Nikko's Braided Leather Harness
 

I wasn't exactly sure where to post this, so I figured I'd just throw it in the general section. To the powers that be, please move it if it should be elsewhere. :-)

Anyways, I thought you all might enjoy this... Doesn't mean they don't exist, but I have yet one of these anywhere (online or otherwise), so I figured some of you might like to humor me showing off my pup's newest handmade gear.

I'm one of a dying breed of traditional craftsmen (ahem craftswomen, lol) and for a living I braid American and Australian style whips out of kangaroo leather (think Indiana Jones, Zorro, etc.) I LOVE my job. :thumbup: Anyways, the other day the idea occurred to me to make Nikko a braided harness... I cannabilized his old spare green harness for parts, and figured I'd give it a shot with a pretty simple basic design. I figure now that I've figured out the design, and that it turned out pretty well, the next one I make him will be a bit fancier and colorful, multiple colors & designs in the braiding and knotwork.

Nikko is so spoiled :rolleyes:

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If it means anything to anyone, here are the basic specs of the harness: 'Roo leather, split and beveled, all black. Braids are a 6plait flat braid, and the decorative knots are 9x4 turksheads. There's no stitching or glue - everything is secured with backbraiding.

Lauren & Nikko

Wow, You are very talented. I love it!

Very nice!

I love it! What are your prices for a harness? do you do braided leashes as well? If so, how much?

Beautiful braid work! I'm curious about the leather...is it soft? I would imagine a leather harness that is braided like that would be quite durable. Are you planning on making them all leather (without the cloth part)? What are the other colors you are referring to?
......Nikko is a cutie!

That's really nice. I just love your babies eyes. so cute!!

Ooh, I think you're on to something! Would love to see multiple colors/designs in collars and leashes:D

That is awesome. Nikko is very cute as well.

Ok so where can I order one?

That's gorgeous work!

LOL, I didn't really think about if anybody else would want one... but that's high praise indeed if some of you are interested! I'll tell Nikko when he wakes up from his nap that he should feel special ;)

Let me attempt to answer some questions - be warned, this'll probably end up pretty long-winded.

1. The leather is vegetable-tanned kangaroo hide, the finest leather and tannage for high performance braided whips. I don't know if it would be the best leather possible for a harness, because this is obviously the first harness I've never made - and Nikko doesn't even get to wear it all the time yet, because he still has a tendency to chew on his lead & harness occasionally. BUT, the reason veg-tanned 'roo is great for whips might also lend itself to being suitable for harnesses - 'roo is by far stronger and more flexible than cowhide at the same size. The only thing I would really be worried about is if the dog is a harness-chewer... The leather is certainly strong, but it's not puncture-resistant of course - after all, it is still leather, and purposefully split down thin to be comfortable for a dog and pretty too. :-)

2. Veg-tanned 'roo in a braid like this does feel much softer than cowhide of similar tannage, probably because of its flexibility and the braiding soap I use to make the plaiting nice and tight. The braid itself is totally flexible - it would take no effort to wrap the braid around your finger, and no effort to bend it back to straight. It will become even softer with use, and the tan colors (obviously not the black) will also darken gradually with use and age. It's definitely not as soft or fuzzy as something like suede though. Nikko tends to be an itchy guy, and not fond of things like belly bands, but he is accustomed to wearing a harness... Once I got this one on him (he's a squirmer, lol), he didn't even notice it was there any more than the red one we bought from the store that he normally wears.

3. I could probably work something out to make the top bits solid leather with decorative knots instead of the cloth stuff with decorative knots. Certainly it'd be a bit more difficult and time-consuming with all the things that have to be attached sturdily along that strip (which is why I took the easy way out with my first one and left those pieces original and just covered a bit of them with knots to make them look fancier), but I'm sure it'd probably be possible.

4. As for selling them? Honestly guys, they'd have to be kind of expensive - definitely out of my price range, if I had to buy one and couldn't just make it myself. :( This first one took me about six hours, maybe more - definitely a full long day... add to that the price of a harness to canabilize ($6-12 I think?), and the imported kangaroo hide... I'm afraid I'd have to sell them for somewhere around $90-110 as a guess, depending on the colors and patterns. Also, I could try to squeeze in an hour or two of working on them in the evenings some nights during the week to get one done quicker, but I couldn't absolutely promise it - you might end up waiting in line with my whip customers, which is about a three month wait list right now.

