Paws Republic 3100 Freedom Leash

My mind tends to wander when I walk our two goldens. I sometimes find myself uncoiling their leashes from each other because I wasn't paying attention. I began to think that there must be a better way and came upon the freedom leash.I also walk along a road in a small town where we know a lot of people, but not everybody. I am often waving to cars that I thought that I knew, but didn't. I also realized that people were waving to me because it looked like I was waving to them the way I held the old leashes up as the dogs moved close to me (I always was too lazy to use two hands).I was extremely wary of something that says "as seen on TV", since that translates into "worthless piece of junk", but felt better about buying through amazon with their no hassle return policy (not to mention prime shipping!).Some of the negative reviews concerned me as well. But the first few days of this product have worked out quite well. I can now wander with my thoughts a million miles away, my arm relaxed with the freedom leash hanging from my hand. Even pointing down, it works well - no tangles and the cords retract as needed. I use it with the Premier Pet Collar, also sold on Amazon, which, even though it is a correcting collar, does not close with the pressure of the retracting mechanism unless a correction is specifically applied.I also quickly learned to pull in the direction of the good dog when correcting the other, so that the innocent are not also getting a collar correction - although the coach's old concept of when one player misbehaves, the team suffers, has some appeal with dogs.Not sure how one reviewer said that it was heavy. It feels no heavier than the listed shipping weight of 1 pound. No more heavy than the two nylon leashes that we were using.

Initially, I must say that I love the concept. The swivel feature worked well, but we had a major problem with the mechanism that controls the locking and retraction functions. In a nutshell, when both lines extended the mechanism would seize up so that only one line would retract. The other locked in place with the line extended. The control buttons on the handle would become frozen, and jam in place. After a great deal of pushing, prodding, fiddling and jiggling, the buttons would free up and the line would retract, only to have the exact same thing happen moments later. We had a brief "Oh No" moment when a larger, aggressive dog approached ours and we were unable to bring the one on the defective lead back close to us.We have miniature dachshunds, and this happened on the very first trip out of the house, so there was no question of having put undue stress on the device.My wife complained that device itself is bulky, and heavier than she liked. I felt the size and weight were par for the course, though I must admit that I often hold two conventional retractable leashes in one hand, and this does weigh more than those do combined.Still though, we like the concept and the swivel function well enough that we will probably grab another and give it one more try after my refund is processed. We were unable to simply exchange for another, since this is evidently not an option where Amazon fulfills but another entity is the actual seller. I'll post a follow up if we do get a second one and try again.***Update- 11/8/11We did get a second one. The thumb control buttons still stick and jam somewhat, but it's not nearly so bad as the first one. If they address this issue, this will be a great product. As is, it's still two stars.***Update No. 2 - 3/22/12Our second leash has now jammed up completely and is going in the garbage. Due to winter weather it was used fewer than a half dozen times since my last update. Stay away.

This leash has the worst retractable leash function I have experienced, and it is worse than conventional leashes because it is a thin, long rope that wraps around you, your animals, and gets tangled in the collar. I have two over 50 lb dogs who are reasonably cooperative, but the leash still failed to function properly. One of my dogs walks calmly near my left heel, while the other walks out front to sniff and frolic. If the one out front decides to turn left or right suddenly to sniff, the leash does not react in time and every time the rope ends up wrapped around my dog's legs. Worse yet, when my dog decides to turn around and come toward me, I trip over the leash because it fails to retract fast enough. When I walk with two separate retractable leashes, I never have these issues because the leashes retract as the dog moves in each direction.A second fault I found with this leash is the size of the handle, or more specifically the gap between the leash housing unit and the handle. The gap is so narrow that a small hand cannot fit through the gap wearing mittens/gloves, so using this leash in cold weather is not possible. I cannot even imagine a large handed person using this leash because the handle itself is pretty narrow around, while that gap is extremely narrow.I must say the concept of this leash is terrific, which is why I bought this leash in spite of so many negative reviews. I'm not one to throw new things away, but I cannot imagine taking another walk using this leash because it was so frustrating having to constantly untangle the leash from my dog or my own feet...and that was with only one of my dogs! I hate to imagine what issues would occur if both of my dogs loved to sniff and frolic about.I am definitely sorry I bought this product and will heed the reviews of others in the future.