Tiger Tail Leashes and Collars Review – Unboxing and field testing!

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Tiger Tail Leashes and Collars Review – Unboxing and field testing!

TIGER TAIL GEAR—UNBOXING AND REVIEW

Today, I’m going to look at some new products by upstart us company Tiger Tail!

Who is Tiger Tail?

Tigertail is a U.S.-based company specializing in simplified, streamlined designs of leashes and collars using new and innovative materials. They have a lifetime guarantee and donate one percent of their revenue to shelter and rescue dogs.

As of this video, they’re working mainly with a Minnesota-based rescue, Secondhand Hounds, and they have plans for more as the company scales. I love to see that full-circle involvement in the community, and for us, that’s a big part of how we choose which brands we like to work with.

The company owners, Matt and Shane, cordially reached out and introduced themselves to us. Then, they sent out a few products for us to try, with no strings attached.

Now, one quick thing: Simpawtico does not do sponsored reviews. We only review and discuss products we would use and recommend to our training students. We get tons of requests like this, and most are crap. Tiger Tail stuff is pretty cool, so let’s get into it!

URBAN NOMAD

So first thing, we’ve got the Urban Nomad collar; I got the black one. It’s a biothane material, so it’s odor-free and waterproof.

Collar Features

This is a pretty basic but functional collar.
Nice, sturdy ring to attach the leash to.
Stout plastic snap; pretty heavy duty. I know buckles are safer than snaps, but correct sizing on buckle leashes is always tough. It seems like the correct fit is always in between holes. The snap on this is heavy-duty, and you get accurate sizing with a tri-glide.
Sturdy, extra stitching.

These collars are available in nine colors; I was sent the Sky Blue color.

Leash Features

They also sent me their Urban Nomad leash. It’s made of the same biothane material as the collar—it doesn’t stretch at all, has no odor to it, and is waterproof.

What I also like is the simple design. Over time I’ve gotten where I like stripped-down stuff. I don’t like a whole bunch of extra bells and whistles like. I’ve gotten away from traffic handles, I’ve gotten away from little dangly rings and doodads and stuff like that; I prefer just a straight leash because I don’t need any of that other crap.

The Urban Nomad leash has a captive ring on the loop handle. I wasn’t sure about this, but then I saw on their website what they recommended for this, and I love it. It’s now one of my favorite features for a leash, and I talk about it in our free Buyer’s Guide.

Claw Snap

Tiger Tail leashes also have claw snaps. In the past, I have typically avoided claw snaps. I’ve always preferred bolt snaps because I felt, by and large, bolt snaps were better quality, and I’ve had leashes where the claws fell apart.

When I talked with Matt about this, he had seen our video where we talked about that and seen some more stuff, and he said that their company has done some research to try and track down a heavy-duty claw snap that stands up as well as a bolt snap does. So, we will see over time.

Like the collar, the Urban Nomad leash is available in nine colors. Tiger Tail kindly sent me both a black and sky blue one. I’m excited to try these out, so I will take Wednesday out on this blue one.

The Leather-ish Leash

A picture of the leather-ish leash

The brown leather-ish brown, so these are veggie leather. They’re not real leather; it’s synthetic leather. This thing is pretty beastly: it’s pretty stout compared to the Urban Nomad. You can see that it’s thick. It’s not stretching at all.

It feels like leather in my hands, but I can certainly tell it’s not leather; it’s not that realistic. It doesn’t have that telltale leather smell, although this is touted as odor-free, dirt resistant, and waterproof. I’m interested in trying this and seeing what it does for the long term.

The Leather-ish leash is available in either brown, like the one I got, or black.

Wild Grip

A picture of the Wild Grip leash

Tiger Tail also sent me one of their Wild Grip leash tabs. This features a textured surface; it’s got wicked little knobs all over it. This thing is so thick, I mean, it’s just so stout.

This is a four-footer. It doesn’t have the loop handle on it—it’s just a tab as they use with gun dogs. But you could still (if you know what you’re doing) use a fingerlock or thumblock. You could still use this in a pinch like a leash.

But get a load of these grippy knobs, holy smokes! These are kind of neat. I would like to get a hold of one of their wild grip like an entirely Shore like this just is not going anywhere.

Like the leather-ish leash, the Wild Grip is available in black or brown.

Handling Testing

Note: in this section, I take each of the Tiger Tail leashes and put it through the professional techniques and movements I use when handling a leash. Refer to Leashmaster Vol. 1 for complete lessons on implementing all of these techniques.

Leather-ish

I have the brown leather-ish leash right now, and I will put it through the handling templates.

Base platform into the slidelock—it doesn’t slide through my hands as neatly as real leather does. I have a feeling that has to do with this rubberized material. The actual material I like; there’s no stretch it even though it’s a rubberized material. I like a static leash for 90% of situations are working. However, it just doesn’t slide as well through my hand. That’s not a deal-breaker for me right now because I can adapt to that with the grip.
Slidelock to thumblock or fingerlock—adequate.
And then we try the baseball bat grip—pretty good.
Sweeping thumblock and rising fingerlock—just okay.

