk dogs, newly adopted dogs, dogs who have backed out of equipment before, or simply if you’re new to longer leashes and want more peace of mind.
A Note About Hands Free Long Lines
Hands free leashes can be incredibly useful, but attaching yourself to a dog also changes the physics of the situation. If your dog is powerful enough to pull you off your feet, clipping a very long leash directly to your waist may not be the safest option. Think about your dog’s size, speed, strength, and tendency to suddenly accelerate.
For some people, a hands-free setup provides additional security or a safety back up in case you lose a hold of the leash. But a hands free leash should never take the place of active management - giving and taking slack, slowing the leash down, and braking when needed.
We offer two styles of hands free leashes in a variety of lengths, including longer options.
Choosing the Right Environment
One of the biggest aspects of long line safety has nothing to do with the leash itself. It’s where you use it. A 20 foot long line might be completely appropriate in a quiet, open field, and completely inappropriate on a sidewalk or a busy city park. Choosing the right walking location is as important a safety consideration as anything else.
We use the acronym QUAILS when thinking about walking locations. We recommend looking for a walk location that is Quiet, allowing your dog to stay Under threshold, it is Accessible, with good visibility and easy “escape routes”; it is Interesting to your dog, with a variety of textures, surfaces, and sniffs, and it’s Legal and Safe to access with a longer leash.
Within this framework, get creative about what might work well in your area. Office parks, school campuses (outside of school hours), campgrounds or recreation areas in the off season, quiet trails, fields, or shorelines can all work beautifully for low stress long line walks. Read more about choosing walk locations.
Season and time of day matter - early in the morning or mid day can be better options than the 8 am and 5 pm “dog rush hours” when more people are out.
If you can, take the time to choose a quiet, low stress location for your long line walks. Not only will the walk be more enjoyable for both of you, it will be safer for everyone.
And of course, follow local leash laws. Some parks and municipalities have maximum leash lengths even in areas where dogs are allowed.
Situational and Environmental Awareness
Wherever you’re using a longer leash, you must pay attention to what you’re doing and have situational awareness. Be aware of what’s around you - roads, blind corners, rises where you can’t see what’s on the other side. Scan for other people and dogs, children, bikes, or wildlife. Be prepared to take in slack anytime you can’t see what’s coming or want to avoid an unwanted interaction. If it doesn’t feel safe or responsible to give your dog the full length of leash, don’t.
Walking your dog on a longer leash takes more intention and active management than a shorter leash. You’ll need to get accustomed to adjusting the amount of slack regularly to keep yourself, your dog, and others safe.
Spot triggers before your dog does
We have an advantage over our dogs in that we’re taller than them, and can see farther ahead. Scan for people, dogs, bikes, horses, wildlife, traffic, cars, or anything else that might be a potential hazard or trigger.
This is especially important when approaching:
- blind corners
- trail intersections
- the top of a hill where you can’t see what’s on the other side
- parking lots, roads or driveways
- narrow sections of trail
- areas with bike traffic
- places where wildlife is common
If you don’t have good visibility, take in slack and get closer to your dog, or call them to you. Once you can see that the coast is clear, you can let it back out again.
Be Proactive: Act Early and Create Space
Using a long line safely requires careful observation and being proactive, rather than reactive. If you see another person or dog approaching, create space, bring in some slack and make a plan. The goal is NOT to immediately pull in all slack, put tension on the leash, and drag your dog away. The goal is to keep the leash loose and teach your dog that they have the choice to move away from things in the environment!
If you are concerned that your dog is going to react, look for a visual barrier to put between your dog and the trigger, or use a practiced U-turn or “Let’s go!” cue and move away or create space before the situation escalates.
Remember that longer leashes give your dog more choices. Your dog may just need some time to observe and process something in the environment. As long as it’s safe, give them that time! Given the space and the choice, your dog may choose on their own to disengage or move away from something that worries them.
We share lots more tips for building engagement, playing games with your dog, and what to do when the unexpected happens in our free “Walk This Way” guide.
Basic Long Line Handling Skills: Use a Safe Leash Grip
Using a safe and effective leash grip is essential to long line management. We recommend what’s called a thumb lock, or a thumb grip, rather than wrapping the leash around your hand, fingers, or wrist. This is an extremely secure grip that prevents hand or finger injury.
Here’s how it works: if you are holding the leash handle, loop the handle over your thumb and close your fist around it.
