Question about proper show leads!

[VaBeachFamily]

So, we are trying our hand at UKC showing, and looks like our first will be August/September, we are going to have my mother in law ( a very experienced show handler of MOSTLY corgis, but with shepherd stacking experience) help us, as well as another friend here locally that shows pretty often. I was curious about the leashes, I hear millions of things. I purchased some Nylon ' slip collars' in all sizes at the clearence center pet store here, but the leads were not in stock, and I wasn't 100% sure what I should look for? I hear a lot about light, thin leather, but how long? is it something I can get for a more fair price at a tack shop?

[Andaka]

You will probably want a leash that is leather and at least 6 feet in length and no more than 1/2 inch wide. I actually prefer 1/4 to 3/8 inches wide and 6 feet long. Black or brown or at least dark.

[VaBeachFamily]

Andaka, where can I get one? Leather at stores locally isn't common when it comes to nice soft thin leads, just like the ones I have currently! I thought maybe a tack shop?

[BlackPuppy]

You can buy from vendors at shows. Or google "dog show leads" online. I just bought a really nice braided leather lead from Amazon.com for my last show. But it was expensive.

[Andaka]

There was another thread about show leads earlier in the year. It had several websites for good leather leads in it.

I like Alpha-1 leashes and collars. Leather Leashes, Leather Collars, Choke Chains - Leather Leash Store

[Liesje]

I use Alpha-1 leads too for UKC. I have a thin black leather slip collar and a thin rolled black leather martingale, both with gold hardware. My lead is 4' thin black leather (UKC rings here are SUPER small, in fact GSD fanciers have been complaining about it) also with gold hardware. However if your MIL is a handler she probably has her own lead, when I've used handlers they've always preferred their own leads.

My Alpha-1 collars




Fursavers are also VERY common for GSDs, at least around here.

[VaBeachFamily]

I did see that Fursavers are used quite a bit. I have a dark brown nylon slip collar, it is the lead that I don't have yet, but am looking. Thanks for the advice everyone. Also, she does have leads I am sure, but she is only going to help us train them while we are in Illinois, and train us, but she will not be showing them, we will be handling ourselves... We will prob. look like a pair of bumbling idiots, but it should be fun!

[Liesje]

I like to have a few leads depending on the ring. Like I said, our local UKC rings are hopelessly small, so anything longer than 4' just means you have to be careful not to look like a mess with in your hand. When we do SV shows, the leads are more like 8' minimum and I have a 10' that I can use if my handler doesn't have their own. I also have a 10' very thin ASAT lead that is my favorite and sometimes use for UKC as long as I remember to keep the excess nicely bundled in my hand.

[VaBeachFamily]

Thanks Lies! I have a million leashes and collars, but they are all for working, so I have 10 foot nylon, 15 foot training, 30 foot tracking, lots of 6 foot leather but 1-2" wide, same with collars... prong, martingale, wide, harnesses lol.. so I am shopping new for this one, just would rather get opinions so I get something better the first time than if I went out blind and order something that is horrible or not proper! Also nice that others show in the UKC ring, I thought it was more long forgotten, but I went with a friend just for watching a few times, and noticed that it was a bit more relaxed and the dogs seemed more happy than forced!

[Andaka]

My dogs love going to shows. They have never been forced to show.