# Collars - choking hazard



## niki1707 (Apr 1, 2008)

A co-worker just told me that I should get a break away collar because regular collars can be deadly choling hazards. 

Does anyone have one of these? www.breakawaycollar.com

My dog has no concept of "come" so I'm afraid to use one.


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## jesirose (Mar 27, 2008)

I'm not sure what the collar has to do with recall, but did you read the product info? It shows how it won't break when you use it with a leash when you attach it properly. 

We use breakaway collars on the cats but they are indoor only. The dog should be supervised when there would be any danger of choking or anything, but accidents do happen so if you were worried about it, I don't see how it could hurt.


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## cascabel (Sep 25, 2007)

They only breakaway when not on leash. You leash it across the two D-rings so it can't break away unless the dog is off leash. So it really shouldn't be affected by your dog's understanding of 'come'. 

I have a friend who's dog strangled during a few minutes when he wasn't being watched in his own backyard. (he was an inside dog, only allowed out for a couple of minutes at a time unsupervised in their fenced yard) So this is something that strikes near to my heart. It is just heart-breaking to see an owner go through something so terrible.


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## britishbandit (Dec 11, 2006)

I have absolutely no use for such a contraption. LOL My dogs never wear collars at all when they're at home. So whenever they have collars on, we're out and about and they are supervised.


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## harrise (Jan 9, 2008)

No collars here either! Only for walks and training (and then only flats). Otherwise at home, they are all sans collar. Microchips help ease my mind too, should someone escape...


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## jesirose (Mar 27, 2008)

britishbandit said:


> I have absolutely no use for such a contraption. LOL My dogs never wear collars at all when they're at home. So whenever they have collars on, we're out and about and they are supervised.


I think it's important to have collars on all the time because you never know what might happen. In the case of an emergency, I think my dog's collar (with tags) is much more likely to get her back to me than to choke her. She will be chipped soon but so many people don't know about those and having my phone number on her tag will get her home a lot faster.


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## Chicster (Jan 17, 2008)

Some boarding facilities/doggie daycares will only take your dog with a breakaway. I will probably be getting one for my pup for that reason.


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## Durbkat (Jun 26, 2007)

I never take Snoopy's collar off, except to brush the hair under it, as if he ever got out people wouldn't be able to get ahold of me. We don't live in the greatest neighborhood so I am pretty sure not to many people would put in the extra effort to take him to a vet to get scanned for a chip.


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## sheltiemom (Mar 13, 2007)

I take their collars off in the crates. I came home one day to find Frosty with his collar hung on the side of the crate. He's ok, luckily I was only gone a short time. For a long time after that they didn't wear collars at all in the house, I just left them attatched to the leashes. I started to worry though about them slipping out the door without their tags, and like jesirose said, I think the benefit outweighs the danger when I'm home with them.


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## Shalva (Mar 23, 2007)

jesirose said:


> I think it's important to have collars on all the time because you never know what might happen. In the case of an emergency, I think my dog's collar (with tags) is much more likely to get her back to me than to choke her. She will be chipped soon but so many people don't know about those and having my phone number on her tag will get her home a lot faster.



thats because you have never seen two dogs with their collars cut or a puppy dead after getting a collar caught.... 

I have had to cut collars off of Cuinn and Connor when they were stuck together after Cuinns jaw got stuck in Connors collar and Connor was choking.... the same exact thing happened to my friends dogs not a month later..... and one of them almost died..... this happened in two seconds flat because neither one of us have our dogs wearing collars unless we are going out..... in my case I was fitting new collars and the boys ran into the living room and within seconds were entangled.... 

I know of several puppies that have died after having their collars caught..... 

collars are inherently dangerous and it is my opinion that they should be worn only when going out and NEVER when multi dogs are playing.... 

that having been said all of the dogs are microchipped and tattooed and all of my puppies are microchipped prior to leaving this house.....


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## wvasko (Dec 15, 2007)

Shalva
When I accept boarding dogs, collars are removed and hung on gates etc. When I was on bird dog training trips collars were never removed. The collars used then were all leather well made collars with name plates. I do believe a lot of the nylon collars they sell now are garbage and add to the problem. As far as chokes I tell people just have a noose made it's more efficient and probably quicker.


