Old Country Leather Dog Collar Review

Okay. I’m talking about something a little bit different today. But hopefully, all of you horse and dog lovers will want to stick around anyway.

If you follow me on Instagram, then you might have seen me post these pictures to share Summit’s new collar. I thought that this company was worth the mention on the blog as well which is why I decided to write about it.

So, here’s a little backstory.

Summit, if you can’t tell by the pictures, is a big boy. He’s a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog that weighs near 125 pounds. Definitely bigger than you typical Labrador Retriever. I find it very difficult to find things that fit him at your typical pet store. Even the tallest food bowl stand is way too short for him. And I have yet to find a dog bed that isn’t too small. (I’m thinking of buying a child’s mattress at this point!) Needless to say, I usually have to look at custom options when buying something for my dog.

When he was a puppy, I never bothered buying him a nice quality collar because he’d grow out of it so fast. So, I kind of made a deal with myself that, once he was fully grown, he would get a really nice collar to last him a long time. I searched through the stores and couldn’t find anything that I liked. They were either poor quality, too small or not my style. I didn’t want anything with spikes and I didn’t want anything nylon. I was looking for something classic. Something that stood out from the crowd, but wasn’t overly flashy or trendy.

I turned to Etsy to see if I could find something that I would be happy with.

If you’ve ever searched for dog collars on this website before, you would know that there are a lot of options out there. It took me quite some time to browse through the different stores. I would save the styles that I liked and then would keep looking. Slowly building up a list so that I could then compare my favourites.

In the end, I decided to buy a collar from Old Country Leather.

The Design

I liked that you could customize the whole collar. The leather, the padding and the stitching. You had so many options and combinations to choose from. Making your collar truly unique. I also like that they whole collar’s style looks very similar to a padded horse halter. It made it look classically equestrian without it being too horsey.

I’m not going to lie; it took me a bit to finally choose the design that I did. There were a few different colour options that really caught my eye. I finally decided to order the Bordeaux leather with the white padding and white stitching. It’s classic, but also a little bit different. Which is exactly what I was looking for.

I also liked that the holes to adjust the collar were surrounded by metal. That way, the holes won’t stretch and the collar will last longer. I thought that this was a nice, well thought out, added feature.

They have different widths available. So, if you’re dog is smaller, you don’t have to buy a collar that will be too wide for them. I ended up buying the 1” thick option which I think suits him quite nicely. Anything thicker or thinner wouldn’t look as nice on him. Keep in mind that this collar ends up being about 1 1/2” wide with the padding. I’ll link the exact collar in this thickness here so that you can check out all of their colour options.

The Size

I never had to worry about the collar not fitting Summit. Which is something that I always worried about before when buying a new collar from the local pet store. Especially when I wouldn’t bring him with me to try it on.

When you’re placing your order for this collar, however, they ask you to indicate your dog’s neck size. That way, they’re making a collar to custom fit the dog instead of trying to find a collar in standard sizes that fits. Makes perfect sense to me.

The Quality

I have no doubt that this collar will last Summit a long time. The leather is thick and sturdy enough that, when he scratches, his nail marks haven’t dug in the leather. They’ll scratch the surface, but never anything deep.

The leather’s also soft enough that I didn’t have to worry about breaking it in before putting it on. That alone, in my mind, shows you the quality that you’re getting. It was soft and bendable right out of the box. I did wash and condition it before putting it around his neck for the first time anyway. Not because I needed to. Just because that’s what I’m used to doing with leather products as an equestrian.

The stitching is made with a thick thread that looks like it will hold up nicely. I can’t see it allowing the padding to separate from the other piece of leather any time soon. I also wouldn’t be surprised if both pieces were also glued together to be able to handle all of the abuse a dog will put his collar through.

As for getting the collar wet, I would take it off if you’re bathing your dog or letting him swim. If it gets a bit wet while splashing in a puddle or standing in the rain, the leather will hold up fine. I’ve never been worried about making a point to dry it off while drying Summit off. Just keep in mind that it is still leather and that overexposing it to water isn’t always the best idea.

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If you are ever looking for a collar for your dog, I would recommend that you check these guys out. They’re definitely worth the money.

Until next time, happy riding!