5 Safety Tips to Follow While Using a Dog Collar
We use dog collars to keep our dogs safe. It also carries your dog’s ID tags for quick identification of your dog if it gets lost. A dog collar has a leash attachment point and comes in many styles, patterns, and colors.
However, the cases are increasing of the collar getting stuck in fences, gates, furniture and fixtures, dog crates, loose tree branches and roots, and even while playing with other dogs. An approximate estimate is that every year, about 26,000 dogs get injured or killed in collar-related accidents. In such conditions, if dogs do not receive rescue or immediate help, a risk of serious neck injury is possible. In the worst cases, strangulation due to dog collars may also result in death.
5 Tips for Dog Collar Safety
We have listed down a few dog collar safety tips to make sure your dog is safe while wearing a collar. Hope these safety tips will help avoid any tragic occurrence.
1. Choose the Right Size
Wrong-sized collars are the primary cause of neck injuries in dogs. Moreover, both tightly clipped and loosely clipped collars are dangerous.
Collars that are too tight can cause skin irritation, infection, and inflammation, and in the worst cases, the collar can cut deep into the dog’s neck. A loose collar catches on your dog’s paw. Dogs might get their teeth or tongue stuck in a loose collar which may result in mouth injuries.
Use the two-finger rule when you size your dog’s collar. Two finger rule is to ensure that two fingers fit between your dog’s neck and the collar. Let your dog stand and sit to do a size check of the collar and in both events, two-finger space should be there to make sure it does not get too tight when your dog lies down.
2. Remove the Collar at Home
No supervision results in the majority of dog collar-related accidents. Remove your dog’s collar while at home to avoid any mishaps. You can take the collar off when you are not at home and even before you go to sleep.
Put on a traditional buckle collar when you visit the dog park, or your vet or go on a walk. And, if you wish to crate your dog for a long time, keep your dog free from the collar.
In case you have more than one dog at home, do not keep them on collars. This will help them better enjoy their playtime together and even avoid any tragic accidents which may end up in strangulation.
3. Pay Attention at the Dog Park
Accidents may also occur when your dog is playing with another dog at the dog park. Keep an eye on your dog while dogs are playing and biting each other. They always bite each other at the neckline. Jaws, teeth, tongues, and paws easily get caught up in collars. Also, the dangling ID tags may tangle and the dogs can get stuck with each other while wrestling.
To fix this problem, they twist, pull and try to break free from each other. This eventually can lead to the choking of one of the dogs. And only 3 minutes of choking can cause death by strangulation.
Watching your dog all the time can let you help your dog and intervene quickly and manage the situation before any unfortunate happens. Carry a handy knife or scissors to help you in this situation.
4. Don’t Tie Up Your Dog
Never tie or hold back your dog by attaching a leash or any other type of rope or cable to his collar on any raised areas like decks, balconies, grooming tables, etc. Reports of Many accidents of strangulation occur at dog groomers. Ensure your groomer always attend to your dog on a grooming table or in any other place in their salon to avoid any strangulation occurrences.
5. A Quick Release Collar is the Best
A belt buckle-style collar is the most difficult to remove in an emergency. If possible, try to avoid using this type of collar for your dog. Instead, you can use a quick-release snap-style collar or an easy-to-break away collar that can automatically release when applied pressure.
Bottom line
Your dogs look their best with a cool dog collar. Yet, the most crucial factor to remember about dog collars is that they can save your best friend’s life. Keep the above points in mind and never let your dog become a part of collar mishaps.
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