How the heck is he doing this?!
Tojo figured out how to unbuckle a leash and I have no clue how he's doing it. He first did it when I was out walking him and he was dragging a six foot leash. The leash got stuck and he unbuckled it to free himself! Lately, whenever I put him out on a leash for his morning and evening potty breaks he's been releasing himself and going for a joy run down at the pond. How the heck is he doing it?! Neither of the other dogs can do it and he can do it on different leashes.
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
damn shiba's!
That is pretty funny and good luck trying to figure a shiba out!
Nemo's brother is also a leash magician, or tie outs actually. I believe he usually does it by rubbing the clip between his neck and the ground, pushing the pull lever into the dirt and then jerking it.
However if Tojo is doing this while standing up, he must be using his mouth, or you have a faulty leash and some pulling can free his collar. I had a leash like that, the clip look like it closed all the way, but it was loose enough that a hard tug could push the pin out of the way and off Nemo would go.
LMAO!
You have to be sneaky, very sneaky.
Your best bet would be to just aim the camera at him with it running and go back inside or do what you usually do.
However if Tojo is anything like Nemo, he might just stare at the vidoe camera since it isn't "normal".
Also, if he is doing it to all leashes, he is a little Shiba Houdini.
Be vewwy vewwy quiet....we are hunting shiba!
Sasha hates cameras! I have video of her looking at it and then looking away over and over...Brad knows this habit very very well.
Greetings:
I came across this thread (and this forum) because I'm basically pulling my hair out worrying about how to keep my 9 month old shiba on his leash. Mochi is his name and he is a great dog, but he is probably too smart for his own good. A couple of weeks ago I was taking him for his morning walk and he got a bit spooked by a lady who was changing the prices on a sign at the gas station. He jumped around a bit, gave a few of his polite barks (which basically sound like somebody clearing their throat) and then he had a good shake.
The shake is what caused his leash to part company with his collar, and after that it was not a pleasant morning at all. I’ll skip the details except to say that we were only a half a block from the district park at the time, so I was lucky in that he bee-lined it to his favorite play ground and for the most part stayed off the streets (it was still dark out, and he very easily could have wound up as road-kill).
Once he was through playing his favorite game (which involves watching a fat guy trying to do wind sprints) he was a good sport and let me catch him. After the mandatory praising and petting and pretending I wasn’t furious the leash went back on and the dog immediately stood up and shook as if he had just gotten out of a bath. Fortunately I had looped the handle of the leash around his collar; so I just smiled indulgently. But I also realized that this could become a very annoying habit.
At the time I had Mochi on a 1” nylon lead with a typical bolt snap and a simple buckled collar made of a similar material. The hardware was a bit oversized for the dog, but he pulls pretty hard when he gets distracted and I assumed bigger was better. This may have contributed to the problem because I believe he can generate a fair amount of force by utilizing the inertia of the heavy components. I think he got most of the force needed to open the snap by pushing on the side of the bolt. It is also possible that the force of the spring which holds the bolt closed was either partially or completely negated when the snap changed directions during the shaking. In any event, I’m not a big physics guy and the only accelerometers I own are Nintendo toys; so all of this remains pure speculation.
After a week of doubling up the leashes, I’ve changed to a large leash with a gatesnap (that is to say it closes like a carbineer, and any attempt to push against the gate will just hold it shut). This seems to keep the leash connected; but I’m afraid it hasn’t solved my problems. The other day he managed to shake his entire collar off (although I don’t believe it was intentional, it was raining and he just wanted to dry off a bit). I got lucky that time; he jumped up into the car not realizing that he was as free as bird. Meanwhile I’m banging my head because I don’t know how to handle this.
Since I’m in the process of training, I also use a choke chain with a lighter lead and a lounge line. I’m of the opinion that the lighter gear actually works better, mainly because when he shakes the chain is much slicker and it is a lot harder for him to whip the snap around like he can on his thicker, heavier, collar. Of course ultimately my dream is to own a dog that comes when I call him, but I know I’ve got a lot of work to do to get him to where I don’t have to worry all the time.