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## Durbkat (Jun 26, 2007)

I don't understand how Cuinn got his mouth stuck under Conners collar if the collar was tight enough he shouldn't have been able to get his mouth under it.


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## RBark (Sep 10, 2007)

Durbkat said:


> I don't understand how Cuinn got his mouth stuck under Conners collar if the collar was tight enough he shouldn't have been able to get his mouth under it.


You'd be A-MAY-ZED what dogs can do! 

Ollie has gotten his jaw trapped in the chest portion of a harness that was tight enough for only one finger, and was just a few inches down from his jaw.

To this day I've never figured it out. He did it trying to escape from it and was not supervised.


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## cascabel (Sep 25, 2007)

Durbkat said:


> I don't understand how Cuinn got his mouth stuck under Conners collar if the collar was tight enough he shouldn't have been able to get his mouth under it.


It's really not that hard for some dogs to get under the collar even if it is pretty tight. (Maybe it's something you just have to see to understand?) 

I spent time (and still do part-time) working at a doggy daycare where the dogs were only allowed to wear the premier breakaway collars if they were going to wear collars during our care. The collars on these dogs were kept tight, but many times during the day other dogs would get their jaws under them and cause them to breakaway. I can only imagine how bad things would be if the collars weren't breakaways because we always had at least a few collars break away every day during play.


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## harrise (Jan 9, 2008)

Shalva, you just added one more thing to my what if list... Thanks  ( I have had a collar and nail scenario play out recently. Now every dog that comes here has to have a collar removed before play.)


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## cascabel (Sep 25, 2007)

RBark said:


> You'd be A-MAY-ZED what dogs can do!
> 
> Ollie has gotten his jaw trapped in the chest portion of a harness that was tight enough for only one finger, and was just a few inches down from his jaw.
> 
> To this day I've never figured it out. He did it trying to escape from it and was not supervised.


I couldn't agree more. These dogs can do some crazy things! 

For the longest time I couldn't for the life of me understand people who complained about their dogs chewing their collar. I always thought that the collar must have been loose in order for this to happen. Then I actually caught a dog in the act one time and was so surprised.  I really did kind of have to see it to believe it.


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## Durbkat (Jun 26, 2007)

I guess you all are right. But the dogs you guys are talking about have longer noses/snouts, and can reach it better than a toy breed.


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## RBark (Sep 10, 2007)

Durbkat said:


> I guess you all are right. But the dogs you guys are talking about have longer noses/snouts, and can reach it better than a toy breed.


Nuh huh. I'll call you on that! gonna take a pic, brb.


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## borzoimom (May 21, 2007)

My dogs do not wear collars in the house. The reason is that I had a awful incident years ago. Brother( Midas) sister ( Echo) were playing. I had nylon collars on both. She caught her jaw in his collar ( and no it was not loose) - so when she pulled it was her jaw, when he pulled it was choking her.. Thank God I was there and being nylon we could cut it off.. It was horrid! Since then- all those years ago, no dog wears a collar in the house.


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## RBark (Sep 10, 2007)

ANIMAL ABUSE!









because of the longer snout, i wager it's even harder! Since it reaches past the collar even further!


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## poodleholic (Mar 15, 2007)

My dogs only wear collars when attached to a leash and going somewhere. It's a safety issue. If you've ever witnessed one dog's teeth caught on the collar of another dog and the horror of what can happen, you'd never leave a collar on your dogs when inside the house, or when in your fenced yard playing with each other. 

My dogs are trained not to exit the house unless released to do so. I could leave the door wide open, and go elsewhere in the house, and find them still inside upon returning. 

Well, let me clarify that! I can trust the Poodles to still be there, but not the Shih Tzu. I haven't worked with him enough to trust him. With that said, I rarely leave the door open, but have on occasion when going out to get the mail, and ending up in a (long) conversation with the neighbor across the street! I worked on training with this because I have young grandchildren, and wanted to do whatever I could to keep my dogs safe. The funny thing is that the grandkids are diligent in closing doors; it's the adults who are careless!


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## britishbandit (Dec 11, 2006)

jesirose said:


> I think it's important to have collars on all the time because you never know what might happen. In the case of an emergency, I think my dog's collar (with tags) is much more likely to get her back to me than to choke her. She will be chipped soon but so many people don't know about those and having my phone number on her tag will get her home a lot faster.


