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I ask because while walking my fence line the other day I found one
of my dogs tags indicating he had gotten caught on the fence at some point. I am looking for breakaway collars as we speak, but I wonder what others experince has been with collars in general.

Definitely get a breakaway collar if your dog is ever let outside unsupervised.. In my case, my dog is never outside alone and I signed a contract at the shelter when I adopted him saying that he would *always* be wearing ID, just in case he slipped out the door or jumped a fence.. Another option is to get one of the metal slides that are engraved with your dog's information.. That way there's nothing dangling to get caught and your dog is always wearing his ID just in case he ever got out.. Or if you opt not ot put a collar on him at home at all, make sure he's been microchipped by your vet.. In fact that's a good idea even if he does regularly wear ID..

I've been all in a frenzy over this issue for months. I have several dogs that wrestle for hours a day & are constantly at one another's necks in play fighting so was concerned that one might get a tooth caught in another's collar. Not to mention that I hate all those dangling clinky tags, so

I got those large flat metal tags from the Walmart machine that engraves lots of info, so I put 'Avid' (for the chip) & vet's phone too. My husband actually had a rivit tool.

I bought some cheap but nice belts from the thrift store esp. for these id tags, cos I didn't need that metal loop for the leash attachment, (cos I use a different (martingale) collar for outings). These are just flat leather without all the hard plastic like the nylon adjustables have.

That's not a bad idea.. I found a technique for chainmail (like the little metal rings that medieval armour is made of) that is very close knit so that it won't pinch hairs.. Eventually when Kaiser is a little more reliable on a collar I'd like to make him a chainmail collar, but I might back it with a leather one because the chainmail has a lot of stretch to it, and might slip off his head.. It's such neat looking stuff, but he would probably only wear it every once in a while, a special occasions kind of deal..

>>I ask because while walking my fence line the other day I found one
>>of my dogs tags indicating he had gotten caught on the fence at some point. I am looking for breakaway collars as we speak, but I wonder what others experince has been with collars in general.

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My dogs stay loose in the house together, never outside unsupervised. I keep collars and tags on them, but I have to make the collars, because I've never found any collar that will work around my dog who grabs other dogs by the collar. What I make for my dogs might not work for someone else's dogs, so I will not recommend it. There is no one-fits-all solution.
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series at www.veterinaryforum.com

I'm also one of those whose dogs are rarely outside alone, so they have their collars on at all times. I would imagine if your dogs are microchipped, then collars on when outside isn't always necessary. Just a thought.
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Melody/PHFasDog
Email me at PHFasDog

My furkids:
Shadow, Jadzia and Lyta.
Kira waiting at the bridge.

Dogs come into our lives, and too quickly go leaving pawprints on our hearts, and we will never be quite the same again.

Around here microchipping is helpful but not enough.. I don't know why it is but none of the shelters and few vets scan for microchips on dogs that come in. I shudder to think how many dogs are adopted to new homes that could have gone to their original homes if only they had been scanned. When I worked at Petsmart one woman came in with her lab and I was talking to her about him. She had just adopted him and taken him to the vet, and the vet had discovered two separate microchips. I don't know how that's possible, but it's possible that he had been at a shelter more than once. The woman thought he had been microchipped, gotten lost or abandoned and wound up at a shelter, adopted, microchipped again (how could a vet not check before chipping a stray dog?!?!), then somehow wound up at a shelter again, and then she adopted him...

It drives me crazy, because the vets really push the microchips because they're such a lifesaving device, and then some don't check for them on stray dogs.. Because of that, I'd say microchip and make sure he's wearing his ID collar..

I don't leave my dogs in the yard unsupervised, so that part isn't an issue. They are in the house when I'm at work.

In the house, our girl usually does not have a collar on because she has no desire to run away and she is the one that is always grabbed by the neck by our shepherd. The shepherd has his collar on 99% of the time, but it's pretty loose, so he could pull out of it if he wanted to.

I do not put collars on when they are in my house or my yard. Micro chip is great. Tattoo is a good way to go that people can see that dog has an owner. Micro chips do move around sometimes and unless the check the whole body might be missed.

Cheryl

My girls are also in the category of not being outside without someone right there. However, most the time my girls do go naked. In our case it's simply because it is their preference to not have a collar on.

They are microchipped and registered, and around here people do scan for chips. If I was in an area that didn't I would also get them tattooed. Tattoos can be seen by the human eye to let whomever finds the dog know it is owned by someone who wants their dog back.

I notice you said dogs plural and "he," does this mean that Sasha now has friends? Yeah!! Did you get another RR?

We are expecting a new RR family member soon. Pups are expected next week... Yeah!
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tabitha
Kahla and Kayo