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Review: Hound House Specialties Martingale Collar

By: Author Paris Permenter

Product: Hound House Specialties Martingale Collar

What It Is: Customizable martingale collar

Manufacturer: Hound House Specialties, located in Minnesota

DogTipper Review: As many of our readers know, we generally use martingale collars when walking our dogs. Living in the country, there are just too many temptations that might dart out in front of us, from rabbits to coyotes, so we always want to make sure they can’t slip out of their collars. When we had the chance to review a Hound House Specialties martingale collar, we jumped at it; this company offers beautiful, customizable collars with all the features you’d expect in a well-made martingale.

We were able to select the martingale we’d like to review; Hound House has dozens of pattern options from camo to rainbows to argyle but we opted for this spring-color collar:

For all its stylish beauty, though, this martingale is as sturdy as a no-nonsense collar. The hardware is nickel-plated welded steel. The collar itself is made of nylon webbing with a polyester ribbon, all sewn with industrial strength thread on an industrial sewing machine with a walking foot. Nylon webbing used by Hound House Specialties has a breaking strength of 1400 – 5500 pounds (they also produce polyester collars with a breaking strength of 1500 – 6500 pounds and polypropylene collars with a breaking strength of 375 – 750 pounds.)

If you’re not familiar with martingale collars, they provide a no-slip way to walk your dog without the pressure of choke collars because they contract–but only to a certain point–when your dog pulls. The smaller loop (called the control loop) on the collar, seen at the bottom of the photo to the right, attaches to your leash via the D-ring. It pulls the larger or adjustment loop (which is around your dog’s neck) but only to the point where it won’t go over your dog’s head, not to the point of choking him. Martingales are used for walking and training only, not as an everyday collar worn without supervision.

Martingales are especially popular for use with sighthounds; breeds such as greyhounds have long, large necks and smaller heads which makes it possible for them to back out of many traditional collars. In fact, Hound House Specialties was launched when the founder adopted two former racing greyhounds, Jake and Jaws, and began to look for stylish and functional martingales.

Our Tiki isn’t a sighthound but we were happy to replace her narrow martingale with the wide Hound House Specialties collar:

She seemed to love the new collar from the first walk and now, a week later, she’s still wearing it for her twice-daily outings! We love the width of the collar, the sturdy build, and the stylish look for our girl. A big paws up for Hound House Specialties!

Disclosure: We received a complimentary martingale collar from Hound House Specialties; we were not paid for our review. All statements are entirely our own.

Paris Permenter
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