And I knew it at the time, but had no real choice. The only place around here that sells tie-out cables for dogs is the dollar store. Hook Little Bear to a dollar-store tie-out cable, and he’ll stay hooked to it only if he agrees to.
LB’s got an overactive chase instinct. See the rabbit, chase the rabbit; he just can’t help himself. And this morning I watched him snap his brand-new cable’s clip in half without apparently even noticing that he had. It’s the second time in three days.
This time I was extra concerned, because the clip broke at the Lair, not his collar, which meant he was trailing 20′ of cable into the nothin’. His chances of getting tangled up in something were pretty much certain, and he’s not clever about untangling himself – to say the least – and he’s not always vocal about calling for help. Which means I might not be able to find him when he needed rescue. I jumped in the Jeep to give him some incentive to return and followed his approximate path, calling all the time. Fortunately he came right to the Jeep. But I need a better alternative, which will involve a trip to a decent hardware store. It’s something I probably should have dealt with before, but it’s only recently he’s started snapping them.
In the interim, would a sacrificial link at his collar solve the smaller of the two problems?
It would keep him from trailing a dangerous cable into the bush, which would be good. But I’d rather rig it so he can’t break free in the first place.
It sounds to me like his lead needs a ‘shock absorber’ of some kind, but darned if I know what that animal looks like.
My dog MacKenzie chewed through her chest halter (Cordura type) in the time it took me to go inside and make myself a sandwich and go back outside – frickin’ dog! Didn’t even have the decency to look guilty either, just smiled at me, wagging her tail. I was lucky the PetSmart clerk recognized me (wasn’t that hard – I was a little over an hour door to door) – she just took the collar away laughing and told me to go get another, free of charge. Said she’d been there before – cool chick!
I’ve seen shock absorbers specific to this purpose, but it still means a trip into town. If you have a bungy cord and a short piece of tie out chain, though, you could thread the bungy through the piece of chain a few inches longer than the cord, and crimp over the s-hooks. May give you some cushion, perhaps enough to spare the cable.
Joel don’t use a cable . I did and after the dog got tangled a couple of times and put a kink in it somehow or another he snared his hind leg in the loop . It’s chains only now for a tie out .
Might try one of those electric invisible fences. Work a treat on the several dogs I’ve seen with it. Just run a wire around the property a few inches underground and attach the sender unit. Collar puts out a noise the dog hears if he gets too close to the wire. If he goes farther the shock gets his attention just fine. My brothers ball crazy dog will stop dead in his tracks if that ball gets too close to the fence. Might work on yours.