5. Matching or separate leads are definitely possible, and pretty simple to make too - round braid, flat braid, whatever. A good bit quicker and cheaper to finish than a harness, for sure. Whatever design you can find on the internet (I've recently learned there are different styles of how to attach the lead to the dog), or just the basic type of lead you'd find at a local store. Shoot, making a lead with a little fancy knotwork as decoration would be a welcome break every once in a while from making full 12-16 plait whips, lol, and I can't imagine it would be difficult to get my hands on some of the little clips to attach it to the harness. The only reason Nikko doesn't have a braided lead yet is because he likes to chew on his when he gets fiesty. :eek:

6. Colors vary based on what we can get our hands on... it's not easy these days with the drought in Australia to get good quality hides in fancy colors, but we try to keep a good variety in stock. We pretty much always however have the basic tan colors, black, a brownish red, and bright red. Here's a link to the page on our website that shows our colors: MidWestWhips Leather Colors.

PM me if you're interested, assuming you've made it all the way down through this massive post to the end here. :rolleyes: The options are practically limitless - I've been poking around on some leather dog collar/lead sites on the net, and I haven't seen even half of what can be done if you want to get creative!

Lauren & Nikko

I had a horse bridle made from this kind of braided leather. It was the softest, most flexible headstall I ever had for my horses, durable and beautiful. I hadn't thought of it for dog harnesses, but I can see how brilliantly it would work.

Beautiful...and creative! You may just have found yourself a brand new product line!!

I love reins with this kind as well.. the harness is neat you did a great job

The harness is just beautiful, and so is your model...You're very creative ...:)

Just gorgeous! Absolutely stunning! Oh, what a lucky boy Nikko is to have such a talented mommy!! :)

HELP! harness my Yorkie can't bite off
 

I too am hoping this is where to put my help sign out, very new to this forum and have not been very successful in getting one through.
For the past 5 months I have had to purchase a harness every week, some months I am lucky and only need to get 2, at $8.00 a shot I need to get something very strong. I get my harness from wal-mart, nylon, I thought that was a very strong material, ha...not for my Nigel. Now with no harness I can't walk him...........has anyone had this situation and solved it? I thought of a chain, but his only 8 pounds, plus it would be too uncomfortable for him I am guessing. I checked the harness at Pet Smart but they are the same ones ass Walmart. Last night I put a collor nylon on and this morning it was completly bitten through.
:(

I'm confused, do you leave the harness on him all the time? If not, how does he get a hold of them?

This is very beautiful work. DH is a falconer and makes tracking equipment (working on having him make some Roxie) and he says this leather is really good stuff and falconers use it for making jesses for their birds. If a falcon can't chew through it you know it's pretty tough stuff. Have you made anything for these purposes? Your baby is adorable too!!

To be honest, I don't think a braided 'roo harness would help your situation. I could be wrong, but it would be an expensive experiment. Braiding the leather really just adds more to the flexibility and strength of the harness, not its durability while being chewed.

I could maybe imagine a solid strip of 'roo made into a harness resisting chewing better, but I still don't really think it would hold up to nylon - particularly because leather is even more fun for dogs to chew on than nylon is. What makes 'roo so great is compared to any other leather of the same thickness, 'roo is a bunch stronger. But that doesn't necessarily make it more resistant to abrasion... and comparing a strip of 'roo to a strip of nylon paracord - well, there's no comparison. Nylon's just stronger. I've been experimenting recently with braiding a couple whips out of nylon, and I don't hesitate to crack them in our gravel yard or on the sidewalk. But I would never crack a leather (cowhide or kangaroo) whip I've made abrasive surfaces like that.

Anyways, all that aside, my best advice for you is to only put the harness on when you're going to be walking him. Hopefully if he's physically in the act of walking, he'll be less concerned with harness-chewing. Nikko chews on his harness much less than he used to, but he still does it occasionally in the morning or evening - it seems like he does it when he wants something to chew on but is too lazy to get up and find his bully stick, lol.

You can also get some bitter apple spray and douse the harness in it just before you put it on him. But that stuff wears off fairly quickly, so you still can't leave the harness on him for any amount of time unsupervised.

I dunno - hope that helps a little. You could try doing a search for "chewing" and "harness" - that might help you find a few more threads about other people with the same problem as you, and solutions they found. Don't quote me on this, but I think there might be a seller here on YT who will replace her harnesses if they are chewed through (chattiesmom, I think?). Anyways, try to do a search, hopefully you'll find something. Good luck :-)

Lauren & Nikko