I’m not one of those dog owners who has her dogs wrapped in cotton wool, constantly looking to protect them from any and all possible hazards. I walk my dogs off-leash in rattlesnake habitats. I sometimes feed them raw eggs. I allow them to swim without wearing life jackets, and so on.
Some of my willingness to expose them to potential health risks might be due to my generation. As the youngest of four kids raised in the 1960s, I grew up unseatbelted – in fact, most of the time I sat on the hump between the two front seats! My generation was subjected to many more potentially life-endng risks than are even legal today.
But there are a couple specific risks I absolutely will not take with my dogs, and they have to do with their collars.
STANDARD TANG BUCKLE
The first danger I won’t expose my dogs to is a collar with a regular metal buckle – you know! The kind that has a frame and a tang or prong that fits through a hole on the collar and is secured by the back of the buckle frame. Why have I taken a stand against such a ubiquitous piece of dog equipment?
The answer is: Because in a terrible emergency, when a dog’s collar is caught on something and he’s choking to death, the only way to unbuckle that buckle – to get that metal prong or tang out of its hole – is to pull it a little bit tighter. And you will have to believe me when I say I know, from personal experience, that when a dog starts choking to death, he won’t be holding cooperatively still in perfect understanding that you need to make his discomfort worse for a moment in order to save his life.
The dog who nearly choked to death in my hands was not my dog – he belonged to a neighbor. But I ran to help when I heard the sound of dogs and women screaming, and was confronted with a writhing tangle of gasping, screaming, urinating, panicking canines. Two dogs had been playing when one grabbed the other by his collar and then rolled over; the collar twisted, pressing his tongue into his own lower teeth – and tightening to the point of choking his playmate.
I and the dogs’ owners, both young women, tried frantically to figure out how to untwist the dogs, but they were big, strong dogs in a full panic, and we couldn’t do it. I dug my hands into the dogs’ fur, looking for buckles to unbuckle. One dog was wearing a quick-release collar – but it wasn’t the collar that was tight. I finally found the buckle for that collar, and it was partially in the mouth of the dog who was twisted, impossibly tight – too tight to be able to tighten it more in order to get the tang of the buckle undone.
As I was working to find the buckles, one of the other women ran into the house and got scissors. She managed to hack through the thick nylon collar, releasing the dogs just a moment after the choking one lost consciousness and released his bowels. About two seconds after the collar was cut, he took a gasping, ragged breath, and then another, and slowly came to as we sobbed and patted him and the other dog and hugged each other.
PLAY NAKED
There is a second lesson to be learned from my nightmare story: When dog friends are playing bitey-face games, they shouldn’t be wearing collars at all. Playful dogs who are left home alone together shouldn’t be wearing collars, either.
TAG, YOU’RE IT
Here’s the other thing I don’t like to see hanging from dogs’ necks: Metal or other rigid ID tags – because it’s easy for tags to get caught on things, pinning a dog in a scary position and causing her to panic.
The last time I used tags was on a foster dog I had crated in my kitchen. I heard a ruckus and found her thrashing; her tags had somehow slipped through the ventilating slits on the side of the crate (perhaps when she was turning around?) and got stuck.
More commonly, dogs get stuck when they lay on a floor near a floor-mounted vent, either warming or cooling themselves, as appropriate for the season. Their tags slip through the vent as they lay on the floor, and when they try to get up, the tags turn and get stuck. Hysteria generally ensues. Best case, someone is home and rescues them. Worst case? Don’t ask. Awful.
SOLUTIONS
Personally, I am comfortable having my dogs collar-free most of the time. If they escaped my home, say, in an earthquake or something, I know that they would readily go to my neighbors or even strangers for rescue. They are microchipped and the chips are registered to me with current contact information.
But if keeping ID on your dog is more critical to you, perhaps because your dog might be a major flight risk if she got loose, there are a few safer solutions.
As an alternative to using ID tags, I buy collars that have side-release plastic buckles (easy to unsnap in an emergency) and have my phone number stitched into the fabric. However, even these are taken off when I am not home or when I am fostering a dog who might play with my younger dog (my older dog doesn’t play).
Silicone tags, such as the ones from Silidog.com, are a safe alternative. They are strong but flexible; even a spindly, tiny dog would be able to pull free if his silicone tag got caught.
I am aware of one collar that closes with a patented break-away buckle, which can tear apart if a dog gets caught by the collar. It’s called the KeepSafe Break-Away Safety collar, and is available from breakawaycollar.com.
