A lead almost never fails in the middle of the strap. It goes where one material meets another — at the stitching, or at the clip — which is why the interesting part of a lead's specification is rarely the material everybody talks about. It is how the thing is put together, and that is the part most descriptions skip straight past.

Ancol's Timberwolf lead is top-grain bridle leather, hand-crafted by their own workforce in the UK, and their argument for that leather is that it is strong while staying supple, softening with use without going slack. It is sewn down both sides with industrial nylon bonded thread rather than along one edge, treated with 3M leather protector to resist staining from water, dirt and oil, and finished with a trigger hook so it clips straight to a collar. This one measures 1m by 19mm.

• 1m long, 19mm wide
• Top-grain bridle leather, hand-crafted in the UK
• Sewn down both sides with industrial nylon bonded thread
• Treated with 3M leather protector against water, dirt and oil
• Trigger hook fastening
• Ancol quote a maximum weight of 50kg

On that 50kg figure. Ancol quote a maximum weight of 50kg for this lead and nothing supplied to us says what is being weighed — whether it is the dog the lead is rated for or a load the leather is tested to. If you have a heavy dog that leans into the lead, that ambiguity is worth resolving with Ancol before you rely on it. There is also no care instruction published for the leather anywhere in what we have been given: the 3M treatment is described as resisting stains, which is a different claim from being waterproof.

Who it's for: owners of a settled walker who want a lead that lasts years rather than seasons, and anyone replacing a nylon lead that has gone stiff, frayed or smelly.