Since I’ve started having these problems I have spent a lot of time looking for a better way to stay connected to my little buddy. I’ve talked to a number of people and most of them seem to think I’m a little bit nuts; and that I’m giving the dog way too much credit. I’ve also had very little luck on the internet, most of the folks who have experienced hardware failures own big dogs that pull like mules, and in my case; if beefing up the hardware worked I would never have had a problem in the first place.
I’m looking for a source of snaps which have a reasonable working load but that also are relatively small and light (stainless steel seems practical, but I’m even looking at titanium) and which have as much tension on the locking springs as is possible. I would prefer a design which is different than a bolt snap. I’m also interested in swapping Mochi’s nylon collar for something that is a bit slicker/smaller but not a choke collar (maybe a leather ring collar). Alternatively I’m thinking about putting another d-ring into his present collar that is “free” (as opposed to being sewn into the collar) so that it can slip more when he shakes. I’ve also entertained the notion of simply “marrying” each lead to one and only one collar by hammering split links between them. This may be the cheapest and the lightest solution, but it is going to be almost impossible to swap the lead and the lounge line without totally removing the choke collar; and I’m afraid we’ll have to do this in our obedience classes (although I may simply wind up leaving the lounge line secured to the lead).
Any ideas or suggestions would be more than welcome. I don’t mind shelling out the bucks to get good gear, but I don’t like the idea of using a family member as a guinea pig. So I would rather not try anything too unconventional unless I have to. I’d also like to apologize if I’ve made any of the other owners nervous. I may be totally paranoid and I certainly don’t want to do anything to discourage people from enjoying the time they spend with their pets. The bottom line is that even if I had to walk my dog with two leads, a harness, a collar, and one hundred bucks worth of mountaineering gear to bundle the whole lot into one piece; I’d still do it as often as I could.
Your best place to look for things to create your own leash end would probably be at a hardware store. I've bought parts for a leash at one before, usually in the chain link section.
You should also get the little guy on a Martingale style collar. Premier and Lupine make them, lupine even gives exchanges on chewed collars and leashes.
You could also try a collar and harness combo. On the end of your leash you could attach a coupler (used for two dogs) and connect it to him at both spots. That way if one goes, you still have the other, you could make your own or buy one.
You could also rig a C ring (I think that is what they are called) onto the end of a leash. You will find them at the hardware store in different sizes. They look like a C, but instead of clamping it screws together. You would just have to screw it on everytime you go in and out.
If none of that makes sense I can try to find some pictures.
I know someone from another dog forum I visit who makes rope leashes and has a few items that would help. There's this one, with a caribeaner instead of a snap, so it goes on and stays on and this one has two buckles so it can attach to a harness and a collar (or two collars, or whatever). The main website is www.ellaslead.com
You can make your own rope leashes just like these, of course, you just have to buy the supplies from a hardware store. I've made a few rope leashes with supplies I bought from Home Depot that I really like. They were cheap as dirt to make, but the materials weren't nearly as nice as the Ella's Lead stuff. Of course, you control how nice the materials since you're picking them out. For a small dog like a shiba, a heavy duty super leash isn't necessary.
Harnesses are harder to get out of than collars, but I prefer to use collars because I like to reserve harnesses for pulling the scooter, so I want the distinction made that harness = pull and collar = don't pull. I use a rolled leather collar on Tojo and I like it a lot! Back when I was teaching him to be polite on leash, though, I used a nylon slip collar and that worked really well. I made the nylon slip collar, too, by the way. It was really easy.
I've been drooling over these rolled leather collars. They're expensive, but a good quality collar will last a lifetime. Tojo's is a cheapie one I picked up at the petstore and I can tell it's only going to last so long. Plus, I tried to buy Rakka a rolled leather collar a while back and I couldn't find one single collar in all the petstores in town that had a d-ring big enough for a leash buckle to fit on. What use is a collar that you can't attach a leash to?! The collars on the website I linked to have elongated d-rings so you can actually attach a leash to. Plus, they are customized to fit your pup. Plus, they are really nice! We are getting the pups these collars for their birthdays.
