Collars All The Time Or Only On Walks?

[Guest Trentsmom]

We've always kept the dog's collars on them all of the time. However, recently our 7 month olds nearly strangled each other when they were play wrestling. When they have collars on they like to pull on each others and a few weeks ago one got his jaw locked on the others collar. The more they pulled apart the worse it got and we couldn't get either collar off. Finally we were able to cut the collar to free them. It was so very terrifying and made me wonder if this was a fluke event or if most people do not leave collars on their dogs, except for walking on a leash.

Without collars we can't have ID on them and I like the security of being able to grab the collar when needed to stop them. For now, no collars on the pups, and I'm just curious what everyone else does.

 

Thanks!

[OwnedBySummer]

If I was you, I would normally only have a tag collar on inside. And it sounds like the breakaway kind is the type you'd do best with (Long Dog Leather has breakaway tag necklaces). I would NOT ever have a martingale on inside. You didn't say what kind of collar you have on them?

 

Personally, though, I keep Summer naked in the house. There is a tag collar at the back door that I can toss over her head when I let her out. For walks, she wears a tag collar with a flat slide ID tag & martingale collar combination OR a martingale with a hanging ID tag clipped to the side buckle (not the D-ring).

[Guest PhillyPups]

I keep tag collars with id (my cell number) on them all the time. There is more chance of one slipping out a door than getting loose on a walk,with me right there, or out of my yard with me right there. My biggest fear is one getting loose with no id.

 

This is just my personal choice. Others do differently and I am not judging, just sharing what I do and why.

 

My worst nightmare would be having to start a thread in Amber Alert and the only thing that would make it even worse is with one of mine out there with no id.

[Guest Trentsmom]

If I was you, I would normally only have a tag collar on inside. And it sounds like the breakaway kind is the type you'd do best with (Long Dog Leather has breakaway tag necklaces). I would NOT ever have a martingale on inside. You didn't say what kind of collar you have on them?

 

Personally, though, I keep Summer naked in the house. There is a tag collar at the back door that I can toss over her head when I let her out. For walks, she wears a tag collar with a flat slide ID tag & martingale collar combination OR a martingale with a hanging ID tag clipped to the side buckle (not the D-ring).

Thanks for the tips. We have martingales on the two older dogs, but have not yet bought for the pups. The day we had the problem was a regular collar. I'll check out the website for breakaways.

[Guest KsFrets]

We have tag or martingales on ours all the time, when we are present. NEVER EVER EVER EVER put a tag on the D-ring of a martingale. Thank GOD we were right there when we learned this lesson the hard way, and were able to save Magnus within seconds of getting "hooked" on a kitchen cabinet. Our dogs are always naked when we go somewhere and leave them home. For walking we use "all-in-one" leash/collar combos, that go on in addition to their tag collars. This way, if the unthinkable ever happens, and the slip the walking collar, they will still have their ID on them.

[Guest verthib]

Just use a break away tag collar for inside so if they escaped they'd have identification. Then use the martingales when walking them.

[seeh2o]

Mine wear breakaway collars 24/7/365. Pam from Cozy Coats and More made the tag collars for my dogs. Mine hold together with strong velcro and I have a collar tag from Wooftags (an affiliate of Boomerang tags and all of Wooftag's profits go to dog and cat rescue!)that slides on, so no dangling.

[silverfish]

Mine are microchipped, but also wear tag necklaces in the house. NEVER leave a martingale on your dog when unattended; as you've discovered, they can and do get caught and it can lead to the death of a dog. I've personally heard of three dogs who have hanged themselves by their collars and died. One was a dog we rehomed from the vet where I used to work, and two were on here.

 

I make tag necklaces which are designed to either pull off over the head when they get snagged or to break if for some reason they can't pull off. Two dogs playing is one very good example of how that might happen. If one gets a jaw or leg inside a collar and twists, they tend to panic and the collar can get to strangulation point very quickly.

 

Here's Sid wearing his tag necklace, in my Etsy shop. The listing is for a custom made necklace.

 

And here's one I made for someone according to their specs

 

 

I can even do a matching one for you!

 

Edited to add: Personally, I'd rather have my dog out loose without a tag than dead.

Edited January 17, 2012 by silverfish

[Guest KennelMom]

Our dogs go naked, collars only for walks. We tried different things and after a handful of hang-ups/entanglements (thank GOD we were here to save the dogs) their collars came off. BUCKLE tag collars when they're needed (traveling, dog sitter, walks) - you don't want to have to cut something off a dog when they're struggling/choking. Anything that doesn't break away is a choking hazard, whether it's a martingale, a necklace or a tag collar.

Edited January 17, 2012 by KennelMom

[kudzu]

Tag collars 24/7. (24/7 ID is part of the adoption contract.) Martingales or buckle hound collars for walks or outings.

