OMD--It happened to Rosco and Boca!

[Adina P]

So there I was out in the yard, the kids playing on their swing set, when suddenly what was innocent rough wrestling by Rosco and Boca turned into something that didn't seem right. It got more vicious and I heard yelping...franticness.  It looked like Rosco (i'm guessing) somehow got stuck in his grip on Boca's collar.  Or vice versa, but I think it was Rosco.  In any case it scared the carp outta me because I realized there was nothing I could do to get them apart as I got close.  They were wiggling too fast and I couldn't even tell who or what to grab!  I went to the hose in case a hose down would help them forget the current freak out and then thank God, they broke free.  But the hose did come in handy because the moment they broke free they were still riled up and kinda angry toward each other.  So I aimed their way and they separated to get away from the water.  PHEW!  Rosco had a bloody nose but wouldn't let me get near.  Otherwise they both seemed fine and are friends again.  No lasting damage, but I have Boca's collar off right now--which I'm conflicted about. 

You're probably wondering..."CONFLICTED ABOUT WHAT?  KEEP THE DANG COLLAR OFF...DON'T YOU SEE WHAT CAN HAPPEN??"  Yes, yes, I totally get that, but in the 6 years I've had dogs this has never before happened so I can only imagine it may never happen again.  However, the chance of my dog needing to be detained by the collar or the collar needing to be looked at should they ever get loose is far more likely to happen.  Anyway, it was scary!

[Christine & Camus]

Very scary!  And there is really no clear answer.  I usually keep Camus' collar off when he is at home, however I only have one dog and no little ones at home.  The only thing I can think of is having an at-home collar that has their name and a telephone number printed on the collar itself, at least that eliminated the tag being the potential problem.  So glad that in the end they were okay.

[Adina P]

The thing is is that their regular flat collars (Rosco wears a Boomerang tag so no hanging tags on his...and Boca has a thin, leather one with hanging tags) are only on on our property and come off for walks--the opposite of most people--because they wear choke chains off our property and those tend to get entangled with regular collars.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Ha, I just was asking this question. My two always have their rolled leather collars on but the wear prongs in addition on their walks. The prongs go higher on the neck than the leather collars and don't get entangled.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Adina, what kind of collars were the dogs wearing? Mine have rolled leather collars as their all the time collars and I like to think they are less likely to get caught up in things like teeth but that's based on no facts at all.

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

Scary.  Right after this happened to two of my sons dogs, who were not fighting either, just playing, I freaked and bought break away collars.  They broke away fine- too fine, they were almost never on the dogs.  I decided I had to risk the collar tangle for all the reasons mentioned.

I finally settled on the heavy rubber/plastic type, because they can be cut by those blunt "scissors" they sell to open sealed heavy plastic packages.  They don't cut those packages very well but they will cut those collars.  I thought of it as that is how my son freed his two dogs, he cut one of the collars off.  He got a quite a few teeth in him,  just because both dogs were so freaked, but they everyone healed.

Surely you will never have to deal with this again, it seems to happen very infrequently, although never would be a lot better.

 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Oh, Adina, how scary.  I hope this never happens to you again. Like F.  I usually use rolled leather collars and just hope that they never tangle each other up on them.

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

That would scare me to death too. Yikes. I'm so glad it all worked out. I wish there was an easy collar solution.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Are the Doodles wearing buckle collars?  I can see where that would be difficult to try and get off in this situation.  Our girls wear a collar where you just have to push in on each side of the snap and it releases. 

http://www.cozycritter.com/strongspecs.htm

I figure I would be able to get my hand in there long enough to release this if something ever happened.  We used the breakaway collars for a long time, but it was a problem when I wanted to grab them for one reason or another.  They are basically useless in that case unless you get lucky and get it in the right spot.  I also found them laying in the backyard several times where they came off when they were playing.   

[F, Calla & Luca]

My fears exactly with the breakaways.

[Pauline Rackley]

I have the same problem with my 2 dogs who like to play roughly. I tried the breakaway collars, but they were constantly pulled off as they open up if pressure is applied. They were also useless if you had to grab the dog. I also put flat slider tags on so at least no one got caught in the tags. One time one dog was laying on a heater vent when his tags got caught and he became attached to it. Luckily I was there to help.My solution has been to remove the collar from the dog who's collar always gets pulled and leave the other on loosley, so hopefully it would slip off. Both dogs are microchipped, but I'm really not happy with this solution.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I'll never forget the day that happened to G & M.  I really for a minute thought that Guinness was going to die because Murph was so much bigger and stronger that he was hanging in mid air and couldn't breathe.  It was terrifying.  Since that day no collars ever when they're in a position where they can play.  If we're not in the house Murph wears his collar and  I drape a small cotton slip lead around my neck which I can quickly and easily throw over Guinness if I need to.  I'm happy that things turned out okay and that your Doodles are fine.

[F, Calla & Luca]

That slip lead is like the lasso I was thinking about. Hmmm.