One of the hallmarks you might notice is that I like to be able to let go of the leash and have it still connected to me (via my thumb, our “base platform”); that’s going to be important later on with one of the other items that we’re going to test.

So far, I like the leather-ish, aside from just getting used to the texture. The feel of the action on it is pretty good. It locks up pretty well.

Urban Nomad

When I first opened all the boxes, I was sure that the leather-ish would be my top pick because it’s the closest to my other leather leashes. But after having played with these a little, now I’m almost kind of thinking that I like the Urban Nomad better—and here’s why:

Base platform—easy and light.
I can go into the thumblock and undo it into a slidelock—the action on the slidelock is slick. It works nicely, and I can get some good dynamic control of length. I also like that it’s nice and strong when we roll up into a thumblock. It feels thin, but the material is strong, so I’m sure this is as strong as a nylon leash of the same caliber.
We can go into the rising fingerlock, or we could go into the sweeping thumblock.
We’ve also got our baseball bat grip. So far, this is pretty cool, easy to use, and a light leash.

Wild Grip

When I first opened this up, I fell in love with this knobby grippy surface. I mean it’s tough. This leash is thick! The surface has just got grip for days.

So if you come in off your anchor hand and use your control hand with an overhand grip, it feels nice for me.

The biggest problem is that there’s no loop on the end, and I can’t stay connected to the leash via the base platform. Now if I take the standing end and I loop it over my thumb and into my hand, it goes across my palm, and I close my fist, technically, I have a thumblock. Those little knobs create so much grip and friction that it isn’t going anywhere. It’s solid.

I could even do a fingerlock with this, but that’s it; I’m locked into this position. If I open my hand, I’m not connected to the leash anymore. It just flops around. I don’t like that!

That bothers me because I can’t have just one configuration. I can’t switch into different positions or configurations like I prefer. I’m kind of stuck like this. I want the extra length, I want to be able to shorten it, I want to be able to move around and do all the different things.

Even though I absolutely love this texture, I can’t use it. I feel limited.

I emailed the company about what to do like this part I wasn’t sure on the website it says this is a pass-through. You can fit the claw through the D-ring. They intended that you could use this to tether your dog to something like a light post or maybe a park bench leg or something like that.

That’s cool, BUT, to do that, you have to disconnect it from your dog to feed the one end through. With my dogs, that’s not a problem. I just go, “Hey, sit, stay,” and they won’t move. Most people in public would never dream of disconnecting their dog to do this.

For some other leashes, you don’t have to disconnect your dog to tether them to something (even yourself). For example, the EzyDog Vario 6, or at the shelter I use my Bold Lead Designs eight-in-one leash or any of those British-styled six-in-ones that I like—they’ve got all the different D rings and clips on both ends. You don’t have to disconnect your dog to tether them. With this, you do, and I’m not sure about that.

Technically, this is the short tab used with retrievers and other Gun Dogs. It’s not really a general-purpose leash.

A decent workaround for using it as a general leash would be to clip a handle to the ring. for example, I have a traffic handle that I had just as part of my gear. It’s not something that I really ever use; as a trainer, over the years I have wads of gear that are just sitting around. So I have this short traffic lead, and if I clip it to the D-ring, I now have a standard six-foot leash with a loop handle. Now, I can stay connected, and I can almost do all the stuff:

I can go into a slidelock. I don’t want to slide too much because of that texture, but it’s OK.
I can go into my thumblock, my fingerlock, and my baseball bat grip.
I can do all the different moves and stay connected to my leash.

The only problem is that we’ve probably got three and a half inches that are technically unusable, and it’s much heavier. I can feel this weight in the leash. The action on it is a little bit different. That’s not necessarily a deal-breaker for me, but even though I dig this texture so much, I just don’t see myself picking it up and making it one of my go-to’s until—at least for me—there are some tweaks with the end pieces here.

NOTE: After publishing this review, Tiger Tail has come out with a Wild Grip that’s built like a standard leash with the loop handle instead of the D-ring.

FINAL VERDICT

All right, the final verdict is: I dig it! Their stuff is well made, they have a lifetime guarantee, and they’re really cool people.

For me, I’d say the Urban Nomad line is a winner, and my dog, Wednesday, is gonna be rocking that setup for a while. I think the leather-ish leash probably won’t replace my favorite leather leash, but it’s still a hell of a leash I will keep on the wall. The Wild Grip has promise, but for me, it’s not quite there yet to be part of my toolbox.

FINAL THOUGHTS

It’s clear that Tiger Tail is an up-and-coming dog gear company dedicated to innovation and giving back to the community. They have created leashes and collars made of unique materials that are stylish, durable, and comfortable for dogs. The Urban Nomad line is a great choice for those looking for a comfortable leash, and the Leatherish line is perfect for those seeking leather quality with a more vegan approach. Finally, the Wild Grip has potential but may need some tweaks before it becomes my go-to dog-walking companion.

Overall, I believe that Tiger Tail’s products are worth checking out if you’re in the market for new leashes and collars! Make sure to look at their website for more information or to order yours.

Now, questions for you: