A little while ago, my family and I decided to rent an AirBnB in Oklahoma for a week and although they allow pets, there was no fenced area to let the dogs roam. After a bit of research I found the Darkyazi 16 inch spiral tie out dog stake with a 16 ft steel cable.The cable is made of a strong plastic-coated steel cable that is crack resistant and rust-resistant. I ordered two and prayed they could hold my dogs and free up my leash hand for some serious S’MORE making!
To use, you spin the stake into the ground and its spiral shape is supposed to give it a better hold on the ground, making it more study.. Where we were staying had red dirt which is more like clay than dirt, so it took a little pressure, but the stakes still went into the ground with minimal effort. The stakes felt really solid and tight to the ground so I was fairly confident hooking my English Bulldog to his. The stake held really well and I saw no loosening or give from it at all. We twisted the second stake into the ground and trusted it to hold my 120 pound Valley Bulldog. Once again, the stake held beautifully and gave my arms some rest.
While the stakes held up really well while the dogs were attached, I will warn you about the placement of the stakes–especially if you have more than one dog. We, on the other hand, did not think about the placement of the stakes before putting them into the ground and once I clipped the second dog onto her tie out, chaos ensued. Georgia (the Valley Bulldog) ran to the left and around a tree, Teddy (the English Bulldog) ran across Georgia’s line and almost took himself out. In hindsight, we should have put one dog to the far left, and one to the far right so they couldn’t tangle or clothesline each other. I suffered so you don’t have too, make sure there is enough room between stakes so your dogs can play comfortably without the chaos we faced.
Placement fiasco aside, after a week of taking on both dogs the stakes still felt extremely solid and had no give. There was a moderate amount of strength needed to remove the stakes but not too much. I rinsed the stakes and the lines in the sink and wiped them down before packing them away for another adventure.
After using the Darkyazi dog stake for the first time, we learned a lot which I am glad to share with you all now. Of course, as I already mentioned, if you have more than one dog give them each their own space to avoid tangling. While on the subject of tangling, you will also want to be mindful of any potential obstacles as you might have to untangle your pup from them several times. The lined drag the ground, so if there is rain they might pull and drag mudd. Lastly, the tie outs are great but you will want to police the area frequently as dog messes get on the line and can be dragged across the lawn or your new hiking boots.
A tip: the line is coated with red plastic that makes it easy to see in the daytime, but doesn’t do much for when it’s dark. As a fix, we just grabbed some reflective tape and made a few lines around the wire so that we can see it anytime… and not trip over it.
I am confident that these tie out stakes will be a great addition to our pets bug out bag. This was a cheap and easy way to secure my pets, and I am impressed with how well they held. I feel like the lines could easily be attached to a hanging wire if we were going to be somewhere long enough to build a dog run. The portability and ease of installation won these stakes and lines a permanent spot in my gear.
