Use breakaway collars!

jen74145 · #1 08/21/07, 11:12 AM

We went out of town this weekend to visit DH's family... we stopped to visit his best friend, his wife, and their two daughters, and upon our arrival, the father came out and told us that about two minutes before we pulled up, the nine year old went out back to check on her puppy, and found the poor thing dead under the fence. She'd wiggled under the chainlink, got her collar stuck, and choked. Just a seven month old Cairn terrier, who had only been let out for a few minutes... if only she'd had a breakaway collar.

So, a reminder for us all... I usually prefer the more secure leather buckling collars, but I'm rethinking. Poor pup, poor kids, poor parents, just such a rotten situation.

Maura · #2 08/21/07, 11:34 AM

Sorry for their loss. How heartbreaking.

I always keep the collars "too big", so they can be wiggled out of in case of getting caught on something. On a puppy, I keep a harness.

Ravenlost · #3 08/21/07, 02:14 PM

Oh, that is terrible. I also leave collars loose enough that the dogs can wiggle out if they get caught. Our dogs are rarely out alone though.

CoonXpress · #4 08/21/07, 02:21 PM

That's why you make sure there's no holes in the fence that an animal can get through.

Bearfootfarm · #5 08/21/07, 02:30 PM

A couple of weeks ago I was out checking fences and as usual my Hound Blue was with me. He went across one of the big drainage ditches, and tried to go through the weeds on the other side.
By then I had gotten to the far side of the fence, and stopped to look at the pasture, so I cut the ATV off.

I could hear him barking, and thought he must have jumped a deer. Then I heard him again, but somehow it didnt sound "right" so I rode back around and found he had jammed about 3 feet of an 8 ft long tree limb through his collar and was tangled in the briars and couldnt go forward or backwards.

If I hadnt just happened to stop when I did he could have very easily died before I would have found him, since it was near 100 degrees that day, and I probably wouldnt have gone back out for at least a few hours.
It took me about 20 minutes with a machete to hack my way in far enough to untangle the limb from his collar.

longshadowfarms · #6 08/21/07, 02:31 PM

That's a hard lesson for a kid to have to learn that young. Our short haired dogs wear breakaway collars. The Basset manages to "break" hers at least once a week. I think she puts her head through the fence (livestock panels) and then pulls back through. The Pyr doesn't wear one. His mane is so thick that it would be difficult for anything to hook on his collar.

Filas are Prima · #7 08/21/07, 03:02 PM

When I was 5 years old, I'd nagged long enough that the parents got me my first dog. When I was 7 years old, I came home from school to find her choked to death on her chain, inside our yard fence. She was in heat, and a dog had jumped in, running her around her tree she was tied to. She was chained inside the yard as extra insurance because of her heat. A real shockeroo for a little kid!
I have a Cairn-there's NO WAY to keep the little savages contained!

Willowynd · #8 08/21/07, 03:13 PM

The only time I have seen a dog get hung was with a choke collar. I had a husky that tried climbing the fence and got caught- fortunately I was there and saw it. It was all I could do to lift the dog off the fence. After that, I will only use buckle collars or the slips with stoppers when not on lead. When in a fenced in areas, I leave collars off my dogs. My puppies have collars with squeeze releases and are not penned in chain link- only expens where there is no chance of them getting hung up. Now I have run out to a yelping pup to find someone got thier teeth caught in someone elses collar, but no damage was done.

MariaAZ · #9 08/25/07, 05:23 PM

We don't keep collars on our dogs when they aren't supervised. Actually, the only time they have collars on is when we take them out of the house/fenced yard. We live in a city and have a fenced kennel area for them, which may be a completely different lifestyle than rural working dogs experience though.

A neighbor kept collars (the buckle-on type) on her dogs and one tried jumping their 6 foot fence one night. His collar got caught on the top of the fence and they found his body the following morning. With microchipping so common, I feel more comfortable with that method of identification anyways. If an "escapee" gets caught on something and slips out of the collar, the dog is now without tags. However, being that I'm in the city, I don't know how feasable depending on microchipping for identification is for dogs that live in rural areas.

Tricky Grama · #10 08/25/07, 07:18 PM

OMG, I wish I hadn't opened this link. Anything having to do w/hurt animals makes me cry!

Have never seen a breakaway collar-our mixed beagle got caught one day & we saw her so she doesn't wear a collar out on our land. But she's 'chipped'. I'd rather she had a tag tho, some people don't know to check for a chip. I'll look for a break away.

Patty

pancho · #11 08/25/07, 08:51 PM

I never put a collar on a dog unless I was leading it somewhere. Around the house they never were allowed to wear a collar.

Bearfootfarm · #12 08/25/07, 11:09 PM

"We don't keep collars on our dogs when they aren't supervised"

Its illegal here to not have a collar since they are required to have their rabies tags on.
Dogs without collars are usually considered "strays"

ginnie5 · #13 08/26/07, 06:37 AM

same here. Our little dog has a breakaway collar and I need to replace it. He was Cujo

in another life and it just isn't safe to take him our with that collar on. He sees another dog, a BIG dog like a Rottie or a Pit or something, and thinks he can take them. Dh says I should've named the little dog Cujo or Killer and named Bandit Peanut...then I could call to them and say Peanut come back back up Cujo/Killer.

pancho · #14 08/26/07, 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bearfootfarm

"We don't keep collars on our dogs when they aren't supervised"

Its illegal here to not have a collar since they are required to have their rabies tags on.
Dogs without collars are usually considered "strays"

Where I live the only time a tag is required is when the dog is not on your property. While the dog is on your property all that is needed is the records from your vet. I do not let my dog go off of my property unless it has a collar but do confine my dog to my propertry the rest of the time, no free roaming dog.

Miz Mary · #15 08/28/07, 11:53 PM

what is a break away collar ? I understand the idea, just cant picture it !

GoldenMom · #16 08/29/07, 08:19 AM

http://www.keepsafecollar.com/

Basically there is a plastic snap on the collar that will release with not a lot of pressure, so if the collar gets caught on something it releases. When you want walk the dog, there are rings on either side of the release and when you clip the leash to both rings at once the easy release feature is disabled.