What is "dogshank"

n. An inferior variant of the sheepshank knot, which is useful for shortening a rope or taking up slack.

The dogshank is a variant of the sheepshank, where the eyes formed at each end have the ends of the rope passed through them to prevent the knot from spilling. At least one end of the rope must be available.

Also called pouch knot it may be made mostly for the hammock like space it creates.

The dogshank can be thought of as two opposite bowlines where

• the two ends provide the respective standing lines each with its pinching turn, and
• the two elbows of the Z-folded middle part provide the bights that pass through the turns and come back from around the standing lines.

The dogshank can also be thought of as two opposite sheet bends where

• the two ends provide the self-crossing line in each sheet bend, while
• the two elbows of the Z-folded middle part provide the non-crossing other line.