Murphy had a close call today, and it was because of a retractable leash.

My next door neighbor adopted a young female dog, nice looking mutt, doesn't seem to have any major personality defects. She's a little weird around Murphy though, so I keep him close to me if we see her outside with her people. He doesn't have a retractable leash, and that may have saved him from injury. Neighbor and I were getting out of our cars with our dogs at the same time - Murphy was coming home from the groomer. Neighbor and I exchanged pleasantries, and her dog emerged from the car while she was looking at me, talking to me. She had her dog's leash in her hand, but it was a retractable leash. Without warning, the dog lunged across the driveway and grabbed Murphy like a chew toy. It was too fast for her to hit the button and the leash just unreeled, giving the dog full freedom to jump my dog. Her dog isn't huge, maybe 30-35 lbs., but that's still more than four times Murphy's size and big enough to seriously injure or kill him with a good shake. Murphy, being Murphy, immediately fought back like a little tiger - he's no wuss, he'd take on anybody - but he was seriously outweighed in this fight.

I had Murphy at my side on his leather leash so this happened literally at my feet. I dropped my purse and grabbed him out of the other dog's mouth, yelling at her sternly "No!" "Hey!" and "Leave it!" (Though I don't think she's trained enough to know what "Leave it" means. ) I guess I sounded mean enough because she backed off, my neighbor reeled her in, and Murphy wasn't hurt, but I don't want to think what would have happened if he had been on a retractable leash too and this happened with both owners ten or fifteen feet away. She was trying to get a grip on his neck when I reached down and broke it up - yes, I know I could have been bitten but I didn't care - and I think only intervening very fast stopped a serious injury.

And that's just another illustration of why I loathe retractable leashes and think they are dangerous. My neighbor was very apologetic and shaken by what had happened. I was calmer after I saw Murphy wasn't hurt, and in fact was doing his "I'd have kicked your ass if my Mommy didn't pick me up" tough guy act. He was fine, so I didn't want to pick a fight with the neighbor. I just told her that's why I won't use a retractable leash, and that's an illustration of why dog trainers hate 'em. They give the dog too much freedom and too much of a sense of power, and the owner a false sense of security. Dogs have been hit by cars because they saw something across the street while the owner was distracted - a dog can be very fast and the leash can unreel all the way into the middle of the road. Dogs need boundaries - Murphy is never more than six feet from me when we're out in public, because that's the length of his leash. Most times he's right at my side, and that may have saved his life today.