A retractable pet leash assembly includes a housing, a spool, a leash and a braking assembly. The spool is disposed inside the housing and biased by a spring and includes braking notches. The leash is wound about the spool. The braking assembly includes a pawl, a pawl spring and an operating member. The pawl selectively engages the braking notches, the pawl spring biases the pawl towards engagement with the spool. The operating member moves the pawl between first and second positions to move the pawl into and out of the path of the braking notches. The operating member has a pawl non-engaged position in which the pawl is in the first position, a first pawl engaged position in which the pawl is in the second position, and a second pawl engaged position in which the operating member is retained while the pawl is in the second position.
