A retractable pet leash assembly includes a housing, a spool, a leash and abrakingassembly. The spool is disposed inside the housing and biased by a spring andincludesbraking notches. The leash is wound about the spool. The braking assemblyincludes apawl, a pawl spring and an operating member. The pawl selectively engages thebrakingnotches, the pawl spring biases the pawl towards engagement with the spool.Theoperating member moves the pawl between first and second positions to move thepawlinto and out of the path of the braking notches. The operating member has apawlnon-engaged position in which the pawl is in the first position, a first pawlengaged position inwhich the pawl is in the second position, and a second pawl engaged positionin which theoperating member is retained while the pawl is in the second position.
