Just a warning about collars

Hi all I just wanted to warn you all of something that never occured to me ever since I have owned dogs. I have two great danes, one male and one female, that are very very close. The other morning they were playing as usual when it turned nasty which had never happened before. I went to see what was going on and at first glance it looked and sounded like they were fighting but when I got close I was horrified to see what had actually happened. My boy had got his bottom jaw stuck under the collar of the bitch, she had twisted around and practically strangled herself. It was so tight that i could not even get the collar undone. They were thrashing around in panic which was making the situation alot worse. How his bottom jaw never dislocated or my bitch never broke her neck I will never know. My husband grabbed the scissors and we cut the collar off her which in itself was a task. I dread to think what the end result would have been if no one had been around. The boy came out of it with a gash to his head but my bitch is now very frightened of him as all she knows is that he hurt her. I am working very hard to reassure her that all is ok and not to be afraid. I just wanted to warn you all of this and be sure to have your dogs collars as tight as possible that is comfortable to prevent anything like this happening to anyone else as it has left me shaken not to mention what it has done to my dogs. Many thanks

This is why I NEVER leave ANY sort of collar on my dogs when they are unsupervised ie alone in the house.

It's a good reminder - have also heard incidents of dogs getting caught on door handles, post-catcher baskets, etc.
There are risks of leaving a dog with a collar on so many don't bother. I personally leave them on as to me, the risk of them getting loose and needing to be caught or IDed by their collar/tag outweighs that of them getting caught - but this is just my current situation, housing setup and location, I could be tempted to leave them without collars in the future, e.g. if we moved to a house that had level-type door handles, I didn't share the house with others (so less potential for doors to be left open accidentally) and so on, I think it's something you have to decide for yourself by weighing up the risks.
Have to say, I've been tempted to get something like these in the past, though my concern is that if the dog was loose and someone was to grab the collar (being big dogs, it would be difficult to just scoop up the dog like you could a little breed), it would simply break away. Up to the owner to weigh up the pros and cons but this could be a good compromise
http://www.friendsoffido.co.uk/keeps...ollar-c25.html

I hope your dogs recover quickly, physically and mentally!

Thank you kyrlr Im sure they will be fine in time. Being giant dogs like you to have something to grab hold of is very important.

Always no collars if they are playing or likely to play. I have seen it happen and it is very frightening.

Hope yours recover OK and thanks for bringing the subject up.

rune

So sorry to read this I'm glad they are physically ok though (the mental worries of your girl I'm sure will subside with time).

I have heard too many stories like that, and as a result, my two don't wear collars in the house as when they play, they play at the neck area, so just not worth the risk IMO. People know my dogs round here, so if they got out, I am pretty sure most would know where to pack them back off to lol

Mine never wear collars in the house because they play. It`s not worth the risk.

So sorry you have had to go through this. I hope you manage to fix the issues soon and there are plenty of us on here to give you advice or help you find someone to help you

I have certainly learnt a lesson from this and thank you.

Glad the outcome wasn't worse and hope both your dogs make a full recovery from this.

Same. With Rupert being able to open doors and people having a habit of leaving the communal front door open I'm not comfortable leaving his collar off unless he's in his crate. I've boundary trained him but we all know that can easily fail.