tethered test flying - can this be done safely?

I have a newly built 450mm quadcopter (approx. 850 grams, not counting battery) that is about ready for its maiden flight.  It's equipped with a Pixhawk2.1, and I've calibrated ESCs, magnetometers, accelerometers, etc, and everything looks good.

For the very first test, I'm thinking about tethering it to the ground with a very short (0.5 m or so, to start) leash so that it can lift off but not badly crash if something goes wrong.  What I don't know is how the quadcopter will react to hitting the end of a tether when in stabilize mode -- will it remain stable and just tug at it, or will the unexpected force confuse the flight control and cause it to lose control?  I would be connecting the tether as close as possible to the center of gravity, but it probably won't be perfect.

This is my first quadcopter build, so I'm a complete newbie with regard to test flying etc.

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