I think the chances of an emergency where the dog suddenly needs a collar is much less than the chances of one or both of my dogs getting the collar caught on something. I do have leashes and collars handy though. I keep a set in my car and one set in a box on a shelf on my porch, as well as the 2 frequently used that are in the kitchen hanging on the wall. Would take me a matter of seconds to get to one of the sets no matter where I was. I also have an 8 foot wooden privacy fence in the yard, so there's no risk of them getting out and taking off. They wouldn't have a chance to anyway, I'm usually out with them when they are in the yard, and if I'm not they aren't out for more than 10 minutes.

I'd just rather be safe than sorry. I've seen it happen where a collar has caused either an injury or death. I've even seen it happen where the dog got it's collar snagged and because of it developed a fearful and neurotic behavior whenever it saw a collar and freaked out when the owner tried to put one on her. And as Shalva mentioned, it can happen during play and scuffles in multi dog homes (or just multiple dogs out together), not even just the fact the collar could get snagged on something. My two play all the time, and no doubt a snagged collar would be a common occurance around here if my dogs wore collars.

Not having collars on all the time also saves their fur. LOL Dogs that wear collars all the time, you can see where the collars have been when they have it taken off for baths and such. They can even rub and make the fur fall out, causing thin/bald looking patches around the neck. Can cause irritation too. Not to mention those tags jingling 24/7 would drive me bonkers. HAHA


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## jesirose (Mar 27, 2008)

Isn't that the whole POINT of these collars? You guys are all saying not to wear collars all the time, are you saying breakaway collars don't work?

Maybe the reason the dog was scared of the collar is because it never had a chance to get used to it. Both of our cats and Sadie were scared of their collars at first but after a few days they don't notice them.


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## Shalva (Mar 23, 2007)

so Jesi the question I have for you is 

so ok we know that regular collars are dangerous...... 

so you use a breakaway collar, which is designed to "break away" when caught on something..... that also means it is designed to break away when someone grabs it or it gets caught on something..... a tree branch, bush, stick, whatever.... 

how will that help you if your dog is lost if the whole reason for wearing a collar all the time is identification....then if you were to use a break away collar it may or may not help you with regards to identification.


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## jesirose (Mar 27, 2008)

Right, but if it they don't get caught, it would help better than not having any collar. If the dog gets out and doesn't get in a position where a regular collar would choke it, it still has it's tags on. It's better than NO collar because it still has a good chance of being there when someone finds the dog.


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## britishbandit (Dec 11, 2006)

jesirose said:


> Maybe the reason the dog was scared of the collar is because it never had a chance to get used to it. Both of our cats and Sadie were scared of their collars at first but after a few days they don't notice them.


This wasn't my dog, it was my friends mother's dog, a 10 year old Border Collie. And she'd never had issues with wearing a collar until the snagging incident. Wasn't related at all to not being used to wearing a collar.


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## jesirose (Mar 27, 2008)

britishbandit said:


> This wasn't my dog, it was my friends mother's dog, a 10 year old Border Collie. And she'd never had issues with wearing a collar until the snagging incident. Wasn't related at all to not being used to wearing a collar.


Sorry I misread, I thought the behavior was there before the incident.


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## CrazyDog (Oct 16, 2007)

NO collars here either, unless we are out somewhere. I'd rather have a peace of mind knowing that my dog is safe and not going to hang herself with her collar or something while I'm not home. My dog is micro-chipped and tattooed as well. So if she would ever wonder off, which she never would, she would have some identification. Like mentioned by poodleholic my dog is trained not to run out an open house door or open fence gate unless released to do so. The door/ gate could be sitting opened for hours and Lula would still be in the same place I left her. 