 

As Summer said you seem to need breakaway type collars.

[jamngrey]

Just use a break away tag collar for inside so if they escaped they'd have identification. Then use the martingales when walking them.

Ditto for me

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

Martingales 24/7 (4 hounds).

 

Do a search for "collar accident polls" and you will find two polls that I started about this very topic. It seems from my unscientific poll that there are many more people that haven't had an issue than have actually had an issue. As far as actual fatalities, haven't had direct knowledge (meaning not a friend of a friend told me so) of any, and nobody on either of my polls had.

[rascalsmom]

Jack only wears his tag necklace in the house. He rarely wears a martingale anymore, since his corns preclude many walks.

[silverfish]

Martingales 24/7 (4 hounds).

 

Do a search for "collar accident polls" and you will find two polls that I started about this very topic. It seems from my unscientific poll that there are many more people that haven't had an issue than have actually had an issue. As far as actual fatalities, haven't had direct knowledge (meaning not a friend of a friend told me so) of any, and nobody on either of my polls had.

 

 

A dog belonging to a client at the vets I worked for doesn't count? I talked to the owner personally when she brought the dog's body in for burial, and she was incredibly distressed.

 

Also there was a GT member whose dog hanged himself by his martingale in her own yard while she was inside the house, and by the time she found him he was already dead. I hate to mention this, since if she sees it it will bring back all the distress for her (although I think she has since left GT), but it happened.

 

This is an extract about it from another thread about martingale collars:

 

I stopped leaving martingales on mine when Kerry (Merlinsmum) posted a letter from a former GT member whose greyhound Roo managed to get his collar tangled on a fence and ended up strangling himself because the collar would not come off, it just kept tightening around his neck like a noose the more he struggled. She went out to find him hanging on the fence, paws bloodied as he fought to free himself. Reading her letter was heart wrenching and I will never forget the image conjured up in my mind. I find myself crying again as I type this. That is why mine wear break-away tag collars. True they could get loose one day and the collar could get caught up on something and break loose, but I'd rather have them in that instance loose without identification than dead and easy to identity.

 

This is the thread it is from. Unfortunately I can't remember the name of the GT member whose dog died, but perhaps someone else will.

 

If you had read the post made at the time telling us what had happened, you'd understand why some of us are perhaps a tad paranoid. It might happen extremely rarely, but if there's anything I can do to prevent it happening to one of mine, I will do it.

 

For others, the risk of escape seems higher than death by strangulation, and those people will make their choice accordingly. I won't judge them, but neither will I stop making people aware of this danger so they can at least make an informed decision - or indeed, of the other big danger; of greyhounds breaking their necks running into glass doors.

 

The count for that, I think, is three dead and one with a broken neck who recovered after a very long, very painful, and very expensive period of time. And all it needs for prevention is a few stickers at eye level for the dogs.

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

There are always exceptions to anything. Anything can happen. Everyone has that one story of what they know happened to so-and-so. I feel that the chances of strangulation from a martingale is much less than the possibility of a loose hound. Therefore, I feel comfortable with my choice of a martingale collar at all times. We all want the same thing, safety for our hounds. It just depends on each persons level of comfort. I grew up in a time when you didn't have to wear full battle gear when riding your bicycle (look at the poor kids wearing knee pads, helmets, gloves, etc.) or wear a seatbelt in a car and I survived.

[Guest issy]

I for one am a fan of using other people's experiences to better my own life. Statisticians evaluate statistics so we can learn how to survive better, be it through seatbelts, helmets, whatever. The point is a few more lives can be spared with a simple fix. Is a baby likely to strangle itself on mini-blind cords? We might've thought, hey, probably not. But someone compiled statistics and evaluated the data that was gleaned, and the thought of saving a few more babies changed how mini-blind cords were made. Looking at a cloth martingale, one can see how likely that loop is to get caught on something, say, a cabinet knob as the hound is walking by. Disaster ensues. The question is, is that likely? Well, it actually looks like it's likely enough that a lot of people are concerned with it.

 

Enzo wears a fairly snug tag collar, and a martingale or harness while on walks. He has never had a problem with the tag collar getting caught on anything, but he's an only hound so I can't compare it to someone whose dogs wrestle. Sher, who runs our adoption group in Ogden, doesn't want adopters using break-away collars for tags in case they get out. But that's where I see both sides of the issue - I just won't violate my contract and it could go both ways. So I guess just make sure the tag collar, if not break-away, is snug enough that it's not likely to get caught just on any old thing - this is how the hounds collars look when we go to meet-n-greets - comfortable but making contact with the entire neck. Or weigh your options and do breakaway if that seems better. Until someone runs a big random sample study and evaluates the statistics, we can only guess.