Rolled leather collars are easy for Shibas (and other dogs with narrow heads) to back out of. They should really be decorative collars only. Martingale style collars are the only type I would walk any Shiba or Shikoku on. I've read a lot of stories over the years of people holding a leash with a collar attached to it while the Shiba runs down the street.
Those Ella's Leads are cool, and look to be exactly what diggah would need.
The leads and collars we use are these:
http://www.silverfoot.com/catalogue/pet.html
We use the "training" collar for our pups, they work well - tho they are kinda $$$.
The collars work well and don't slip.
Brad, do you use these for Hilo too? Do they leave his neck hair ok?
I'm kind of having a hard time choosing a collar for my Akita. I thought of a slip chain but it didn't feel right, the rolled leather seems good, but I'm unsure about damages to the hair and the neck/throat.
Yes, we use a large for Hilo - we don't leave a collar on our dogs all the time, so none of them mess up their hair. When it's time for a walk we just slide them over their head.
We have only had one instance when one of them sled out of one of those collars, but that was because we had not properly adjusted it yet (it was Hilo actually).
Hilo was hard to get the right size collar for because the fur and skin around his neck is rather excessive - so we had to adjust his large collar to be slightly smaller than we had it originally because it could slide off his head... once we did that he can't get out of it at all (not that he tries to, when it came off the first time he just stopped and looked at us and gave a "WoooWooo!"). The tighter adjustment makes it less comfortable to slide over his head, but it is needed since his neck is so thick... I think, as he grows, that problem will go away.
As a puppy he used the medium collar, then around 6 months he needed the large.
The Shikas have medium version and the Shibas have smalls.
I like that company because the leashed are pretty soft to the touch so they don't give you blisters.
I just bought Lucy a martingale from Ruffwear: http://www.ruffwear.com/Chain_Reaction_Training_Collar. The collar is a standard collar, but the leash we got is really cool: http://www.ruffwear.com/Flat-Out-Leash?sc=2&category=15. The loop part of the leash actually has an adjustable clip on it so you can clip it around your waste on a walk/run (or a post if you want to leave your dog for a while---not that I would). I like it because I'm not constantly pulling on Lucy when I swing my arms and I'm sure she likes it for the same reason.
Thanks for the links and the comments. The Ella's lead site was particularly helpful. I'm building something fairly similar, with one snap for the collar and a rope clamp/knot connecting the lead directly to the harness. If he gets out of that I'm changing his name to Hairy Houdini.
I'm not going to replace his collar for the time being because it is his "casual attire" to keep his tags on, and I do leave him alone in it when we're at home. He still has to go to class on a choke chain, but once we've gotten through that I'll take a serious look at switching to the martingales for longer walks.
Apologies to Okiron, I'm new to the forum and not used to having this much control over the formating. I'll edit the post to fix the font size.
This weekend we've been out and around all the petshops we could think of, looking for stuff for the mini-pack that's coming.
Looked at literally dozens of leashes and collars. Found some nice collars, but i was hoping to find something that does not seem to exist. I wanted a training collar with one of those fast plastic locks, like the one on the collars Brad showed, to make it easy to put on, since i'm not planning to keep the dog on a collar inside. Since it doesn't seem to exist, I started looking at those leashes that are also a collar. Braids, I think they're called. Has anyone tried them? Any advice on them?
We we're speaking of the nesting feeling on one of the threads, and we got sooooo much of that!
I find the plastic buckle collars always seem to break. The first day we had Loki, he broke through his plastic buckle like it was nothing! Tojo also chewed his plastic buckle off. That's why I prefer the metal buckles. Of course, they're not as convenient if you take them off all the time, but I like to leave mine on in case they escape so they will still have their tags on.
I know lots of people use the plastic buckles with no problem, though, so maybe I just had bad luck.
I dug this old thread up because I've been having a collar issue with Lucy. As I posted above, she has a collar from Ruffwear that is martingale style. Its got a chain part like a prong collar and the rest is flat. She's getting some staining on her fur and I'm wondering if: a) anyone else has had this problem before; b) is it the metal part or the nylon part that is causing the staining; c) is there anything I can do about it short of buying her another collar. She does not wear her collar all the time. Only when we are out of the house.
Thanks!