WARNING Danger in dogs playing while wearing collars.

[Bev and WILLY]

I would like to add a warning about multiple pups playing together!
This is a terribly scary and sad story!
My niece has a Golden Retriever about 1 year old, and a Italian Spumoni pup around 6 months old. They loved to play and constantly mouthed each other. They had been outside for about 15 minutes and it seemed unusually quiet, so my nephew went outside to check on them. He found the 2 dogs lying on the ground, the Golden had his teeth caught in the Spumoni collar, the Spumoni had pulled and twisted until he was strangled by his collar, the golden's jaw almost broken. The Spumoni died. Needless to say, everyone involved was devastated. I have my dogs michrochipped and since then I only have collars on them when we go for walks.

[Sandy (Rorie & Riley's Mom)]

Our trainer always warned us about that. She suggested getting a break-away collar for the dogs.

We always supervise the dogs when they are playing outside. When we're not home and at night, we always remove the collars because I've also heard horror stories about the collars getting caught on heating vents and other things.

That is such a sad story!

[Stella]

We have already had one incident where our older dog got his teeth caught up in our new puppies coller. Luckily we were supervising them and realised straight away and were able to separate them. Because the puppy has only been with us for three weeks we always supervise them together, but eventually we want them to be at home and play in the garden without us. After reading this, I'm definitely going to look into getting a break away collar for each of them.

[Zoe, Benny and Tyler]

What a sad story it must have been terrible. Benny is only wearing a collar when I walk him and if he is playing then I am always there to supervise. As soon as we are through the front door I always remove the collar as he has his own collar hook in the hall. Thanks for posting and creating awareness for this issue.

[Bev and WILLY]

It was a terrible thing to have happen. They loved the pup so much. The breeder has given them another Spumoni, 3 years old, but it's just not the same. I have told them about the break away collars and they plan on getting them for all the dogs.
Thanks to all who responded to this sad story.