Collars & Leashes - Does it matter? - Page 1

I was just curious to know what kind of collars and leashes you all use on your dogs? Though I do not have my GSD yet (though I do plan on getting one soon), I have been thinking about things like this lately.
 I plan on competeing with my dog, and watching videos I see all different kinds of equipment.

All we've ever really used is those nylon collars. We did have a mini poodle who we had a choke chain on (only used the dead ring) and my mom walks their golden in a harness. I did by her a collar and when I walk her I use it, but shes a rabbit chaser and moms idiot boyfriend (a****** more like) insists that shes going to break her neck when she wears a collar. Funny too, I'm the only person that can get that dog to cooperate on and offleash, but I digress...

With my Shepherd, Dallas, she wore a nylon collar and I walked her on a variety of different leashes... she chewed through a retractable lesh as a puppy, and got pissed off once and broke her chain leash... but normally I walked her on a rope-type leash and she was great. Hardly ever left my side, stopped when I stopped, perfect little angel.

I was just wondering what kind of equipment everyone prefers and what you all find work best for you and the type of training that you do?

I have one leash saved back somewhere... I think its 10 foot... it has a handle at the end and then another about 2 foot away from where the dog would be attached... does anyone have experience with those?

Thanks for the advice...
~Dawulf~

I've used various, from flat nylon or leather to pinch collars.  Now that I, and my dogs, have learned more I use a fursaver on a deadring with different leashes.  I still have a flat collar on them in public but it is used to attach their id tags. It sounds like you may be fine with flat collars or fursavers, once you get a dog and learn together.  The description of your leash sounds like ones made so the dog cn be out a ways, or you can hold it close on the second handle if a situation arose you needed it next to you.

Enjoy.

I have most of my collars, leads and harnesses custom made by a leathersmith here in town.

We use different training collars for different dogs and depending on what we are doing. Standard choke collars for a walk around the block, pinch for training while in drive. I have one little girl (9 months old) that has nothing but a flat collar on for training and she does very well with it. A verbal correction is more often then not all she needs. I just started using a choke collar on her for training while in drive, and I rarely give a correction on it.

Melissa

I agree with Keith, halties I do not like. Halters are for horses. To me they are a quick fix gimmick. Retractable leashes are for chihuahuas.  

Mostly if I have a little puppy I use a harness.  When the pup gets to be around 5 or 6 months old I usually switch to a fursaver with the live link clipped back to a dead link so the collar is small enough that the pup can't  back out of it,  but not able to tighten like a choker.   Then when the pup is somewhere between 10 months and a year, I will also add the  pinch collar.  Can't forget the agitation harness either for the pup/young dog.   The ecollar comes later.  I have a "necklace" on my dog for his tags.  I call it a necklace because it's easily broken so the dog can never be hung up on it since he wears it unsupervised.  Of course none of this is written in stone, it depends on the dog and the circumstances/situation.

I have so many different leads!  The ones I tend to use the most are:  A 15ft long line used for about a milion different things, from  working the dog with the helper to hiking/walking around.  My favorite lead was made  by my coach, it's a 6 ft leather lead with the handle and clip braided into it, no rivets or sewing.  The leather is very strong and supple, but not stretchy at all.   For tracking I use 20 ft plow lines, and of course a 3 meter line.

 I use slip leads and pinch collars. Though I never have to correct two of my Huskies so they just sit loosely and too big on the Huskies I just use them for when we walk to have something on them. The slip lead is on another dog who I occasionally have to correct, but I don't do tracking with these guys or protection so I don't have harnesses or anything else. On the pinch collars I just have regular 4 or 6 foot leashes attached. 

"My favorite lead was made by my coach, it's a 6 ft leather lead with the handle and clip braided into it, no rivets or sewing."

Those are exactly what I have and they last virtually forever since there is no thread or hardware to rot if (when) they get wet.  One of mine has to be nearly 20 years old by now.  I used to buy them from an elderly woman who made them but I lost track of her at some point so I took one apart and learned how to cut and braid them myself...pretty easy and I can make a nice leash with a heavy duty brass clip for under $5.00!

My 4 year old mutt wears a bright orange ASAT collar with a safety ring and a brass ID plate with several phone numbers.  He is our escape artist so he wears this collar and tag 24/7.  He also has a prong collar that we sometimes use for walking, generally only when one of us is walking multiple dogs.  This mutt is just our pet and has very little training.  He's a very low energy, low drive dog, content to warm the couch.

My 4 month old GSD wears a simple black thin rolled leather collar and small tag with phone numbers.  We had to have ID for our puppy class (part of a responsible dog ownership program), hence the little tag.  Right now I do his training with this collar or a small Fursaver doubled back and clipped to a dead ring.  He started on a tiny nylon harness b/c he would always chew the leash as we walked but now is fine on a collar.  I also just got him a little EasyWalk harness for working on loose leash walking since he is much to small/young for a prong.

My 2 year old GSD is either "naked" or wears a simple 1" black leather collar around the house.  For training we have a Fursaver for tracking and for competition, and a prong collar for obedience and protection.

My 7 year old GSD has the same collar as the mutt but hers is hot pink.  She keeps hers on because one time someone else was taking care of her and she got spooked and got away from them.  She was returned to me because she had that collar and ID plate so now I just leave it on her.  She is very clingy and well trained, would never leave me but when she was under the care of someone else she just got spooked.  She also has a Fursaver for competitions that require it.

I also have several types of show collars and leashes.  For Schutzhund I have many leashes and lines, extra Fursaver, agitation harness, etc.

A puppy needs a flat collar that is at least as think as two vertebra. Once the puppy is older and in serious training some type of choke collar is good  - chain choke, fursaver, pinch - depending on your skill and your dog's tolerance. Once your dog is trained to your level of satisfaction then a flat collar can work well as long as your dog obeys.

Retractable leashes should be outlawed they're owners are dangerous, the other day i saw a dog get flattened by a car because the owner panicked and didn't push the button correctly......she stopped at the corner but dog kept on walking and was at the end of the leash. A car didn't see the dog, made a right hand turn - it was a really bad scene. Last  year at the Reliant Dog Show, a poster said "4 foot leashes and no retractable leashes". Stupid owner thought the sign meant everyone but her. Her little aggressive foo foo dog was allowed to be at the end of its leash and attacked a much larger dog. After being bit, the larger dog grabbed the foo foo and gave it a shake. Once again lots of hysteria....and a bad scene...At petsmart, an owner, again with a retractable let his dog go all the way around the end of the lane and into the next isle. My dog was sitting as I was selecting some toys. The stupid dog attacked my dog and mine bit back in defense. Once again a bad scene.... in every case, if the stupid owners had 4 or 6 foot leashes, none of this would have happened... sorry for the soapbox........