I am seeking some advice as to which knots to use to make a two-dog leash with latex surgical tubing shock absorber betwixt the dogs such that if one dog goes one way and one goes the other, they don’t dislocate each other’s neck. I would like to create a standard loop for the wrist/thumbcli followed by about six feet of leash (so far so good) connected to a ring. Here it comes. The ring then, is connected to two additional lengths …(or one anchored mid way) which are then attached to the dogs via your standard dog leash clip dealy bobs. Between the ring and the clip is my problem. I want surgical tubing for shock absorption, but i need a longer length of rope for security. So the surgical tubing is shorter to absorb the shock but when the dog goes so far, the rope kicks in for a definitive stop. Yes, of course I could just drape the rope down, but I was hoping for some type of braided sheathing that would surround the latex tubing and stretch with it a number of inches before the final rigid tug on the neck.
I don’t know if that makes any sense at all. Mostly I am looking for some kind of braid or knot that will stretch when pulled for a few inches or so.
I must admit that I cannot understand all that you are describing. I’ve attached an image of two leashes with an elastic band (in red) between the two.
I see. I don’t want to be too presumptuous, but it seems like the sketch I posted will work in the same manner with a slightly lower degree of complexity. Both systems have elasticity between the two dogs until a certain point when the hard stop kicks in.
Quote: “Yes, of course I could just drape the rope down, but I was hoping for some type of braided sheathing that would surround the latex tubing and stretch with it a number of inches before the final rigid tug on the neck.”
Seems to me you are really looking for shock cord that already has a woven braided cover. That is available from a slew of suppliers.
The means to attach the shock cord is the question? What knot(s) to use there.
The answers will vary from the utilitarian to the decorative.
yes…your system is much less complicated. I consider myself fairly intelligent, having aced a year of organic chemistry and so forth, but when it comes to knots (or computers) it all goes down the tubes. I DO have a bunny leash and harness that has shock cord encased in a fabric sleeve and I supposed that got me thinking more linearly. Also, thought I might try some simple yet decorative knots to make the leash…or braids or something so it just doesn’t look like a rope leash. Could just go buy one. just thought i might try to make my own more decorative one of a kind project.
Anyway, the only thing keeping me thinking on a linear bent is that I may, on occasion, only have one dog on, and during that time, I may be on a bike as well. So I originally described the shock cord as insulation between the dogs, but I was also thinking to myself that if I only had one dog on and I was on my bike that I would want the shock absorber to keep the dog from jerking me off my bike in that instance. Pity you couldn’t read my mind.
I made a leash for the bike before…just a length of rope with a bit of surgical tubing…similar to my diagram.
Thinking of a series of metal rings surrounding the tubing every so often with several slack bits of rope holding them but the braid that stretches sounded better.
Anyhow…
Thanks for the reply. Who knows what I’ll end up with.
Your diagram looks like a disaster waiting to happen. If you wanted individual control over one dog only, you could not have it. I’d prefer a device that’s closer to Roo’s diagram.
Just an concerned member’s opinion here.
If I were going to do anything remotely like this and the challenge truly is that the dogs do not choke out or get unduly jerked, then I would manufacture or purchase body harnesses. Those are so much kinder and gentler.
Google the possibilities.
Then you can twist and fiddle any kind of leash contraption you’d care to do. (Decorative knot work)
I at one time tried harnesses with the elastic and without. the dogs will not pull me along on a bike but prefer to trot along the side of it. on occasion they will run ahead or off to the side enough that the elasticity alerts them that they are coming to the end of the leash. Since I know they will not pull me along on the bike, I just need enough “give” in that situation to avoid a sudden jerk for their sake and mine…there is also a quick release if needed. Again, a harness was and would be used if I knew they were pulling. Pulling from the neck is not good. That is what I am trying to avoid. When tethered together using an over the counter coupler, there is NO elasticity whatsoever. I am trying to improve that by providing some warning and gradual pull. Sorry everyonel, I didn’t mean to get into a big argument with the ASPCA. The dogs are fine. I feed them Wellness and Innova. Everyone is happy. Please do not call the Gestapo.
