Yesterday I was out with most of my dogs with Missie and one of her young girls to have a photo shoot done. We had just finished two of the dogs and i was beginning to stand one of my males, when my oldest bitch, who was being held by Missie, lunged forward and her collar broke. ( A good english leather one!)
Now she only wanted to get to me so no harm was done...but then you start thinking "What if" what if is was walking on a busy road side (((((((Shudder))))))) It made me feel sick!!!
So I hope you dont mind me posting this as warning to check collars on a regular basis. I know many  experienced CD`s one here would do this, but to many new dogs owners, always check stitching and links of both collars and leads.
I for one, are just about to go out to buy news ones!!

I had this happen at training class Luckily, I left my youngest girl with the trainer holding her lead while I went to switch of the heaters she did exactly the same and lunged forward as I reappeared only she snapped her lead and not her collar. It was a good hardwearing oiled leather lead but was an old one and as she did it I thought thank god we weren,t outside at the time, If I,d left her to cross the road to pop in a shop or anything things could have been so much worse.
As it was the other class members thought it hilarious our trainer couldn,t control the breed he,s owned for over fourty years
This is one of the reasons my girls will never ever be tied up.

Are you absolutely sure it was to get to you rather than AWAY from Missie??? :D ;)

Cant disagree with that - english leather is great but you MUST look after it and check stitching regularly, check the leather itself if its dry or cracked (check around the bends/turns where it goes over a trigger clip or a buckle or d-ring.)

If you have rivetted leather goods keep a CLOSE eye on the rivets, they can and will rust and destroy the leather around the rivets.

And just cos im a pedant - dont buy machine sewn leather or cheap n nasty leather, it WILL break under sudden strain, if its machine sewn you only need one thread to be brokena nd the whole lot can come unravelled so do be aware - especially as there are a LOT of sellers who state 'hand made', where items are machine stitched - hand made does not mean hand sewn!

Em - a not at all passionate leather worker.....

One of my bitches snapped the metal ring on her half check collar when lungeing to sniff something that I didn't want her to.  Now that is frightening when they can break metal!

I've had the handle break on a leather lead, it was fairly new too. Like Em said, it only takes one stitch to break and thats that!

>Are you absolutely sure it was to get to you rather than AWAY from Missie???<

Thanks Newf :P
Actually it was a bit scarey - especially as there was indeed a main road nearby - but luckily it was only Helen she wanted to get to and not to just run off. And I immediately checked the collar on molly just to make sure it wasn't worn. Trouble is, they pull so darned hard that it can test the strength of any collar/lead. Usually Maddie wears two, an ordinary collar and a head collar to stop her pulling too much so I use both ends of the double clipped lead. In fact, I'm such a worry wort I may now use two on both of them :rolleyes:

Bet you it wasnt cast, but wire formed... it worried me when thats happened to me, and i found that the ring had opened up as it was unwelded - hence i only use cast brass unless someone specifically asks me and then i use welded stainless steel.
Worrying though, ive had welded steel rings STRETCH over time! possibly wasnt stainless though.. not sure (was a dog lead i bought off the market, so not one of my own).

A lot, in fact the majority of leather collars and leads on sale here are made using very low quality leather (especially if its coloured where the colour appears like paint on the surface), or offcuts from the upholstery or handbag trade - its NOT strong enough for the job, but it is so cheap, a collar you might pay a tenner for has cost around £1 to make, as it only takes minutes to machine sew on a lining and rivet it all to a buckle.

Does make me want to cry sometimes especially when i see leather goods advertised as quality english leather, hand made, when i know but most people cannot, that its reject standard leather, machine sewn and mass produced. Mostly as thats my competition but also as a lot of the items are just NOT safe.

When my boy was a puppy OH was walking him and the collar opened itself. It was one of the plastic clips. Puppy ran free along the road with OH chasing, luckily no cars. Puppy was caught when he stoped to look at sheep :-D
We now get our leather collars and leads from leather people at Crufts, I think they are dutch?? They hand make them in front of you. A little more pricey than usual but quite reasonable. The collars don't stretch like the cheap pet shop ones do either.
Will be spending more at Crufts this year ;-D :-D
GG

Like Allison, my last GSD's collar (half check leather) broke on the metal ring. Luckily it happened in the vets. I went through all the what if's and they made me feel sick too

Kat

My boy has TWICE managed to break collars.  In both cases, he lunged after a cat and the 'D' ring detached completely from the collar   They were two different types of collar (fabric/nylon) but I think it's down to his sheer strength rather than any major failing in the collars as they were both relatively new and not showing any signs of wear and tear.

He will shortly have a new hand stitched leather one (;)) so I'm hoping it will fare better :)

Where can you but a good hand stitched leather collar from???

Have Pm'd you leomad :)