Description

A check cord is how you keep a young dog honest at distance before the e-collar goes on, and how you fix a recall that has gotten sloppy. Long enough that the dog forgets it is there. Short enough that you can still step on it.

Why biothane instead of rope

Rope check cords hold water, freeze stiff, and start smelling like a slough by November. Biothane is webbing with a polyurethane coating. It sheds water, stays flexible in the cold, and mud wipes off with a paper towel.

It also does not tangle. That matters more than it sounds like it does. A rope cord dragged through tall CRP comes back as a knot. This one comes back as a cord.

Which length

• 10 foot. Yard work, early obedience, puppies learning that recall is not a suggestion.
• 20 foot. The one most people want. Enough room for real field work without dragging half an acre behind you.
• 30 foot. Big-running dogs and steadiness work at distance.

If this is your first check cord and you are running a pointing breed on public land, get the 20.

On puppies

Fine on a puppy, with the obvious caveat: supervise it. A check cord on an unsupervised dog is a hazard, not a training tool. I start dragging one on a pup around four months, in open cover only.

Care

Rinse it, hang it, use it again. It does not need anything else.

Additional information