How much tension can a leather lead handle?

[Kayla]

In prepration for Duke's happy coming home day this saturday I bought my very first leather collar for him along with a matching leather lead. I'm not a fan of fat leads nor overly long leads so I choose a 4' , 1'' thick lead. I have no issues with Duke pulling on lead however because of his reactivity I do need a lead that obviously if he did decide to lunge would not break. It feels very strong and when I try pulling it in opposit directions it doesn't stretch but i still want to be 100% safe. I'm sure there are ways to calculate such things but i have no idea what the breaking strength of leather is. Duke is 68lbs if that helps.

What do you guys think safe, or should I exhange for a thicker lead? ( the only other thickness is a 2'')

Thanks
Kayla

 

[SizzleDog]

I think it really depends on the quality of the leather, as well as the workmanship and hardware.

I use 3/4" leads with the Dobermans, and they hold up fine. My hands down favorite lead is a 6', 3/4" wide lead with brass hardware attached by braiding. I bought it at Signature K9:

I prefer braiding over rivets, but strong rivets plus strong stitching is also nice. I want my hardware to be solid brass.


I have had a leather leash from Petco break - I will not buy leather products from anywhere but my trusted online merchants.

 

[adojrts]

In my experience, the leather leashes and collars have been fine, as long as its good leather and not the cheap stuff lol. But I have found that you have to check the stitching for loose threads before you purchase and rountinely check it. Leather has to be cleaned and cleaned correctly, it weathers and the stitches can rot, especially when left outside or if they get wet. If that happends, dry and then clean with a Gylercine based saddle soap.

I have never had a leash break, but snaps and buckles do.......that is my worry.
There is no reason why a top quality leather collar/leash can't last for years. It's worth the extra $$.

Lynn

 

[oc_spirit]

With my strong huskies I have never worried about leashes or collars snapping except for the one collar that was given to me by Ronan's old owner (awesome quality but wasnt taken care of properly so it dried, stretched and started cracking). I deffinately prefer braids over rivets/stitching for leashes as then it is the strength of the leather itself holding your dog and not somone else's craftmanship. Rivets can pop off and stitching can rip.

 

[ToscasMom]

I use a Paco handmade leather lead very similar to the one Sizzle posted. I love the feel of it and its strength.
I got it here.
http://store.lucysdoghouse.net/standardlead.html

Hans is one of our Chaz members, a really nice guy and he gives Chazzer discounts if you contact him.

 

[Melissa_W]

I would think that a nice leather leash would be pretty strong. After all, horse tack is made from leather.

 

[Renee750il]

I'm not really sure, Kayla, but I was looking at a nice leather leash one day at the AgriFeed store. I had Kharma with me, and when I turned toward her with it, the poor leash went stiff and then started shaking uncontrollably and went limp in my hands.

I'm afraid just anticipating the tension of having to deal with Kharma killed the poor thing

 

[Bahamutt99]

Personally, I only use leather leads for training with a choke, prong or martingale. Something that will help me correct the dog, rather than enabling them to keep pulling. Unless we're talking about a dog who already has a level of training, like Loki. But if we're in a situation where the dog is going to be pulling, I use a nylon or rope lead. Easier on the hands, IMO.

 

[Kayla]

Personally, I only use leather leads for training with a choke, prong or martingale. Something that will help me correct the dog, rather than enabling them to keep pulling. Unless we're talking about a dog who already has a level of training, like Loki. But if we're in a situation where the dog is going to be pulling, I use a nylon or rope lead. Easier on the hands, IMO.

He walks fine on lead however if he should decide to lunge out I don't want the lead to break. So i'm curious in comparison to a normal nylon lead (which i've been using up until this point) can leather handle more or less tension then a nylon.

Thanks again
Kayla

 

[oc_spirit]

Less. At the ranch I used to volunteer at we were not allowed to put nylong halters on the horses because if they balk and get tangled up a bit, leather will snap when they put enough force to escape whereas nylong won't snap (which could make them panic and hurt themselves more). But I'm not sure if a dog is strong enough to snap leather that is properly taken care of. Dried/cracked leather yes most deffinately but not good stuff. Also remember that bridal leather is stronger than flat leather and it also means you wont have to have such a wide piece of leather in your hands

 

[SizzleDog]

Also - remember that nylon collars with plastic buckles are just as weak as the buckle... NO WAY am I going to expect two little bits of plastic to hold my dogs!

 

[Herschel]

Also - remember that nylon collars with plastic buckles are just as weak as the buckle... NO WAY am I going to expect two little bits of plastic to hold my dogs!

That is so true. For some reason, so many collars (even "high quality") come with plastic buckles.

Just another reason that we like our Planet Dog collars.

By the way, if anyone buys a custom collar from Little Barks (http://www.littlebarks.biz), Kim is very flexible on the hardware and will use anything you request.

 

[oc_spirit]

Also - remember that nylon collars with plastic buckles are just as weak as the buckle... NO WAY am I going to expect two little bits of plastic to hold my dogs!

Great point!! It bothers me so much that so many of the fancy pretty collars have plastic buckles! I mean I prefer leather collars anyways but a couple of times I have come across a fancy nylon collar that I wanted to get but didnt because the buckles were plastic Ronan has snapped chains and cables (at his old home) no way am I going to trust some plastic with him!

My favourite snaps for dog collars are locking alligator snaps and this other one, dunno the name though >_< Its hard to explain too...

 

[SizzleDog]

I actually have a lot of plastic buckle collars, but I don't attach the leash to them - they're tag and house collar, but not functional walking collars!

 

[Bahamutt99]

I don't think a leather lead would break under the force of a lunge, but it'll do a number on your hands. And if it endures that kind of stress constantly, that would probably weaken the leather and cause it to stretch. Getting it wet will do the same. (I saw a 45-pound dog snap a leather collar that had gotten wet one too many times.)

Another thing to consider is that if it has a small bolt snap on it, the clip part can pull right out of the swivel. I've only seen it happen with a dog who was tied out, but I don't doubt that it could happen in other situations. You might want to talk to Chewbecca on this forum. She makes some nice rope leads that you might be interested in. They're very strong.

 

[elegy]

now, i don't think a well-broken-in leather leash is hard on the hands at all. i don't like nylon. i think that *is* hard on the hands. the only time my dogs wear nylon is if there's going to be swimming. otherwise, either leather or planetdog hemp.

 

[SisMorphine]

Most of the people in my old dog sports club used a leather leash (actually everyone except me) and their dogs would do civil agitation work on them. The only time I saw a dog break a leash while doing civil was a 100+ pound "pit bull" who broke one of the Ray Allen indestructible long lines.