For larger dogs, leashes play a more significant role than you might think. While I've never had a leash fail per se in the sense that they come apart or break, some are far harder on bare hands than others, and this can impact a handlers' response during critical moments. If a dog lunges suddenly, many, if not most leashes can cause friction burns, which often instinctively relaxes the handler's grip (when they need it most.) These are the more commonly found leashes, those made of nylon. Some have a finish that makes them slippery when the hands are moist due to sweat or the weather.

I have usually recommended leashes made of high-quality leather as once it softens, it's easy on the hands and doesn't slip; however, they've become increasingly difficult to source. Stores sometimes have them and sometimes don't, and the quality varies as well. However, I recently found something I like even better than my treasured leather leashes of 30 years.

I recently visited the Mennonite harness manufacturer I currently use to assemble my WadeCollar and was shown a new synthetic material that they now use and recommend for horse traces and liked the feel, the strength, (and the look) so much that I had them make me up a few leash prototypes to test.

I tested them for over 6 months, and I will never go back to leather. They're strong, extremely comfortable even with large dogs, the grip is incredible, even when hands are wet. They are hard to distinguish from leather, so they look great. I ordered 200 hundred 6'6" leashes in black and brown, with high-quality hardware, and if you want to make handling your dog more natural and safer, you can find them here.

Note: The snap I've selected is much safer than the traditional thumb release snap, which I have seen result in accidental release of an agitated dog when the handler attempted to access the dog's collar. I much prefer the scissor snap.