Tying up your dog
Sometimes we need to secure our dogs outside for safety. I’m not talking about tying our beloved pets outside a shop whilst whilst we pop in for a pint of milk, but in case of emergency or relaxing outdoors on a camping trip.
Camping is great fun with dogs but when there’s work to do such as setting up the tent or cooking you may need to tether your dog until it’s time to play again. With a good knot, you can be confident your dog is safe in the meantime. In this blog I will show you step by step instructions how to tie an easy but stable knot typically used to tie boats to moorings – The Fisherman’s Bend (also known as the Anchor Bend) which is perfect for securing your dog with a length of paracord, rope or long line to an object such as a ground stake or post. Just be sure the object is strong enough to hold your dog!
If you are using your dogs lead, you can of course secure your dog very easily by slipping the lead around the object and through it’s own handle. However a) this may not provide the desired length and/or b) long lines don’t typically have a handle so use this knot to attach the end to the ground stake as shown in the example below.
How to tie a Fisherman’s (Anchor) Bend knot.
This simple but effective hitch knot is suitable to use with any type of natural or manmade rope such as paracord or nylon training lines. As you tie this knot, you will have a short end to create the knot called the ‘working end’ and the length of rope, which is the ‘standing end’.
You will need an object such as a ground stake and a length of rope, paracord or a long line.
- Pass one end through the ring on your ground stake. (Or, over and around the object you are tethering to). This creates your short working end and your long standing end.
- Repeat the pass to create a loop.
- Place the working end over the long standing end. Pass the working end behind the standing end and through the loop.
- Pull the working end through until snug but not tight.
- Repeat step 3 by passing the working end over the standing end again.
- Take the working end around the standing end and back over itself.
- Pull to tighten. There should be some working end left hanging out of the knot.
Please note: Always tie out with a harness, do not attach a long line to your dogs collar as this can cause injury!
I hope you find this useful and have fun camping with your dog!
Where shall we go next?
Read: Camping with dogs (Includes Bosun’s camping checklist)