[Guest KsFrets]

We have been present when Magnus's collar caught on a Kitchen cabinet. We were also there when his dog bone shaped ID tag caught in the bars of his crate. Both could have been a tragedy had we not been there. Two actual incidents, in 5 years with 8 dogs living in our home (three of our own and 5 fosters). Both incidents happened early in our greyhound journey, scared the holy $h!t out of us, forced us to modify how we approach tags, their shapes, and collars, and has convinced us to NEVER leave a dog alone with a potential noose around their neck. To hear a greyhound scream in terror, is something you will never ever forget.

[LadyGrey]

I have always let them go naked in the house. The back door lets out to a huge fenced-in yard. The gate is never opened as we never use it unless the gas service that comes once per year. When we have taken them out for rides and walks, we put the tag collars on. When we actually walk them, we put the Martingale collars on them in the jeep. I do not even leave the Martingale collars on them in the jeep. Only for the actual walking periods.

 

 

[krissy]

Breakaway tag necklace from LongDog Leather 24/7, martingales only for walks. Our door doesn't open directly into our backyard so he wears a martingale to get walked out there (for off leash time, fetch, training, etc. since he gets leash walked 3x daily to do his business) and I usually just unclip the leash and leave the martingale on... but I'm always right there. He doesn't stay out in the yard unsupervised. He could still snag it on something running but our backyard is pretty empty so I don't worry about it. In the house he only wears his tag necklace. I want ID on him, but he's microchipped so I'd rather he be out loose with no tags than dead on a fence somewhere.

 

But having said that I don't worry all that much about him getting loose. ID is wonderful and I always want it on my dog, don't get me wrong, but the greatest tool at your disposal for keeping your hound safe is training. To me ID is a back up in case training fails me. Even the best trained obedience or working dog is not 100% guaranteed to obey. That's what my tags are for. They are there in the unlikely event that my dog decides to wander out a door that someone accidentally left open even though he knows he's not supposed to go out open doors. The tags are there in the event that my leash unclips from a collar during a walk (and there are a surprising number of posts about that happening) and he ignores my recall. I am 99% sure that in both those situations my dog will come back to me when I ask. The tags are for that 1% chance that he doesn't. But I'd rather only rely on my tags for a 1% chance. Tags can come off, tags can be ignored by people who want to keep a dog. To me training my dog to be reliable is far more likely to keep him safe than a tag around his neck.

[4My2Greys]

There are always exceptions to anything. Anything can happen. Everyone has that one story of what they know happened to so-and-so. I feel that the chances of strangulation from a martingale is much less than the possibility of a loose hound. Therefore, I feel comfortable with my choice of a martingale collar at all times. We all want the same thing, safety for our hounds. It just depends on each persons level of comfort. I grew up in a time when you didn't have to wear full battle gear when riding your bicycle (look at the poor kids wearing knee pads, helmets, gloves, etc.) or wear a seatbelt in a car and I survived.

 

There are NO exceptions to dead. I was the one who posted about reading Merlinsmum's post about Roo. It still makes me sick to this day every time I think about it. Up to that time I had kept martingales on all my hounds 24/7 because I was ignorant of the dangers. To have learned the dangers and continued to leave them on as I had would have been inexcusable and asking for trouble. All mine have breakaway tag collars they wear all the time, martingales only go on when we are going out for walks. Yes, it took only that ONE instance for me to learn my lesson. I wasn't about to wait until I came home to find one of mine strangled with their collars. Oh and by the way I have read of many more instances since, so it's not just the one anymore.

Oh, and the ONE time it took for me to learn my lesson about putting a seatbelt on my own daughter was doing CPR on a little boy until paramedics arrived and he be declared dead on the scene. The family was traveling back from vacation and the little boy hadn't been wearing a seatbelt. You know I'm sure they would find comfort in the fact that others like you were not so unlucky :rolleyes .

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

Where were all these comments during my two threads? Regardless, you do what you feel comfortable with and I will do what I feel comfortable with.

 

 

No need to be nasty with your CAPITAL letters and :rolleyes. If you really want to know something terrible, my wife's mother was killed by a drunk driver when my wife was a teenager, why because she wasnt wearing a seatbelt. I still feel the way I do, when its your time to go, its your time, no matter what you do.

 

After you have been in combat, you tend to look at life a bit differently...

[Guest jbbuzby]

After reading about the dangers, I promptly switched to just tag/brakaway collars when they are left alone, and generally in the house. I have left martingales on them inside after walks and things, but only when supervised. They also come off any time anyone feels like being playful/doing anything other than sleeping, and they also can't wear martingales in the crate. The way I see it, it is not big deal for me to switch to breakaway tag collars on them all the time, if that could potentially save my dog's life. There is little benefit to having a martingale on all the time; I just keep the leashes on the martingales hung up, so they slip over their heads when we go for a walk. Also, it's another excuse for me to accessorize . Just purchased an attractive tag collar for my new girl from collarmyheart .