Turning a Children’s Belt into a Dog Collar
March 2, 2009 by Paris and John
Filed under Budget Tips, Tips
Those of you who follow our Twitter feed know that we’ve been going through dog collars as fast as dog treats around here lately. Our dog Tiki is chewing Irie’s dog collars in half. We don’t want to have to go to a chain or studded collar but the chew rate has us looking for an inexpensive solution until this puppy period passes.
The solution: a children’s belt. A local thrift store had children’s belts for sale for just fifty cents. Buying up a handful, we set out to transform them into dog collars.
Just as if you were sizing a traditional dog collar, measure your dog’s neck, add a few inches, then trim the belt so you won’t have a tempting length leftover to serve as a potential toy. Since this trim left us short of the belt’s holes, we had to punch a new hole in the heavy vinyl with an ice pick (a leather punch would be ideal, if you have one).
The vinyl on this belt was so heavy and stiff, we decided to sew up a quick fleece sleeve for it to make the collar softer on Irie’s neck. Hopefully the heavy vinyl inside will discourage chewing. So far, so good.
Whether you’re raiding your closet or hitting the thrift stores, keep these factors in mind when buying a belt to become a dog collar:
- avoid belts with large buckles
- avoid belts with insets and studs that a second dog could potential pull off and choke on
- avoid braided belts; they’ll unravel when you have to trim the belt to size
- select a belt the same width as you would select for a dog collar
- leather belts can be excellent for discouraging chewing (although some dogs will really like the leather) but they can shrink and get stiff if your dog is a swimmer
- look for belts with a simple loop to tuck under the extra length; you can also use this loop to hang a dogtag (use a keychain loop if you need something larger than the traditional dogtag loop)
- don’t select belts with an end narrower than the belt itself or you’ll need to recut the end to fit through the buckle once you trim the belt for length
The finished product is simple, cheap, and seems to be pretty popular with its wearer! Best of all, we now have a whole handful of collars ready to go, just in case…
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