To collar or not to collar

[Tommy Coyote]

I have a 6 year old Border Collie who just this year decided to escape from the fenced back yard while I was out there with him (3 times!). It was the collar with an ID plate that led to him being home within a half hour. He is deaf, so I have no idea what motivated the escape, but he went over a 6 ft gate and bolted. He didn't stop until he found some kids to hang out with.

My Bandit used to do that. He got scared during a storm and pushed the screen out of the window and jumped out. I found him standing in the middle of a bunch of kids. Later I found out that he loved being around kids - didn't want to play with them or anything. Just liked to stand in the middle of the crowd. I would take him to Petco and if there were kids he would just go over the stand with them. Funny, funny dog.

[Tommy Coyote]

I would like to comment on dogs found w/o collars. I don't think it's a good idea to assume that a dog w/o a collar on is not a wanted dog. I think most of my customers don't have tags or collars on their dogs. A lot have collars but no tags.

 

One of the labs I take care of doesn't wear his collar because the tags wake up the baby.

 

It would be awful to lose a dog that got hung up some how. But the odds of the dog getting out are much higher than having it get hung up while playing or going over a fence.

 

I just talked to a woman yesterday who is going crazy trying to find her little, lost dog. No tags. It could be in a perfectly safe place but the people who have it just have no idea where it lives. They may turn it into rescue, or a shelter. But the end result is that the owner may never see it again.

[GentleLake]

I don't understand why anyone would bother having a collar on a dog but no tags on the collar.

 

And I'm still form;y in the camp of my dogs wearing their collars all the time, and those collars have tags on them. And the dogs are microchipped.

 

If I were to find a dog without a collar on it -- or with a collar but no tags on it -- I would contact the authorities, local shelters, place an ad, watch ads, etc. If I couldn't keep the dog temporarily myself, I'd take the ACO's advice about where to put it (one of the local shelters), or, preferably, try to get it into a rescue.

[GentleLake]

One of the labs I take care of doesn't wear his collar because the tags wake up the baby.

 

That's a pretty poor excuse, IMO, for the dog not to wear a collar with tags. There have been lots of posts here about tags that don't dangle, and there are a number of devices sold to keep tags from making noise, from bands that separate the tags to pouches that the tags go into. Heck, I've seen people use electrical tape to wrap the tags together so they don't make noise. Doing nothing and letting the dog go without ID is irresponsible, IMO.

[Camden's Mom]

All this talk about dogs getting their collars hung up has me a little worried. My boy goes naked in the house (he is microchipped and the registration is up to date) but always wears his collar when we leave the house. We just got him the 1" flat Durasoft collar from GDS. It has the riveted owner info tag so no more dangly tags (yay!).

 

We do frequent off leash areas... so... now I'm worried he's gonna strangle to death if he gets tangled up while playing with another dog. I trust that he wouldn't run away, but I really want to keep my info on him as these aren't dog parks, they are more like hiking trails.

 

So, if you collar your dog with a flat leather (or something similar) buckle collar is it better to keep a snug fit, or let it be a little bit loose so it can be slipped? Or would a loose fit make a tangle more likely? Again, this is in relation to playing with other dogs. He's so rarely out of sight (I often can't even hide from him) that I'm not too worried about him getting hung up on a fence, branch, etc.

[Gideon's girl]

Snug, so another dog can't get its lower jaw under it.

[geonni banner]

For keeping dangle tags quiet, a good solution is sold a key shops everywhere. They come in a variety of colors and sizes, cost about a quarter and look like this:

(The red plastic thing on the key)

 

If you have three tags you can just put one of these on the middle tag and it will keep the others quiet.

 

Re: dogs found with collars but no ID. If someone steals your dog, one of the first things the thief will do is take off the tags. Sometimes the dog gets away, and is found with a collar but no ID.

[Maja]

Gideon's Girl,

 

Thank you! And they there is no dangling, and the phone is there. One of our collars with a phone no. actually got a dog found very quickly

[GentleLake]

Just saw this posted on a local trainer's FB page:

 

http://www.whole-dog-journal.com/issues/16_5/features/take-it-all-off_20740-1.html#.UXgGVH3F1ek.facebook

 

I'm still firmly in the my-dogs-wear-collars-all-the-time (I've had too many runners in my time) camp, but this has given me a new perspective on quick-release buckles.

 

Here's something else I just found: http://store.petsafe.net/playsafe-collar

Add a Boomerang tag for adjustable collars and you can have the peace of mind of a quick release system and a non-dangling ID for the potential escape artists. Not sure I'd trust it as a regular walking collar, though, but sounds like a great idea for multi-dog homes and folks who use dog parks and doggy day care.

[waffles]

Seen it many times where dogs at daycare had their jaws wrapped in collars. Had to cut a couple off as the one dog chokes and the other panics and they pull so hard you can't get the belt buckle type collars off. The plastic quick release ones though click right off before the dogs can even get to the panic state. Had one dog go limp as we cut her leather collar off.

The shop I work at has a daycare and now we have a quick release or no collar policy. It still is no excuse for not putting id on your dog. If they go to a dog park, daycare or you have multiple dogs who wrestle or as I call them collar grabbers, then put a quick release collar on. Odds are greater your dog will go missing anyway. In 10 years at our shop this has happened probably 5-6 times in daycare with 25 dogs on average a day.