I also agree with the dangers of collar's when dogs are playing. My dog got her tooth stuck in a dogs collar one time at the dog park.....get this, her bottom left canine went through one of the open buckle holes on the dogs nylon buckle collar and got stuck. Needless to say, it wasn't fun!!!.....she's lucky not to have a chipped tooth or worse. As for the breakaway collars, I've never heard of them but it sounds like it would be great if everyone's dog at the dog park had one. 



britishbandit said:


> Not having collars on all the time also saves their fur. LOL Dogs that wear collars all the time, you can see where the collars have been when they have it taken off for baths and such. They can even rub and make the fur fall out, causing thin/bald looking patches around the neck. Can cause irritation too. Not to mention those tags jingling 24/7 would drive me bonkers. HAHA


I totally agree with this too! My dog is mostly white and having her collar on just for a short time on a walk or something colors her fur. Just imagine if she was wearing it 24/7.  I've also seen some dogs with missing fur, bald spots, bad irritations from leaving collars on all the time. Ouch! Poor doggies... 


BTW, just because a dog has a collar and tags on doesn't insure that you will get your dog back faster or even get him back at all if it were to get away. I work in a pet store.....It doesn't happen often but I have seen people bring dogs in that they FOUND and the dogs are wearing collar/ tags. The people who found the dog are buying stuff for the dog and are thinking of keeping it.  You ask them if they tried to contact the owner and they look as you like you are crazy or something....... because it there's now, so they think. VERY SAD!! On the other hand I've seen some people bring in dogs that have no collar/ tags or have expired/outdated tags and they ask to scan the dog for micro-chips, they hang up found dog signs, and they do all they can to try to contact the owner. So I guess it depends all on the people who find the dog not on the dog wearing a collar and tags or not.


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## Love's_Sophie (Sep 23, 2007)

Sophie wears her collar during the day...but we are in and out, so rather than forget her collar and tags behind; one tag, which states that she is chipped, I leave it on. But I am always with her. 

At night, the collar comes off, because I can't stand the sound of her tags when she gets up to reposition herself, or scritch an itch!! 

Seems like Spud and I are in the minority, here...


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## Aussiefan (Jan 21, 2007)

In my opinion no collar should be left on a dog if he or she is going to be unattended. If people really want to leave a flat collar on their dog, it should be on loose enough to where they could slip out of it if they get hung up on something. If they are worn for ID tags, i would suggest microchipping. All 4 of mine are microchipped for that reason, and also i cannot stand the "jingling" of the tags, lol. I have heard many stories and personally know someone that lost their dog when there flat collar got hung up on a fence and it strangled them to death. Not worth the risk in my opinion.

My new BC does wear a flat collar when im home so i can easily correct him if he is doing something he shouldn't be, the others only wear collars when i am training, or walking them.


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## Durbkat (Jun 26, 2007)

Right, but not all people will make the effort to see if a dog is microchipped. I know almost all people in my neighbirhood wouldn't. If it doesn't have a collar they'd keep it.


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## Aussiefan (Jan 21, 2007)

Durbkat said:


> Right, but not all people will make the effort to see if a dog is microchipped. I know almost all people in my neighbirhood wouldn't. If it doesn't have a collar they'd keep it.


That is awful! You mean they wouldn't even post fliers and just keep the dog? How common microchipping is these days it should be a common practice to run a found dog into the vet. Guess im just expecting too much from people, lol.


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## Durbkat (Jun 26, 2007)

Not everyone would do it, but a majority would. Fliers would be way to much effort to them. If I found a dog I'd get it scanned for a microchip and if he doesn't have one then I'd take a picture of him and drop him off at the shelter and post some posters telling people where he is.


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## animalcraker (Nov 9, 2006)

Breakway collars DO NOT ALWAYS WORK. I have seen 2 accounts first hand where the pet was severely injured by the collars. One instance was a cat that got the collar caught around it's mouth. The collar tore huge wounds on the sides of it's mouth and on the back of the head from the cat strugling to get its self unstuck. The second instance was a JRT that got the tags stuck between wooden slats on the owners deck. Again the collar did not break and cut into the dogs skin as it tried to get loose. The only thing that prevented both of the pets from any further injury were their screams for help. Both owners described the sound as the most horrible shound that they have ever heard like something out of a horror movie.

Also on the microchip note. In many areas it's illegal for you to keep a dog without a reasonable attempt made to find the owner. The laws also specify what is considered as a reasonable attempt, and they usually include checking for a microchip. If your dog is microchiped and you find someone has kept him it's relatively easy to prove it's yours and get your dog back.