If you’re holding the leash farther down its length, position the leash so the “human end” of the leash runs along the inside of your thumb and the “dog end” of the leash runs along the outside of your hand. Then close your fist around the line.
Most importantly: Never wrap a long line around your hand, wrist, arm, or fingers. If your dog takes off suddenly, the line can tighten quickly and cause a serious injury.
Basic Long Line Handling Skills
Using a long line means actively managing the amount of leash available to your dog throughout the walk. As your dog moves away from you, you’ll give some line, and if they stop or come closer, or you need to shorten the leash for any reason, you’ll take some line back in.
The goal is to keep a gentle “smile” in the leash - enough slack that your dog can move naturally without tension, but not so much that lots of extra leash is dragging along the ground (which can create a tripping hazard).
Long line walking is a continuous conversation between you, your dog, and the environment. This process will start to feel natural with practice, and if you’re like us, you’ll love the zen feeling of the line naturally connecting you and your dog as you move closer and farther apart.
Managing Leash Slack
As you take in slack, avoid wrapping the leash around your hand, wrist, or fingers. For longer lines - especially 20 feet and up - we like using a method called “bunny ears” or figure eight loops.
To make bunny ears, hold your braking hand open, palm up, and lay the extra leash back and forth across your palm, creating alternating loops on either side of your hand. One loop falls to one side, the next to the other, and so on. As your dog moves farther away, the loops will slide off your hand one at a time. As your dog comes closer or you need to take in slack, gather the line back into alternating loops again.
This gives you a neat way to manage a lot of extra leash while still allowing it to feed out smoothly. It also helps reduce the risk of the line tangling around your hands or tightening around your fingers if your dog suddenly moves.
Practice Your Long Line Handling Without Your Dog First
Before you head out with your dog, we strongly recommend that you practice with the leash at home. Clip the dog end of the long line to something stationary, walk to the end of the line, and practice gathering the leash into bunny ears as you move back to the leash clip, and then feeding the leash out as you move away again.
You’ll want some familiarity with the mechanics before adding a moving dog into the equation. The more you practice and the more comfortable you are managing slack, the easier it becomes to adjust the leash naturally while walking your dog, scanning the environment, and dispensing treats. Your brain will thank you later :)
Using Two Hands
For longer leashes, using two hands makes management much easier. Think of one as your brake hand and the other as your guide hand. Your brake hand gives you a secure connection to the leash and holds any excess line. Your guide hand can feed the leash out, bring the leash in, steer around obstacles, or deliver treats.
Some people prefer to brake with their non-dominant hand so their dominant hand remains available for feeding and giving and taking slack. Experiment with what feels right for you.
Protect Yourself From Leash Burn
If a leash slides across your bare skin as your dog runs, it can cause a painful friction burn. Retractable leashes or thin cord leashes can be particularly dangerous, but any material moving quickly against your skin can hurt.
Anytime you’re using a longer leash, we recommend wearing pants, close toed shoes, and socks to prevent leash burn around your legs and ankles. Be particularly mindful of where the leash is in relation to your legs. Try not to let the line run behind your knees, around an ankle, or between your legs. This is a great reason to maintain a leash “smile” without a lot of slack dragging on the ground.
You may even consider gloves to protect your hands - grippy gardening gloves or biking gloves can work well, and as a bonus they can help secure the leash when wet.
What If My Dog Pulls Hard at the End of a Long Line?
This is an important safety consideration. A dog hitting the end of a 20 foot line at full speed creates substantially more force than a dog reaching the end of a 6 foot leash. If you are worried that you can’t safely absorb the force of your dog reaching the end of the leash, a long line may simply not be the right tool right now, and that’s okay. Long lines are only helpful when everyone involved can use one safely.
You know you and your dog best. If your dog is a hard puller or tends to launch themselves to the end of the leash, don’t start out with a 20 foot long line. Start shorter.
Work on your communication and your ability to read when your dog is about to take off. Practice gradually giving and taking slack. Choose environments where there may be fewer triggers or that may be less stressful or exciting for your dog.
You can also avoid giving the full length of your leash. Using a 20 foot leash does not mean your dog needs 20 feet all the time. You might spend much of a walk using 8 to 12 feet, and let the full line out only when conditions are appropriate. You can use your thumb grip to secure the leash below the handle when needed.
