Leather Dog Leash
A leash gets held for an hour a day, every day, in the rain and in gloves and with a full bag in the other hand. Almost everything that goes wrong with one goes wrong at two places: where the hook meets the strap, and where the handle folds back on itself. Both are made here the way they are made on a bridle.
The hook, and why it is brass
The snap hook is solid brass with a spring-loaded gate. Brass matters here for a reason that has nothing to do with looks: it does not rust, and a hook that rusts stops closing cleanly long before it looks bad. A hook that does not close cleanly is a dog in a road. It is the single part of a leash where the failure mode is not inconvenience.
It swivels where it joins the strap, which is what stops the leather from twisting into a corkscrew over a few months of a dog that circles.
The handle is stitched and riveted, not glued
The handle is a fold of the same strap, stitched along its length and closed with two brass rivets. Stitching alone can be unpicked by a year of load; a rivet alone can work its way through leather. Together they fail in different directions, which is the whole point of using both.
The inside of the loop is lined with the same contrasting leather as the collar, so the edge that sits against your palm is soft rather than raw.
Five feet, and what that length is for
| Measure | This leash | What it means in the hand |
|---|---|---|
| Length | 5 ft | Dog beside you on a sidewalk, no loop dragging at your knee |
| Width | 3/4 in | Enough strap to grip in a glove, not so much that it is stiff |
| Hook | Solid brass, swivel | Does not rust, does not corkscrew |
| Handle | Stitched + 2 rivets | Two fixings that fail in different ways |
| Lining | Contrasting leather | Soft against the palm, matches the collar |
Five feet is the length most towns are built around. Longer belongs to a park, and shorter belongs to a vet's waiting room.
Six colors, matched to the collar
Brown, green, red, gray, pink and fuchsia. Each one carries the same contrasting lining as the collar of the same name and the same aged brass hardware, so a collar and leash bought together read as one object rather than two things that happen to be the same color.
If you want both, the collar and leash set pairs them for less than the two bought separately, and the collar in the set carries the engraved plate.
It ships from stock
The leash carries no plate, so there is nothing to cut after you order. It goes out within 1 to 2 business days and lands in 6 to 10. An order that also contains an engraved collar follows the engraved timeline of 14 to 22 business days, because it ships together in one parcel.
Shipping is free to the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia.
Looking after it
Leather that gets wet should dry away from a radiator, flat rather than coiled tight. Twice a year, a thin coat of a neutral leather balm on a cloth keeps the strap supple where it folds at the handle — that fold is where a dry leash cracks first. The brass will dull; a dry cloth brings it back, and it does not need polish.
Questions about the leash
How long is the leash?
Five feet, and three quarters of an inch wide. That is the length that keeps a dog beside you on a sidewalk without the slack that gets wrapped around a lamp post.
Does the leash come in the same color as the collar?
Six of the collar colors are made as a matching leash: brown, green, red, gray, pink and fuchsia. The lining and the brass hardware match the collar exactly. Ordering both together as a set costs less than the two separately.
Can the leash be engraved?
The engraving lives on the collar plate, where a finder actually looks. The leash carries the same leather, the same lining and the same brass, and it ships from stock — which is why it arrives faster than an engraved order.
How fast does it ship?
The leash carries no engraving, so it goes out from stock. Dispatch takes 1 to 2 business days and transit 5 to 8, so 6 to 10 business days in total. Shipping is free.