I also keep my dogs naked. The only time they see a collar is when it has a leash attached to it. Besides the risk of death or injury which is a huge concern; collars worn for any significant amount of time damage the hair around the neck and even rub it off completely.


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## QKid (Apr 5, 2008)

I don't even really bother with collars regardless, because my dogs are always in the house. When they're out, they wear collars, mostly for leash purposes. I'd recomend a microchip. It's safer than ANY collar, and it can't be removed as easily as if someone was trying to kidnap your dog.


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## RBark (Sep 10, 2007)

QKid said:


> I don't even really bother with collars regardless, because my dogs are always in the house. When they're out, they wear collars, mostly for leash purposes. I'd recomend a microchip. It's safer than ANY collar, and it can't be removed as easily as if someone was trying to kidnap your dog.


Oh but to be the doomsayer!

Microchips have been linked with cancer!


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## Shalva (Mar 23, 2007)

RBark said:


> Oh but to be the doomsayer!
> 
> Microchips have been linked with cancer!


my understanding about the cancer chip link is that the regular microchips that do NOT give off a signal are fine but that there are chips that give off a radio signal and those have been a problem..... but the regular old microchip does not appear to be a problem 
s


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## Aussiefan (Jan 21, 2007)

A while back cell phones were linked to brain tumors in humans, then we come to find out that was pretty much unfounded. I believe the microchip-cancer hype is falling into the same category. I think the positives of microchiping way out weigh the negatives, in my opinion anyway.


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## borzoimom (May 21, 2007)

Durbkat said:


> Right, but not all people will make the effort to see if a dog is microchipped. I know almost all people in my neighbirhood wouldn't. If it doesn't have a collar they'd keep it.


 That is why you tattoo the dog on the inside of the leg with the initials "MC". It also tells whoever not only microchipped but there is one. And not all readers read all chips so try a different reader if unable to detect a chip- because its there..


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## Cobalt (Jul 27, 2007)

Mia could be the first dog on LA Ink!! cool idea.

Seriously, now I do not know what to do. Mia goes out on a lead into our backyard off of our deck. We watch her. If she got loose, she would take off, no question about it. We are working on that but the down and come commands when she is off leash are not progressing very fast. 

So she needs to have either a collar that is okay inside or we need to take her collar on and off each of the 10 times she goes out each day. If we do not leave a collar on her I do worry that she might sneak out somehow but she is microchipped. 

So, would you risk having a runner or leave a collar on all day inside?

Oh, would a harness be any safer? I would think there would be more pieces to get tangled.

thanks


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## golden&hovawart (Jan 11, 2008)

The only time,my dogs wear a collar in the house,is when we are about to be hit by a hurricane!.Then,it's collar time + 3 tags(rabies,home/cell number,home N. in France).
the rest of the time,they were nothing!.
Also,beware of choke and prong collars when at the dog park cos I've seen dogs getting their jaws stuck in it.
Another story,I witnessed,was a dog getting stuck on a branch while swimming!.The owner had to swim to the dog and untangle him cos the chain of the prong got stuck on it!.
So please be careful!.


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## Durbkat (Jun 26, 2007)

If I had a door darter I'd defiantly keep the collar on. Now people will say "oh you should train her to not dart out doors" or "oh my dogs are trained not to dart out the door, you should to" while I agree I don't think this is the point. I think the point now is to make sure that the dog is properly identified.


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## jesirose (Mar 27, 2008)

borzoimom said:


> That is why you tattoo the dog on the inside of the leg with the initials "MC". It also tells whoever not only microchipped but there is one. And not all readers read all chips so try a different reader if unable to detect a chip- because its there..


And constantly shave the dog to keep the tattoo visible? That tattoo wouldn't work on Sadie. And even if the people saw it, would they even know what that means?

Hopefully if they were going to keep the dog for themselves, they'd eventually take it to the vet and maybe the vet would check themselves, but you never know.


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## lady_bug0212 (Apr 5, 2008)

When Cuda was a pup and collared and also crated, when we came home for lunch to check on him and let him out, his collar tags had gotten stuck between the crate bars. Thank Dog we came home for lunch! He is no longer in a crate but his "sister" is. So now we only collar them is we go "Out". It's easy when you have collars that have a snap buckle and not a belt type buckle. We keep them by the door, and snap, we're out.


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