Even though it was technically my fault, he has this one infuriating thing that he does and he chose to do it the moment I grumped down the ladder this morning. He’s connected to his tie-out cable day and night – I just slip it under the door – because once he’s outside and loose he heads for the horizon and absolutely will not listen to any command to return. Oh HOW I wish I’d done more with electronic collars when he was young, but he wouldn’t have been wearing it at this time anyway. Sometimes he comes back, usually he shows up at a neighbor’s hours later. Someday he’s going to kill a calf or something and then there’ll be hell to pay.
Sometimes he somehow slips the clip on his cable, so I always check it before I release him into the wild. And I was just doing that, but the door was open and it was just hanging on the loop of his collar by a tiny bit, so when I touched it it fell off, and Ghost was already off on his morning run, and LB reacted like he’d heard a starter buzzer.
He ignored me shouting myself hoarse like I hadn’t made a sound, so I hoofed it to the Jeep but first I had to take the traps out from under the hood (one mouse this morning.) And then I charged down the wash, didn’t see him, made a loop at a point farther than I thought he could have gone – only to find, as I have before, that he’d gone farther yet. Because as I started to return I saw him in the rear-view. LB can ignore me, but he can’t resist the siren call of a Jeep ride.
This has always been a problem. I always figured that if he comes to the Jeep, it’s counterproductive to punish him because what if he doesn’t come next time? But this time he ran into a Jeep containing a precaffeinated, half-dressed and boiling-mad Uncle Joel. Screw the consequences, this dog is gonna know he did wrong.
Well I’d have to use a 2X4 to actually harm him, in fact I’m pretty sure he can’t feel being thrashed with a leash through all that hair. But he still thinks the world has collapsed and crashed around him.
Oh, he’s in disgrace.
Oh me…. so next time he won’t come to the Jeep. There are days you just can’t win.
Remember the 140 pound lab/rottweiler? He simply hated to be tied up, and I wasn’t fond of it myself, but he could practically step over the low fence around the front yard. Regardless of the fact that he’d never offered to harm a soul (he did chase cats, and would have killed them easily), his bulk and too friendly attitude scared the crap out of the neighbors, and their kids sometimes. If he was going to be out in the yard, it had to be on a tieout of some kind. He went through a lot of them… until we found an aircraft tiedown cable. That had a really strong “clip” and when combined with a heavy nylon web harness, with the cable secured to a large tree… he wasn’t going anywhere. The harness was because his neck was so thick that he could easily slip a regular collar, even if it was terribly tight.
Probably serious overkill for LB, but you might consider some of it. 🙂
When it comes to clip strength there’s no such thing as overkill with LB. I use heavy tie-out cable – not quite aircraft cable – but always cut off the clips, which he can snap right off, and replace them with hardware from the feed store. This stuff is made to hold horses, and so far he hasn’t broken one. But sometimes while he’s rolling around in his sleep they’ll somehow become unclipped from his collar, so I need to check them before I release him.
for my dog who regularly broke everything up to 1400lb 1/4″ steel cable, I solved the clip issue
Rock climbing twist lock carabiners. Mines good to i think 27KN of force…
Until we put in the 6ft privacy fence, that connected to a large tree was the only way to keep the dog in the yard.
To keep her from twisting herway around the tree, I used tubular climbing webbing around the tree with another ‘biner on that. (think like a leash handle around the tree)
You just need better hardware on his collar, even if it isn’t as convenient to use as a clip. Consider a modest shackle or a quick link.
http://www.tulsachain.com/asccustompages/products.asp?AffID=&categoryid=461&navParent=459
Ben,
Quick links are great for static loads, but with work and vibration (like a dog rolling around) they will come unscrewed. The locking carabiner sounds like a good bet. These have worked for me in the past.
http://www.bluegrasshorsesupply.com/shop/catalog/oval_eye_scissor_snap-1345.html
I have also had good success with using these clamps (two per end) to hold the plastic coated aircraft cables on the ends.
http://conerymfg.com/products/chain-and-cable/14-stainless-steel-wire-clamp
BTW, my “lap dog” Sam looks very much like Little Bear, and he is a cross with a Keeshond and a Golden Retriever. The only significant difference I can discern from photos is that Sam has a curly spitz tail. Fortunately, he believes his feet are nailed to the ground, so a four foot hog wire fence is sufficient to contain him.
Little Bear has straightened a small quick link right out, pulling the threads apart. I think it’s possible it had come partially unscrewed, but can’t say. He has broken at least three clips right off storebought tie-out cables, which is why I won’t use them anymore. When a cable gets frayed and needs replacement, I cut them off and replace them.
This is what I’m using on his collar at the moment.
I’ve never tried one of those scissor snaps. Are they proof against a high-velocity snap? Because you wouldn’t know it from looking at him, but he can hit hypersonic by the time he hits the end of his cable and that’s when he breaks things.
I don’t know about shock loading on the scissors snaps, but I do know they are not recommended for holding horses, or people foolishly attempting to do the same. They are used mostly for static tack like reins and chest straps. These thing on the other hand are fiendishly strong, difficult to open, and definitely capable of allowing a recalitrant horse to take an unwise and strong gripped human for a quick drag…
http://www.chicksaddlery.com/page/CDS/PROD/2401/TBL55
Like any swivelling device, I would inspect it regularly for wear on the swivel…it sucks when THAT part just pulls off.
Darn it…posting from a phone in the middle of the night is hard…I meant to type recalcitrant, and the thing posted before I logged on.