Bungee leash for dogs

In some of the local parks with hiking trails, the maximum allowable length for a dog leash is 6 feet.

–B.G.–

And some of them are even shorter at 3 feet. :)

A friend of mine in South Carolina told me about the different regulations for leashed dogs in her part of the country.

I have a couple of thoughts on this.
Years ago at I had an idea and started making leashes for dogs and reins for horses, with felted wool ( braided multiple times and then felted). Seemed like a good idea to me, being soft and nice to the touch….and so before I tried to sell any I asked around. A couple of horse people and a dog trainer recommended against it, saying that any stretch at all is not a good idea. Felted wool will give just a little, nothing like a bungee, yet even that bit of give is an invitation for the animal to keep taking a little more than you want to give them. For a horse a rein pulled back should mean stop. For a dog the end of the leash should be just that, the end, not something "negotiable" if they just pull a little more….

Have I used a bungee as a dog leash? Yes, because I so rarely use a leash that I don't even own a proper one so any "cordage" I have is fair game. My dog runs on private land and he practically only comes to town to see the vet.

Kat, maybe your felted wool leash would work good on mountain lions.

–B.G.–

One of the reasons why I switched to bungee is because my girlfriend would land on her bottoms if he jerks suddenly, so it is not much for the dog but for the human. But with a bungee leash, it's much easier for her act as a brace with the shock absorption.

But yes, I understand what you mean regarding dynamic cords. The unfortunate characteristic of using shock cord is the yo-yo effect.

I have a ruffwear roamer leash which is fairly long and also stretchy, but it can be shortened by clipping it around my waist which it is designed to do. I believe it was originally intended for joggers with dogs. it works ok for backpacking- it can also be clipped around trees to keep her in camp at night.

When I put my dogs on a leash (and they are each 80 Lb.), I use a short one because it doesn't give them time to get up to speed before I rein them in. My normal leash is about 4 feet long and I wind them around my hands to shorten them when I am concerned that the dogs might take off to chase something. A short leash gives a lot better control. I could make a bungee cord leash, but I would still keep it short. I use the black marine grade bungee cord, because it lasts longer. I don't know whether marine grade actually means anything, but it's the best cord that I have found.

I just took a look at the Zero DC website and see that their bungee leads are not simply bungee cords. They are bungee cords inside hollow braid webbing. When the cord stretches and the webbing goes taut, the lead stops stretching. They are made like shock absorbing fall protection lanyards. Skijoring is not something that I'm familiar with, so a lead is not necessarily a leash, if the dog is pulling you on skis. Making something like this is going to be a matter of trial and error or copying something that works.

Yes. I have been thinking about this:

To stop it from overstretching.

Taken from another thread here on BPL about shock cords.

There is also this DIY tutorial from another website as well. Albeit it’s for joining dogs together to keep them running in straight lines, not necessarily as a leash.

Just need to figure out what width of shock cord. Some of these DIY guys seem to use 1/8″, but the one in the commercial variety is 3/8″, and on some of the forums say they just get thickest one available at their hardware store.

Not only that, I would need to figure out what material to use in adjacent to the shock cord as a taunt line.