Eta- these situations are probably the scariest thing I have ever dealt with. Breaking up nasty dog fights is way easier than dogs with collars stuck. The screaming noise they make and the level of panic in them is unreal. One dog bit the others face several times while panicking to get lose. The feeling of helplessness until you can get scissors makes me shake almost thinking about it. We have never gotten two dogs apart who has belt buckle collars even with several people unless it was with scissors. The quick release is almost instant relief though.

[bcnewe2]

I know I commented on this thread somewhere as to what we do here.

But I had an incident happen so thought I'd write about it.

 

Not sure what the answer will be. but more careful observation

 

I've been working some young dogs over here. We tie them to the fence or hook them to spots in the barn. We're working in the barn using it as a makeshift round pen and some in the barn lot.

To keep Faye quiet and calm I've been putting her in a pen that I had made for the LGD. It's about 6x6 cattle panel with a red pipe gate with smaller fencing on it to keep dogs in.

The gate is latched to a T post that's as close to the barn as I could pound it.

 

We had some very loud young dog training going on (picture sheep running around in the barn and other dogs barking a bit on the side lines) Faye is usually a very quiet dog who will just sit and vibrate while action is taking place. But she couldn't see what was going on. So....I hear thumping on the outside of the barn. I peeked out and she was trying to jump/climb the gate. I hollered at her and she plopped down. I returned to the inside of the barn. I heard it again, peeked again and there she was hanging by her collar on the T-post. By the time I reached her (all of 20ft) she had wriggled out of the collar.

Disaster averted but barely. I hollered at her as I had caught her in the act but won't be using that pen to keep her quiet anymore. I have made short tie outs that I can put almost anywhere and I will find a different place to keep her quiet.

 

Not sure what I will do about the collars. At the moment most of my dogs have been wearing them. Training and being out of town warrants them wearing collars to be safe. But I worry that if something exciting happens again the same thing could happen. Faye used to be a jumper. She doesn't have mush reason to jump lately but training gets her that amped up sometimes. Not her training but watching or hearing other's training. I forgot she is such an agile dog when it comes to jumping or climbing.

 

I don't put collars on tight, for just that reason. I always thought they could slip out if something happened. I think Faye just got lucky and was able to slip out. But had it been tight maybe it wouldn't of caught on the t-post.

 

For now all I've done is change the way I keep her put up. But....I need to rethink the whole issue.

 

 

Just an FYI warning but no real answer.....

[D'Elle]

Seen it many times where dogs at daycare had their jaws wrapped in collars. Had to cut a couple off as the one dog chokes and the other panics and they pull so hard you can't get the belt buckle type collars off. The plastic quick release ones though click right off before the dogs can even get to the panic state. Had one dog go limp as we cut her leather collar off.

The shop I work at has a daycare and now we have a quick release or no collar policy. It still is no excuse for not putting id on your dog. If they go to a dog park, daycare or you have multiple dogs who wrestle or as I call them collar grabbers, then put a quick release collar on. Odds are greater your dog will go missing anyway. In 10 years at our shop this has happened probably 5-6 times in daycare with 25 dogs on average a day.

Eta- these situations are probably the scariest thing I have ever dealt with. Breaking up nasty dog fights is way easier than dogs with collars stuck. The screaming noise they make and the level of panic in them is unreal. One dog bit the others face several times while panicking to get lose. The feeling of helplessness until you can get scissors makes me shake almost thinking about it. We have never gotten two dogs apart who has belt buckle collars even with several people unless it was with scissors. The quick release is almost instant relief though.

Just to let you know..........my dog Jester was wearing a "quick release" type of collar when my foster puppy got her jaw wedged in it and twisted it tight. I was not able to get the collar released because it was twisted so tightly that the release would not work. Jester almost died that morning. He had stopped breathing by the time I managed to wrench it off the puppy's jaw. So just saying........a "quick release" is not necessarily fail-safe.

[border_collie_crazy]

I hate seeing quick release collars tauted as the ideal for collar grabbers and daycares and multi dogs... i have experienced 2 incidents of jaws getting caught in collars. Dog 1 died(and there was 5 people trying to free the dog), dog 2 went limp but survived unscathed(2 people). Dog 1 was wearing a quick release, dog 2 was wearing a belt buckle type. Im not saying belt type is safer, only that quick release is NOT safer.

 

Dog 1 situation was same as above, the collar pulled and twisted

[waffles]

I never said quick release was fail safe. It is safer in my opinion as I have never ever gotten a belt buckle one off without scissors. The quick release ones I have snapped off more than once when dogs were stuck. About half our dogs get collars taken off completely but some we put quick release on so the girls can grab them if a fight occurs or is about to. My boss made the decision that a fight is more likely to happen than a caught collar and it is better for the workers to be able to hold onto a dog if needed. To each their own. I still think in every day life dogs need ID on them.

[border_collie_crazy]

My daycare requires break-a-way type collars so we still have dogs ID'd and controllable without possabilty of strangulation. At home I have a multi dog household and my dogs are always collared(belt buckle type). Im not in favour of collarless i just dislike seeing quick release collars tauted as a safer alternitive, there is always risk.