I’m just a guy looking for a braided or other sleeve-like series of knots that can stretch along with some surgical tubing. Sorry for the controversy.
It seems to me that what’s asked is some kind of shock absorber. The boating industry has long had a solution for this that is better than the split lines in the first suggestion from OP.
To make this, a braided line without a core is used. The line is compressed longitudinally, so the centre opens up, and a soft rubber core is inserted; the core can be made of foam material, that will be compressed when the rope elongates, thus providing resiliency.
Having been a dog trainer for some years, the whole idea to me does not seem very good. I would prefer two separate leashes, to give me control over each dog without interfering with the other. After some training, jerks will not be any problem, and no trained dog should pull or jerk on the leash. When using dogs for pulling loads, a harness should always be used, not the collar.
But the simplest way to add resilience is to use a tube braid with foam rubber in the centre. Another option is to have a zigzag portion of the rope through a rubber contraption with several holes, which is another solution used in boating.
that slack non-elastic line (as shown in some proposed solutions)
becomes a snag-magnet, catching and tangling on all sorts of things;
that in the situation with a fork there should be all so much need,
as there is a 3-way tension which should itself be somewhat shock
absorbing (i.e., the dogs will not typically be pulling directly against
each other)
As for biking, I’ll only comment that dogs on leashes along “bike trails”
are known hazards to cyclists, not all of whom ride w/needed caution
to beware the wayward leanings of a dog & presence of leash.
Well, at last I meet one. An idle person on a bike , but this time, not with one dog on a lead but two dogs on a bungee cord – you sir, take the biscuit…
Don, I have six greyhounds and I walk them each on a separate leash - why? because if one goes one way and one another, then it is me that takes the grief and not my dogs necks for my lack of attention. If you have two dogs leashed together and they jump in opposite directions, you have no way of diverting the inevitable neck snapping jar when they eventually hit the hard cord - elastic tube or no elastic tube. To walk dogs safely you have to be in control and be alert to approaching issues.
And as for biking with your dogs (let alone having your dogs pull you) - I will not cause blushes for the other readers of this forum by giving here my opinion of the idle people I see doing this, other than to say - please find a good home for your dogs, they certainly don’t deserve having a companion like you. Are you really so lazy and so uncaring that you cannot get off your bike and run with your dogs, or find a safe place for them to run off leash?
I genuinely don’t care one jit about your safety should you get knocked off you bike by a spooked dog - you probably deserve it, but jees, can’t you give a moments thought and CARE about what would happen to your dogs if they got legs caught in the wheels or pedals - or is it just that you like being seen out as Mr Macho on his bike with his dogs and to hell with giving their welfare any consideration.
Come on Don - brain in gear man - please… before you injure or kill them…
This reminds me of what once happened to me, when I was on the bike with a dog on leash. This was a very nice bitch, she usually obeyed my least wink, but she had one weakness for water. She absolutely loved water.
So I glide idly along this path along the lakeshore, and she suddenly gets the idea to take a bath. I try to stop her, but to no avail. So there we go, first the dog, then the guy on the bicycle. Neck-deep in the water, still on the bicycle, I feel a bit foolish, and my dog is one of the happiest creatures on Earth.
Lucky I guess that the water was on the dogs side.
My greys similarly are usually very good and placid, but they all have one absolute weakness - squirrels.
Mostly, I spot trouble well in advance of the hounds (I have a substantial height advantage) but sometimes I don’t and that is when I need to be sure it is me that pays for lack of attention, not my dogs.
Inkanyezi - I really really would have liked to have seen and video’d that little episode - thank you for sharing it with us. I think the mental image and the imagined embarrassment will live with me for quite some time.
I think the mental image and the imagined embarrassment will live with me for quite some time.
It also lives with me still after about thirty years.
But it is not really the whole story, because at the time, I was training guide dogs for the blind, “seeing eye dogs”, and this one had been considered a suitable candidate - now imagine THAT!
