Collar Choice

[kat399]

I am confused. There are so many different types and styles of dog collars and I don't know what type to pick for my three dogs.

Riley's collar is fine. He just gets tied out to do his business and he rarely goes for walks because he chases cars, fights with other dogs and he lives with my grandparents. He has a flate nylon buckel collar.

Now it's Duke and Bear I can't decide.

Duke is a sheltie\border collie mix. He is 1 yr old and weighs 40 LBS. We go walking or biking daily and we go swimming. I find his nylon collars fray easily and brake. He needs something very tough and durable but nylon is out of the question. And when he goes in water the color of the collar bleeds into his nice sable fur. I was thinking of making him one out of rope or chain.

Bear is a siberian husky mix and weighs around 100LBS.He is tied outside most of the time and is always braking collars. I don't trust leather because when it gets old and wet it brakes. Riley had one and he broke it clean in two and almost got hit by a car!

What can my poor puppies wear to keep them all safe?

[micki76]

I use both the no pull harness and the premier choke made of nylon and chain for training.

One question though, why is your dog chained outside mos of the time? That seems so cruel and so many horrible things can happen.

[GoldenRetrLuver]

Hi, welcome to pet talk. I am owned by all the animals you see in my signature.

I use Nylon collars and I think there great. The make Nylon collars that are padded on the inside so its more comfortable for the dog.

Yeah, why is your dog chained up?

[binka_nugget]

I use a type of no pull harness also. It's a collar with two straps that attach to the collar and through the legs. I switched to that because Kai could slip out of a regular collar easiliy.

I heard hemp is really durable and gets stronger as it ages...? Harnesses seem to be quite good also.

Do you have a fenced yard? I'd never leave Kai in our (fenced) yard alone because I'm paranoid that something will happen to him...(we live right behind a really "popular" alley) and because if he really wanted to get out, I'm sure he'd find a way. A fenced yard and maybe a large dog pen/run would be fairly safe I suppose. Although, you wouldn't have to worry about your dog getting out if it was inside with you.

[kat399]

He is tied because he is a working sled dog and he hates being contained in the house. It is super hot in the house and he would suffer more than if he is outside under his shelter. Riley our other dog attacks him if they come in contact. We are going to build him a run soon so this is just temporary and a cable run also for excercise. Even if he is tied outside he comes for walks and goes in the garden hose to cool down. I adopted him when he was 1 from a friend that had 14 sled dogs. He gave me Bear, a sled, harnesses, etc and a special dog house that is cool in the summer and hot in the winter. When he was born his parents were tied because he ran out of kennel space. Being tied is all he's ever known and is scared to go in the house or out of his area alone. This is only temporary and I really want to get him off the chain. Thanks for all the advise on collars.

[QueenVee]

My dog wears an extremely light nylon collar, which is only used to hang his tags on. I never attach a leash to his collar, as he ALWAYS wears a Holt No-Tug Harness. I highly recommend the Holt Harness, particularly for dogs that pull. It totally changed my dog-walking experience. I kicked myself for not getting one sooner. I use it with a 30-ft retractable leash that allows Henry a great deal of freedom -- he hardly knows he's on a leash.

A picture of the Holt Harness and more information about it can be found here: http://www.petsmart.com/dog/shopping...oduct_31.shtml

[kingrattus]

If ur dogs r breaking regular collars then go buy a stong choaker, don't loop it into a choaker, buy a C clamp type thingy to lock the chain in place. Choakers r lighter then most chains & their fairly strong too. This way of using a choaker wont strangle ur dog.

[Fox-Gal]

I use a nylon harness on almost all my dogs. I Just like the fact that it dosn't pull on their neck when walking them. Plus I have excape artiest who seem to get out of their collar when they really want to, Especially when we go to the vet office.
The have to work pretty hard to get out of the harness, Although I do have 1 dog that can.....no collar workes for her.

[Tonya]

Hello, kat399. Welcome to Pet Talk. I also have a sled dog rescue, Roxy. Roxy is pretty destructive...If I leave her tied up for more then 1 minute alone, she's found a way to get out of her collar. I use the metal pinch collars on my dogs. I tie them up when I am in the front yard so that they can be with me. (The neighbor doesn't like them off leash even though they stay with me.) I also use them for walking. Even the largest dogs won't pull on those collars, and they aren't as cruel as they look. They do not dig into the skin.

I take them off of the dogs as soon as I am done with them. These collars can be very dangerous, if left on a dog. They can catch on other dogs, objects, etc... I personally have seen it happen. My dad's dog got stuck on one of my dogs once when they were playing. It wound up being a horrible mess. But, if you make sure there is nothing around for him to get stuck on and you keep an eye on him, it may be an option.

I think Roxy is so destructive because the people she came from kept her cooped up all her life. She is also very clumsy. She is constantly running into things, falling, misjudging distances, missing jumps, etc... The vet did a full health check, and decided that she is healthy. He feels that her lack of coordination comes from being tied up. She is late at developing her motor skills. Hopefully you are able to work the living arrangements out soon for your doggy so that he doesn't wind up gimpy like Roxy.

[kat399]

That's all I need is Bear becoming clumsy. I need to depend on him because he is the leader of my sled team and I have to trust his judgement when we go traveling on the mountain trails. I have a lot of confidence in him since we were caught in a white-out. I couldn't even see him infront of the sled. I knew I would be nearing the narrow trail that goes down the side of a high cliff. I was coming back from the store and the weather turned nasty. He lead me home safely. It was just me and him that day.

[iceyshiver21]

I use a 2x ply nylon harness and collar combo on my border collie mix when he goes out. I collar is designed to give away after so much pressure to keep him from accidently hanging hisself. So I put on a harness when we go for walks.

[cloverfdx]

for obedience work/training i use martingale collars which are nylon and chain (and a correction chain on the chihuahua but not to correct he will only work weariong the chain )

for walking i use nylon harnesses for the 2 lil dogs (penny the JRT X can still slip out of hers Grrrr) and clover wears a halti collar when walking on lead or just a normal nylon collar or her martingale for playing at the park (and nylon harness for flyball)