It’s also worth looking at why your dog is pulling so hard. Pulling is a behavior, and behavior always happens in a context. A dog who is consistently straining at the end of the leash may be overly aroused, stressed, uncomfortable, in pain, or struggling in a particular environment. Rather than focusing only on stopping the pulling, consider whether your dog might benefit from a quieter environment, more distance from exciting or stressful things, or support from a qualified force free trainer or veterinary professional.
A longer leash can sometimes actually reduce pulling. We hear this a lot from our customers, and it makes sense from a behavior perspective. Dogs often pull because the leash is preventing them from reaching something they want to investigate - a smell, a patch of grass, a tree, or simply the direction their body naturally wants to move. On a short leash, they may repeatedly encounter that restriction. Giving them a little more room can make things easier to access without pulling, reducing frustration and allowing the walk to feel more enjoyable for everyone. We hear from customers all the time that their dog’s pulling decreases after using a slightly longer leash!
Of course, using a longer leash will magically not resolve pulling for every dog. But it’s a useful reminder that pulling isn’t always a sign that a dog needs more control. Sometimes giving a dog more appropriate freedom, in an environment where it is safe to do so, can make it easier for them to move through the world without constantly hitting the end of the leash.
“Slow Stops”: Safely Braking on a Long Line
The best way to prevent your dog running full speed to the end of the line is to be situationally aware, observe your dog, take in slack, and brake using your thumb lock before your dog takes off, so you’re not jerking them to a stop while they’re running.
If that’s not possible and your dog starts moving quickly away from you, the goal is not to stop the line abruptly, but to gradually slow their momentum before bringing them to a stop.
Plant your feet, keep a slight bend in your knees, and let a foot or two of line slide through your guide hand while gradually increasing your grip until you can apply your thumb lock. You can also use “leash bumps” to reduce speed (this concept was developed by Grisha Stewart as part of her BAT framework). As your dog moves away, briefly grip the line, release slightly, then grip again. A couple of these gentle interruptions can help slow the leash down before you fully brake, rather than allowing your dog to build speed and suddenly hit the end of the line. You can think of this almost like applying the brakes on a bike: rather than going from completely loose to completely stopped, slowly add pressure until the line comes to a controlled stop.
The exact technique you’ll want to use will depend on your dog’s size, speed, the length of line, and the terrain. The important idea is to absorb and reduce momentum gradually whenever possible. A controlled slowdown is easier on your body, easier on your dog’s body, and much less likely to pull you off balance than an abrupt stop.
When it’s wet or raining
Biothane CAN get slippery when it’s wet. Due to its grippy surface texture, it’s less slippery than nylon, but can still be a challenge. You have a few options:
Grippy gloves can help a lot when it’s wet - biking, gardening, or even plain rubber gloves can be good options.
Use your thumb lock to secure the leash - this grip is surprisingly effective even when the leash is wet. If you’re having trouble, in a pinch you can use your clothing as a layer between your thumb and the leash to reduce slipping.
Consider using a safety backup when it’s wet to ensure the leash stays connected to you. Clip the leash handle to a carabiner and then to your belt, waist pack strap, or utility belt, or use a Waist to Leash strap. This is also a situation where a hands free leash can be a great option!
Getting Started and Setting Yourself up for Success
Remember that new skills take time to learn - for you and your dog. We recommend that you start with small steps.
Try a leash just a few feet longer than what you already use. Find a quiet location, and let your dog explore. Practice your thumb lock, taking in and giving slack, and giving treats while scanning the environment. Then go home! Your first few outings are just as much about training yourself on using a longer leash as they are about your dog.
As your skills improve and muscle memory kicks in, you’ll notice that your movements become more natural - knowing how much slack to give, when to bring slack in, and how to respond to what is happening in the environment. A great long line walk feels like a beautiful communication between you, your dog, and the environment.
Long Lines Are About Freedom - Not Maximum Distance
Long lines aren’t about seeing how far away from you your dog can get. They’re about giving your dog more choices within a safe framework. That framework will depend on your, your dog, the environment, and how everyone is feeling that day.
Longer leashes require us to be flexible, responsive, and aware of what is going on around us. They force us to pay closer attention, to observe our dogs, and to respond appropriately. I think this is the beauty of longer leashes - they ask us to be present in the moment with our dogs.
It’s a completely different walking experience from what most of us are used to - and it takes time, practice, and patience.
Give yourself and your dog that time and we promise the payoff will be worthwhile!
