Dog collar mini-rant

[Olimpia]

First thing's first. Since this is about dogs I can finally infiltrate another photo of my baby
This is the day after we brought her home, she was just under 8 weeks old.

So, two weeks ago marked exactly a year since we got her, and I thought that now that she's a year old and she has her full adult coat, she deserves a leash and collar that are much more elegant than the little green ones she has now. But I've been looking everywhere (pet stores, online stores, ebay) and no one understands what elegant means! Elegant is not synonymous with cheap little rhinestones. It does not mean hot pink, or fake pearls, or spikes. SPIKES for crying out loud, how does that pop up when you search "elegant" or "classy?" haha I don't know what to do at this point, I can't find anything I like for Mina. At this point I'm just looking for something in leather that doesn't have any lame embelishments on it, but it's hard.

Gah. lol

 

[robin]

looked for rolled leather dog collars

 

[Olimpia]

That's actually the type of collar she was wearing in that photo. And I do like those but the ones you get at pet stores stain like nothing else, and for a dog that has a white neck, having an orange band of hair sticks out like crazy lol

 

[robin]

ok check this

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3307+4+8088&pcatid=8088

or this

this is the rolled leather ones. they are very neat and clean and classy. http://www.dogids.com/enbrleroco.html

 

[robin]

:O i never had that problem with any of my rolled colors before but i generally get black or brown

 

[robin]

i just looked at the king ranch store and i did not find any dog collars, i swear the used to have them and they were awesome!

 

[Olimpia]

Hey thanks for the links, I'll look through them and see what I can find.

I swear last time she had a brown rolled collar and it got damp (from a little rain, or whatever) it would stain her fur orange. And I live in Florida, so there's little I can do about keeping things dry lol

 

[robin]

maybe they were different makers

 

[Mel&Keith]

I can't remember the brand names but when I worked for a pet supply distributer we carried 2 different brands of rolled leather collars. One cost more than twice as much as the other but the quality wasn't even comparable. The cheaper one would even dye the bag it came in so look for the really high quality ones and you should be ok even if it gets wet.

 

[Bellalee]

Come into the dark world.. of horses.. no I'm kidding..

Here's some leather ones..

http://www.smartpakcanine.com/Category.aspx?CATID=257

ETA.. sorry they may be a smidge expensive..

 

[Olimpia]

I know, I'm going to have to pay more than I'd probably like to get her a collar that will last her a long time.

Honestly, though, I've already found my dream collar/leash combo, but talk about expensive! lol It's ostrich skin, and the collar alone is worth something like $150! I'd love to have it, but that's too expensive to be practical on so many levels.

Thanks for the link Rachel, in the 3 minutes I've been looking at that site I've already found one that I like.

 

[Bellalee]

Sweet! Glad I can be of help.

That ostrich skin one sounds slick.

 

[Olimpia]

Awesome, I think I found a cute leather collar and leash that I might buy. I'm going to keep looking around today, but I think that's the best option for Mina. Thanks for the links guys!

 

[robin]

oh oh i like this one http://www.smartpakcanine.com/productclass.aspx?productClassid=1572

this one too but without the nameplate http://www.smartpakcanine.com/productclass.aspx?productClassid=4948

 

[Olimpia]

I really like the second one, but I'm not sure about the price on it lol I rather keep looking and make sure there's nothing I like more before I spend that much. But it is really cute.

 

[Chewbecca]

My best e-friend runs a custom collar business.
www.collarmania.com

She can make you anything you're looking for.
And she does GREAT work.
I should know, I have over 30 of her collars that I had her custom-make for my dog.

She can do embroidery on leather and fabric.
She also has ribbon collars, too.
AND she does do small dog collars as well.

Check out her site.
I PROMISE you she can make you a collar that you'll be happy with.

 

[Misstasha]

you can get a person that works with leather to make one specially for your dog!! I've done that!!

 

[Wolfyhound]

You can also look for the kangaroo leather woven ones.

But the theme through your post seems to be, I want a really cool collar, but I don't want to spend tons of money. And that's what the problem is. In order to stay cheap, they mass produce the collars and do what appeals to 90% of pet owners. That's why you see crappy junk with rhinestones and printed nylon.

For your dog's coat, the rolled leather is the best option, as long as you get the high quality non-staining ones. Any of the natural suede type leathers will catch on the coat and break it. Smooth polished leathers will do so much much less. The 'coat saver' chain collars also do very well for not breaking the coat(thus the name). You can even get chain collars in diamond cut, and colors, and those look pretty to me. I got some blue and purple for my yorkies, so they are shiney and pretty colors.

 

[Olimpia]

Well, I know I'm going to have to spend money and that's fine. I just don't have $130 for the collar alone lol. Otherwise I would get that ostrich collar and leash I've fallen in love with and pay over $300 for the set.

With my Sheltie, since she is sooo big (she's twice the weight of the breed standard. She's just built bigger) it's tough to find collars that are thin but long enough. So that's one challenge lol.