Sunday, May 19, 2013

Home Brew'd Check Cord


What's a check cord?   I found its a more official name for a long lead.   Dog supplies often have many names and aren't all that standardized.   So I was looking for a long leash to work on my pups recall I was finding a lot of different options.  A lot of the options via amazon were flat cotton web leashes that went for $10 bucks.   I have a 20ft one, and it's kind of stiff, heavy, and well... just kind of dull.

So, when I started refining my query to find something bright, durable, and light I found out about these check cords.  I guess these are used a lot in training gun dogs (which is why they come in orange or camo)....  These can run any where from $15 to $30 bucks depending on length, material, and brand.    I thought it was cool, but one of the retail products looked like it could very easily be home brewed.  It was just rope with a trigger snap and a bowline knot.  I can make that!  so I did see above.

So after finding a brass snap with a 90lb weight rating (Harper is 60lbs) so I wanted some margin... and the robe is rated to 500+lbs, but gets derated with knots... but I believe the 90lbs on the trigger is still the limiting factor.

Field Testing with Harper! :
My 2 year old rescue pup helped field test the check cord



Harper approves of the check cord.



A great tool to work on recall with.  You still have complete control of the dog and able to corrected and call.  I practiced down stays and come when called with Harper and he loved it!  

Some clips of Harper showing off his come when called skills. 



So the bottom line,  this is a very easy and cheap homebrew.  The only thing I have learned is to investigate the weight of the clip for hte end of the rope.  Harper being a big dog he can handle the weight of the brass clip I got, but for a smaller dog, I'd go with a smaller clip so there wasn't as much pressure on the neck from the 'drag'.

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