I guess I didn't really describe this well. What I'm wondering about is a collar with a safety feature that will pop open if the collar gets hung up on something. Honestly now that I think about it something like that probably wouldn't be appropriate for my needs. I feel like it would just be too risky.
Quick release buckles
I fell down a little rabbit hole looking at personalized dog collars on Etsy, sigh. I want to order something for Rusty, and a quick release buckle seems like a good idea. How do those work? Rusty doesn't pull in general, but possums happen. Is a quick release buckle something that will pop open if he runs off after a critter or if I'm trying to restrain him from one? I use a harness for most of his walks, but the collar will get some use from time to time.
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We're practicing recall with a long line, but he is pretty single-minded when he starts to follow his nose so I'm not sure he'll ever master that one 100%. I'd rather someone didn't have to wait until a vet opens to get his chip scanned if he gets away from me, so, yeah he needs to wear his ID.Ah, OK, you're talking about a quick release safety collar. I've never used one, but from what I can tell they are designed with two separate 'D' rings & the break-away part is in between them. When you want to use it as a non-break away, you clip the leash to both D rings so it can't come apart.
My dogs don't wear their collars at all unless we're going for a walk or otherwise leaving our property, but for someone that leaves a collar on all the time & there is a risk of getting caught on something, I guess it wouldn't be a bad idea. Otherwise, leaving the dog 'nekkid' when unsupervised (say in a crate or home alone) would help reduce the risk.
You have to weigh out which is the greater risk for your individual situation - the dog getting caught on something, or running off without identification on.
I'm considering a martingale collar too just because he has a weird double chin that causes his collar to be tighter in some spots than others. Do you feel that martingale collars are safe and humane?
That's what I was thinking, but BKayMuttley says there are evidently two D rings, one on either side of the safety buckle, so that, I think, could actually work.Like the kind you put on cats?
Yeah if your dog pulled on that they'd get away
We've worked on his leash skills quite a bit. He walks very nicely for me, although not really in a heel position. He will do that, it's just not how I need him to walk with me most of the time. I'm happy as long as he's not pulling.If thats the case, then go for it.. Personally don't care for collars at all for dogs who pull because it can damage their trachea.
I'd put on the quick realease with tags, but don't attach the lead, only use the harness and teach your dog to heel before using a collar
The late night crazies that he used to get have pretty much stopped. I have no explanation for it, as I didn't really specifically do any extra night time training as was suggested. We just went out one night and he behaved more or less normally and he has ever since. His reactive tendencies just sort of stopped one day (except for the possum encounters). It caught me by surprise to tell you the truth. We were walking one day and we saw another dog. I prepared myself for the usual struggle and got a handful of treats ready. I turned and said 'come' and he just did, no struggle, no barking, he just turned and came with me and looked up at me with a little gleam in his eye. I kid you not, he nudged my treat pouch with his nose after he did it. I'm sure the man with the husky thought I was a complete nut when I sat down in the wet grass and gave my dog a big neck hug. I still walk him at odd times and try to avoid triggers to some extent. I don't want to over do it. I have some fear that he will start all of that again as quickly as he stopped, but so far so good. And again, I have no explanation for it. I'm sure the training helped to some extent, but I honestly think it might just be a matter of him finally getting comfortable and settled in.
Still though, the possum is a problem, a big one, and we're most likely to encounter that possum on late night potty breaks when I don't feel like putting a harness on him and just want to use his regular old collar, but maybe I should reconsider that.
I think I probably will try a martingale collar. I feel like it would ultimately be more comfortable for him.This is a regular quick release buckle. On a good quality collar, it shouldn't come open of the dog hits the end of the leash. Now, on a cheap dollar store collar, all bets are off... I did have one that was given to me that I tossed after the second time it popped open (thankfully NOT with this dog). On the other hand, a safety buckle is designed to pop open when X amount of force is applied to it, and unless if has a safety feature of some sort to prevent that, shouldn't be used as a walking collar.
2013-2-28 Dogs 044 by Rosemary Elwell, on Flickr
Here, she is wearing a martingale along with her custom Cali Girl collar (absolutely loved that collar, butter soft from day one, and held up beautifully... this picture is after nearly five years of 24/7 wear). Properly adjusted, a martingale in pretty much escape proof.
2017-6-12 Ilka DSC_0645 #2 by Rosemary Elwell, on Flickr
I very rarely every use a regular buckle collar of any type for walking, because of the concern about them slipping it off and getting lost. Most of our walking is done in a martingale.
Cali Girl has some very tempting things too.
He's two years old as far as anyone can tell. I adopted him the last week of September so we're still getting to know each other.Thats good, how old is your dog? Might have just been a puppy fear period.. it happens.
Yeah, a hound of some sort. I keep meaning to get some pictures of him up.ah, makes sense. What breed? A hound? Those guys mature slower.
Whatever collar you and your dog feels comfortable with is a-okay
Nice work! I would be pretty excited myself if I saw 4 turkeys run across the road. I bet it's hard at times to walk 3 dogs all together. They must be very well behaved.I love it! My reactive little one will 'remind' me that he deserves a treat at times, too. This morning when we were walking up our road we saw four turkeys run across about 10 yards in front of us - something that was very exciting for all three dogs. They all got treats for not making a big fuss, other than lots of excited watching (and Beckett bouncing around a bit at the end of his long leash) On the way home, when we got to that spot in the road, he came over & pranced right next to me, looking up, smiling & licking his lips! It was obvious he was saying "Mama! This is where the turkeys were! Don't I get treats??" LOL!
I hope so! We keep practicing.Yeah, a safety release/breakaway collar is great if you want to always have tags on your dog but minimize the risk of them choking if the collar gets caught in a crate, a branch (should they have yard access or get loose), a fence, or another dog's jaws. Which does happen. But they're definitely not meant to attach a lead to.
Sounds like you're doing well! You may find his recall improves as you build your relationship - it's hard for an environmentally focused dog to find a person they barely know and haven't bonded with valuable enough to leave a good sniff for. It may never be perfect because hounds are hounds and they're just hard-coded for the environment to be more important to them than their handler, but I bet you'll keep seeing improvement!
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