If your Dog's collar is looking a little worse for wear, why not revamp it with new webbing and ribbon? You can recycle the clips from the old collar saving you money and reducing land fill.
First of all you will need a sewing machine and basic sewing skills, as well as 80cm of webbing. I use Hemp webbing in all of my leads and collar's because it lasts longer, is a softer, less irritating material and is mould resistant. (Great for when you live in the tropics and your pups are obsessed with swimming).
List of materials:
80cm webbing. (to fit 35-50cm neck)
1m of Ribbon (if you wish to have a pattern on your collar)
D ring, slider and quick release clips that can be recycled from your Dogs old collar.
Scissors, sewing machine, & thread.
1. Place the ribbon over the webbing so you have 10cm either side and sew them together.
2. Thread the slider onto the webbing with the ribbon facing up, leaving 5cm on one side.
3. Fold the webbing onto itself at the slider and sew two parallel seams. Triple stitch these seams using the reverse function on the sewing machine.
4. Thread the webbing with the ribbon facing outwards through the side of the female quick release clip, making sure the curve is facing downwards.
5. Now, thread the webbing through the top of the slider, so that you have made a circle.
6. Thread the webbing through the D Ring
7. Thread the webbing through the male quick release clip and pull the webbing through about 8 cm. Fold the webbing over and place the D ring between the fold. Sew the the D ring and male clip in place by sewing two [ X's]. Triple stitch these also.
There you have it, your very own hand-made, recycled, environmentally friendly Dog collar. I made our Dogs hemp collars 2 years ago and they are still wearing them. I also found that the skin on our stafford's was neck was no longer irritated by the synthetic materials and she can now wear her collar every day.
I have made these yummy organic muffins as treats for my two dogs several times and they love them. Wheat can sometimes be a allergen in dogs so in this recipe I have used organic oat flour.
Note : Organic oat flour is difficult to find and is expensive so I place 1 cup of oats into a food processor for about a minute and get a similar product for a fraction of the price.
Ingredients:
1 cup of organic oat flour
1/2 large banana - mashed
1 tablespoon of organic honey
1 tablespoon of organic crunchy peanut butter
1/4 cup of water (or enough so that dough is not crumbly)
1.Pre heat oven to 160 degrees celcius.
2. Grease mini muffin tin with butter or margarine.
3. Add flour, mashed banana, honey and peanut butter into a mixing bowel.
4. Combine ingredients on low using a mixmaster or by hand, adding water until dough reaches a sticky consistency.
5. Spoon mixture into mini muffin tin.
6. Place in oven for about 25 mins.
7. Allow to cool before storing in an airtight container in the fridge.
You can try all sorts of other ingredients (provided they are safe for Dogs). I have made honey carrot and apple cinnamon Mutz Muffins and the pups just love them.
A list of foods to avoid feeding your dog can be found here:
http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/poison-control/people-foods.aspx.
I hope your Furbabies enjoy them as much as mine do!
3. Fold the webbing onto itself at the slider and sew two parallel seams. Triple stitch these seams using the reverse function on the sewing machine.
