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Anyone use the collars, leads etc ?
My youngest lab needs a new collar and I'm looking for something that's going to be durable. I got the idea of ruffwear as Police dogs use their harnesses and stuff so they must be good quality, but circa £25 for a collar is a lot if you are just paying for a name.
It pays in the long run. I've lost count of the amount of cheapy £5 jobs from Pets at Home that we've gone through with our retriever over the years.
He loves to wallow in mud, swim in the (corrosively salty) sea and finds it funny to chew his collars and leads. His Ruffwear collar has so far proved to be a tougher challenge though.
Still got ruffwear collars and leads for my 13 and 7 year old labs that had all their lives pretty much, just changed to their new waterproof ones which much better as less smelly and better when they are in the water. We have kept with ruffwear stuff for their other kit as well, is definitely worth it.
I've used the full harnesses on my springers, sorta gives you dog handles that makes it easy help them out/over stuff or in emergency pick them up and although not cheap very good .
I tend to use julius K9 stuff nowadays which is less of a full harness but also gives a useful dog handle.
It's good stuff. The harness is very robust. The oh used to run with ours but now just walks.
Got harness, boots, lead etc. V good stuff.
I get collars embroidered with name, phone number etc.
Had a Ruffwear Front Range harness on our sprocker but it was starting to break within 3 walks - wearing through where the metal loop (quite sharp edges) is fixed in fabric. Returned it to Amazon and got a Julius K9 - no complaints with that so far and it seems a bit comfier for the dog too. Current collar is an Ezy 'double up' - lasting well so far, after the last cheapo basic one went missing whilst out and about.
Check out the Australian brand Black Dog
I switched back to leather collars as man-made ones don't seem to last and stink, leather lasts they don't seem to absorb the dog stench as easy either.
I use Kong collar & lead. Not cheap but they're still in perfect condition after 3 years on a springer
My lab has had the same collar his whole adult life, he was 7 yesterday
It's a padded synthetic one from Pets at Home, a 'Wainwright's' one, which helped me pick it
It's been soaked many many many times and it's fine. Doesn't smell and is really robust. He's also had the same lead most of his life, I also made an extra paracord one for certain specific uses
As long as it has a proper buckle, not a side release one, and is heavy duty enough, I'd be surprised if any old normal collar will work fine.
We take the collar off our dog at home, he only wears it when he goes out