Little Bear wears out tie-out cables with monotonous regularity. I could put him on a chain, but cables fit under the front door. That way I don’t have to chain and unchain him forty times a day, and if he gets excited and bolts out the door (it happens) he’s already cabled up.
And LB is usually very good about the cable thing. It’s what he’s used to and he doesn’t mind. Except sometimes…look, he’s a dog, and not the smartest in history…sometimes he forgets. And when LB gets excited and forgets, he breaks things. He doesn’t mean to.
I got tired of him breaking the clips off the ends, so I clipped them off myself and put threaded links through the loops. That’s quite a lot stronger, though the lack of swivels is annoying. But this new heavier cable didn’t have loops. So I used the existing clips, but did make one just-in-case purchase at Home Despot. Tossed it in the junk drawer and forgot about it. But not for long.
Yesterday it came out of the drawer.
Break that if you can, LB.
Perhaps a spring buffer installed between the cable and the eye bolt would dampen the shock loads enough to make the remaining parts last longer. Just back it up with some sort of safety cable/chain.
Keeping doggies on a lead can be a challenge. We keep our dog on one as well and have to replace the brass snap link about 3 times a year, the groove worn into the brass making it happen. The dog hates cats and would cheerfully jump into a pool of lava to get to to one, not that they give her a chance, kitties is smart that way.
I think your way will work, our leads at both ends have three of those U-bolts as well, the third one is wrapped around the metal loop and doubled back so it won’t slip through. So far, the cable breaks before the connection does (I would have enjoyed the look on that cat’s face when that was discovered, Shiiiiiiiiiiit! lol).