Please consider employing at least one of these alternatives if you currently use a standard buckle collar and/or metal tags on your dog.
Nancy Kerns is WDJ’s editor.
My dog’s rabies tag that hung from the wire coil unwound about half of an inch and when my dog ran past me the wire hooked into my calf and ripped my leg wide open. After that I was thankful that my dog(s) luckily were never hurt from this. I changed all fasteners to a better quality stainless steel type.
As an alternative to loose tags, I’d recommend using a little pocket sold to keep tags from rattling. I have used “Quiet Spot” for many years. They’re made of a neoprene type fabric and hold up well. They come in a bunch of colors but I use black so they don’t stand out. With all the tags bunched together (my dogs have their rabies, county license, name and microchip tags all in one Quiet Spot) it’s not going to slip into floor vents or other small spots.
My dogs wear harnesses on walks, and I have started buying collars from https://www.safedogid.com/ for ID. I believe they’re made from neoprene, and will stretch if caught.
If you are worried about dog control catching up to you and your dog without dog license tag, just take a photo of your dogs license receipt that you received when you bought the license. It has all pertinent information on it.
I had this EXACT same thing happen to two of my Rottweilers many years ago. Buckle collar and it was covered in slimy saliva and the dogs were freaking out. While I was working to get the collar unbuckled, the dog lost consciousness and went limp. Eyes rolled back in her head, her tongue was hanging out and I thought I had lost her. Finally got them separated and did CPR, then rushed her to the emergency hospital (this happened on a Sunday afternoon – of course). She turned out to be OK thankfully, and then I finally allowed myself to freak out a little bit. VERY SCARY!!! At the time I wasn’t comfortable leaving them with no form of identification so they went to wearing harnesses. My current dogs don’t wear collars when I’m at home and their walking collars have my phone number embroidered on them.
Microchipping a dog is important. But must say being part of a regional group for lost/found pets, not all dogs will allow someone to get them. A hanging tag can sometimes help – I asked a loose dog to sit – which they did 🙂 and then I took a photo of the tag, zoomed in on the photo and I could see the owner’s phone number. Pros and cons to everything and nothing in life can be 100% safe.
I have brass plates with information stamped on that are riveted to the collar and can be transferred if you get a new collar . Also a grooming customer of mine years ago called me in tears as her old OES couldn’t get up ,, only to discover that her toenail had become stuck in the s hook on her tag and her leg was stuck . I used to always tell my customers to get rid of the S hooks that come on dog lisences and rabies tags .
It is impossible to remove all danger. My Afghan got her front paws lodged between fence slats when jumping at something on the other side and was hanging. Thank goodness I was home. But then someone opened the gate when I wasn’t home and she was hit by a motorcycle and killed. If she hadn’t had tags that the police brought to me, I never would have known what happened.
Thank you, Nancy, for yet another super article!!!!
One more thought…The adjustable collars with plastic buckles often create a ‘gap’ where the overlap is created in shortening the collar. This provides another catching point. I always adjust the collar and then sew the gap closed, either by hand or on a machine. (If your puppy is still growing, sew it by hand, as it is easier to pull out the stitches.)
One other comment in terms of collars…I NEVER take my five rescue dogs out using the collars with tags/identification. I ALWAYS put on second collars (martingales) or harnesses and attach the leashes to them. This way, in case the dog slips its collar/harness, it still has identification. (The collars I leave on all the time are the thinnest Lupine collars.)
And, lastly, always carry a pocket knife.
Great article. There is no “perfect” solution for every situation in every municipality. 10 years ago my two 140# dogs escaped from my “secure” fenced rear yard to chase a skunk in broad daylight while we were at work by digging under the fence until they could push thru on their bellies. They were NOT wearing collars due to the possible negative outcomes. When I got home at the end of the day and looked for them ( very large yard) and could not find them I panicked, jumped in he vehicle and drove around our semi-rural area searching for them to panicked to call the police. Eventually came up behind an officer and managed to get him to stop. After a brief talk he confirmed they had found them and took them to their secure kennel. Unfortunately they call the local shelter after a few hours and by the time we got there they had been picked up. The dogs were chipped but at that time the police did not have scanners. These dogs were intact as they were in occasional Dog Shows for potential breeding purposes. The shelter did have scanners but could not read the chip. I got them back after the dogs proved they wee mine. Besides the grief and panic it cost me over $100 to gratefully have them back. After that the fence was reinforced. If you are wondering how we knew they chased a skunk the resulting odor and the unhappy police who still picked them up in their cruiser regardless, got my sincere thanks and a donation.