Finding the Best Leather Collar

Last Updated on 2021-05-03 by Admin

Annie New Collar
Annie with new collar

One day my wife came home with a collar from a pet shop, she put it on Annie and went for a walk. During the walk, Annie came free and ran off. Once my wife convinced Annie to come back, she put the leash around her neck and walked home. When I looked at the Collar, the leather ripped apart where the pin goes through the leather hole.
The next day she went to the head office of the brand of Collar she had bought and told them what happened, and showed them the broken Collar. They then let my wife pick another collar as a replacement. They recommended a brand new model of a premium braided leather collar for strength.

The new Collar looked a little better, but I felt it was to narrow, and I failed to be impressed with the hardware on the Collar. During my lunch breaks at work, I searched online for leather collars. The search results were not showing what I had in mind. So we decided to look into a Harness instead of a collar.

Search for a Harness that fits a Boxer

Boxers have large a chest, which makes it hard to find a properly fitting Harness. We got some help in the pet shop to find a harness that would fit Annie. At least sort of fit. The nylon strips were to narrow, and we were at the max extension for the straps on most adjustment points. Annie seemed to be ok with it, so we double-checked the fit and the instructions on how to put it on and make adjustments. Being satisfied that we could adjust the harness and get Annie to wear it for at least a little time, we bought it.

But found that during long walks, she was uncomfortable with the harness. So we switched back to using a Collar. We only used the harness for short duration walks, giving her a chance to wear one and get used to it. And within a few weeks, Annie outgrew the harness.

When the harness comes off by accident

My wife had seen and bought a larger harness from a clearance store on here way home from work. The harness had broad bands and looked much more substantial. So we gave it a try, things seemed to work out fine. Annie was comfortable with the harness even on longer walks. One late summer evening, I went for a walk with Annie. When Annie abruptly stopped behind me as I walked forward. She bolted and passed by me and ran off to the field, and I’m standing there, holding the leash with harness in my hand.

In the field ahead of me, I could see a cloud of pollen moving in the opposite direction that I was going. That was the only indicator as to where Annie might be. The grass was much higher than Annie, so I could not see her.

The Boxer is a Trickster

I called Annie to come, but that Boxer girl decided she wanted adventure instead. On the multi-purpose path that went along the field, I would ask people if they saw a dog without a collar running around. And in between, I called Annie to come back. The direction of where people had seen the dog run was all over the place. There was no sign of Annie. I was looking for those moving clouds of pollen in the field, which would indicate the direction that Annie was running. But it was getting dark, and there were only a few people on the path.

As I walked along the way, a young family approached me and asked if I was looking for a dog on the loose? I confirmed that I was and explained my situation. One of the kids told me that a dog was on the other side of the field, lying in the deep grass, watching people.

Angry man

In anger, I made my way towards the location indicated by the kids, when I saw Annie in the field, I called her to come, in an angry voice. Annie just took off running. By this time, it was dark. There were only a couple of people on the path. One used his cellphones for a little extra light.

Having calmed down a bit, I went into the field and sat in the deep grass. It was high enough for me to hide when sitting down. There I waited a few minutes. Then whistled the distinctive whistle I do when I play with Annie. I heard the sound of the deep grass rustling. I stayed still. By that time, I had calmed down and reflected on all that happened. The rustling stopped. I heard some panting and just stayed quiet.

You can help but to forgive a Boxer

A few minutes went by, when Annie came over to me, sitting beside me and put her head on my leg. I petted her, and we stayed together in the grass for what seed to be a long while before I put the harness on Annie, and we walked back home.

Once home, my wife had wondered where we were for so long. I told her about my ordeal, while Annie was sleeping in her crate and snoring. I told my wife that on the weekend I was going to look into a custom made collar, we can’t go on like this.

Best Leather Dog Collar

That weekend early Saturday in the morning, I came across some websites for custom collars. Those collars were of much better quality then what I had seen in stores. The amazing part was that a custom collar was not that much more expensive then what we looked at in stores. And even better, they were made in North America. I narrowed down the list to a few worth exploring further. In the end, I ordered a custom collar from https://www.oldcountryleather.com.

A Wonderful experience

I used the sizing instruction on oldcountryleather.com and entered all the details for making a custom collar, the leather, the colour, the hardware, the thread colour, the location and colour of the text for Annie’s name etc. Later that day, I got a call from Jake, the representative from oldcountryleather.com. I was asked some more questions and was also able to have some of my questions answered. We had a great conversation, and I mentioned that I wanted a collar with some flowers as decoration. For female dogs, unless you were happy with glitter or pink, there were not many options. Jake asked me if I was willing to wait a few days. He could send me some pictures of some custom sample flowers that I could then choose to add. I agreed.

An Amazing Product

A few days later, I got an email with five leather example flowers to select. They just designed them because of my request. Amazing. Wow, I could not believe that someone would do this. I picked the type of flower and colour that I felt would look great on Annie. And the flowers were then added to the Collar.

The Collar looks fantastic, and I can’t rave enough about the quality of the product.

Best Leather Collar
New Leather Collar

The leather is top quality, thick and robust, yet soft to wear. The hardware is top-notch as well. Just touching the Collar gives you the feeling of quality, You know that it will last. Annie has her Collar now for about three years, and it is worn every day, rain, snow, sun or frost. I still use it daily. The flowers no longer look so lovely, but that I expected. I love that Collar so much that I had ordered an identical second collar, for special occasions. Talk about getting your money’s worth, its a steal for the quality.

Dealing with oldcountryleather.com was one of my most fantastic experiences of buying a product. Later I ordered leather belts for me, and my wife got some custom things made for here as well. Everything we ordered from them was impressive and of excellent quality. It may have been an online buy, but done in such a fantastic way that it is memorable.

Now I don’t have to worry when I go for a walk with Annie. This Collar she will never break, it has a lip on the side of the leather so not to cut into her fur or skin, and it is wide enough not to hurt her when she pulls.

Conclusion

I was lucky that Annie did not run off into the direction of traffic when she got loose from the harness, that is one of my primary fears. That is why I have liability insurance. Never the less, You don’t want to experience something like this.

When You have a Boxer, You will run into fitting issues often. That is because they have a big chest, more prominent than many other dogs. Annie, for a female, is a large Boxer. It was difficult to find winter coats and harnesses that fit. And if you have a larger than average Boxer, it is even harder to find proper fitting products. Ordering online for specific articles is tricky.

Things like collars and harnesses should be of good quality, fit properly and be comfortable. I don’t consider a custom collar for Annie a luxury. It is essential and probably saves money in the long run. My harness experience shows what can happen.

You can read more about our adventure walks here.

Leave a comment