This is a fantastic option for any situation where you need close-range walking and don't want to have to deal with winding the length of a regular leash around your hand. I use it most for the transition to/from the car/dog park, in crowds where I know I'm not going to be needing to anchor my dog to something (because it's too short to be able to do that), for situations where I'm going to need to periodically take up the leash but will quickly let the dog go again (the leash can just hang down on my dog with no problem), and as an "emergency leash" where I might not have remembered to bring a full length but I always have this around since it's so small and easy to take.