# Cleaning Leather Dog Collar



## Mdawn (Mar 3, 2007)

Uallis's collar is yucky and grimy. I've looked online about how to clean leather and just find references to buy special products. I don't want to buy anything if I can get out of it. lol Anyone know of something I can use in the way of household cleaners, etc that would work, or am I going to have to break down and actually buy a special leather cleaner? I would experiment but I don't want to ruin the collar in the process. lol

Thanks!


----------



## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

Saddle soap and baseball glove oil are what I used when my dogs had leather collars. Those products don't cost very much, and last a long time. I don't know of any homemade equivalents, though.


----------



## Spitzy (Oct 13, 2007)

Pretty much ditto Willowy.

Saddle soap is commonly just a basic glycerin soap bar... I wouldn't think picking up a hand soap bar of basic glycerin would be very risky. I used to use a glycerin saddle soap bar for everyday saddle cleaning.

What I use on my dog's collar is basic Murphy's Oil (this stuff), as I also used to use that on my saddles periodically and it was super easy to find in a non-rural supermarket. I guess it has some other household uses including wood cleaning, but I don't know how likely you are to already have it on hand? I bought a bottle a few years ago and it's still mostly full.

Anyway, I just put a paper towel over the mouth and invert to get a dab of the oil, then run the paper towel over the collar. If I accidentally use too much oil for the leather to drink up quickly, then I just buff dry with a second paper towel. Super easy.


----------



## Mdawn (Mar 3, 2007)

Thanks for the suggestions. 

I got a little bored because I have nothing to do ...which is dangerous because I did experiment a little. I used a bar of hand soap, a damp cloth, and rubbed the cloth across the soap and rubbed it in the collar. One side of it, it actually got off a lot of the dirt and doesn't look like it damaged it. The other side though, the side that is on his neck, wasn't as good. I think it started to remove some sort of coating or something off of the leather. I stopped using the soap and just wiped it down with a damp cloth to at least get a little of the grime off.

Regardless though, I need to get some sort of conditioner or something because the surface looks crackly.

I thought for sure that I had Murphy's Oil. I dug around in my cabinet and can't find it. I thought vaguely about trying Goo-Be-Gone...lol...to remove some of the dirt but it said on the bottle to not use it on leather. LOL!

I guess I need to head to Tractor Supply for some Saddle Soap! Thanks!


----------



## SammyBerry (Jun 28, 2012)

Or you could also have a leather collar that can easily be clean, right? here's the collars I had for my pet.









I had it from http://www.hotdogcollars.com/categories/37-Leather-Dog-Collars.aspx


----------



## Selah Cowgirl (Nov 14, 2009)

^ewww plastic coated leather. 

I am a bit of a leather cleaning snob, with horse tack and all it is expensive so taking good care of it is important. First off saddle soap is the only way to go, and you get what you pay for, if you spend two bucks on a cheap product, expect to be disappointed. You can use regular dish soap or hand soap but those have drying agents and will dry your leather more then you probably would like. 

For all my horse tack I buy Stubbins saddle soap and love the smell and the way it leaves my leather. Get a sponge and HOT water, hot water will open up the pores of the leather (just like human skin cow skin had pores) and you can get a much deeper clean by doing it this way, plus the soap suds up much better. Now use some elbow grease and get as much of the gunk off as you can. Take a clean dry cloth and wipe all the extra off, I do this several times while I am using the suds.

Let the collar dry flat and then before you place it back on your pup take a hair drier and use a landolin based product to rub into the leather. This should condition and protect your collar and make it easier to clean in the future.


----------



## Rescued (Jan 8, 2012)

Selah Cowgirl said:


> ^ewww plastic coated leather.


You obviously don't know what you're talking about... thats the leather of the rare blue spotted ostrich! The females are pink


----------

