[baumgartml16]

So two times in the last week Koda has broke free..

The first time she was out back playing with my DH on her tie out and when he went to bring her in she protested. She sits real firm and pulls her head back. We usually give her a little nudge and she goes, this time she backed up further and ended up backing right out of her collar..she is never off leash, let alone off her collar. My husband stayed calm, thankfully, as she is running around the back yard...he held the collar out and said "Koda come" and she came and put her neck right into her collar...phew...

The second on he threw the toy too far for her tie out and she ran right out of her collar..broke free and broke the collar...so another time, no collar, no tags on her. This one I saw, I didn't panic...he called to her again and she ran into his arms. Phew again...but this time the collar was broke so my poor husband had to pick up all 65 lbs of her and carry her in...

She got a new, more durable metal clip collar and won't be using the tie out like we did. We will just use it as a long lead now, she is obviously proving herself to be worthy of that...electric fence goes in this spring.

 

[Jige]

Glad nothing bad happened. Now that you are using a longline you can work on re-call. You still have to have an eagle eye on them but if you know they will come when called it does give the heart a break in the thumping arena.

 

[baumgartml16]

Yes, we work on re call a lot but never did it with the long line. It paid off both times, but that training will never end!

 

[LibertyME]

This is not directed to you specifically...I'm so glad and relieved that your pups is safe where she belongs...I hope your posts serves to save someone from heartache.

Most dog collars are not worn in the proper position and not nearly tight enough...
Collars are supposed to be worn behind the ears and tight enough for only 1-2 fingers. They are not to be worn like necklaces....unless you have a rock solid recall and the collar is simply a place to hang your dogs tags...

If your dogs is wearing a collar with tags and a stranger attempts to hold his collar and he back out of it and runs away - the collar and tags are useless.

Ive seen more and more martingale collars (limited slip collars) being worn so loose that dogs back out of those too!

 

[CarolinaCasey]

Get a martingale collar. My favorite is Lupine, called the Combo Collar. As Mary suggested above, tighten the collar. They aren't meant to be loose.

Never end a play session by saying the word "come." My husband has a habit of doing this and I get downright angry in my head but try to be nice to him anyway! Why would a dog "come" if that is his/her cue that the fun is over?

I use the word "come" a lot. When we're playing off leash at the park I will whistle or call the word "come" and give Gibbs a high value treat like cheese, ham, lunchmeat, liver. I will grab his collar and praise while I do it. Then I release him to go about his business and run around. In the event of an emergency, I can call come and he will haul tail to get back to me because he knows he gets insanely rewarded. It never ends his "fun time."

 

[baumgartml16]

Usually that is how it is worn and after she backed out we were shocked, it was tightened immediately. We have always done the 1-2 finger rule.

The second time she just busted out of it, it didn't slip off.

Glad you said that though, I meant to make a point of it in my original post.

 

[Visitador]

Maybe always have some treats ready in your pocket?

 

[LibertyME]

Some collars are made from material that is so slippery that they loosen without any human help! Ive also seen snap collars pop loose... it is scary!

Usually that is how it is worn and after she backed out we were shocked, it was tightened immediately. We have always done the 1-2 finger rule.

The second time she just busted out of it, it didn't slip off.

Glad you said that though, I meant to make a point of it in my original post.

 

[baumgartml16]

Good point CarolineCasey....I will make sure I pay attention to the use of the word come. We usually say "let's go inside" and not come for that purpose.

"Come" worked in both emergency situations though so I was very proud of her!

 

[jluke]

Just in Case

This may be obvious to everyone, but it wasn't to me or my husband. The trainer we work with strongly recommends using two collars. So, Maisie wears one with her tags and another that we attach her leash to. That way if we ever have the bad experience of her slipping her collar (or breaking free of the leash), she'll at least be wearing her IDs.

On a related subject, everyone's probably read about the dog who found his people after 8 years because of having an ID chip. We just had another pup in Baltimore find his people after 4 years the same way. I was planning to wait for Maisie to be micro-chipped when she was spayed, but then put off her spaying surgery, so did the micro-chipping last month, even though I was concerned that it would hurt. (The needle is big -- #16.) She didn't even notice when the vet did the insertion. She did have a little bleeding afterwards. Anyway, I think it was clearly worth it to go ahead. Sorry to be off topic.

 

[cubbysan]

Always check your collar. My mother always complains that she thinks I keep the dogs' collars too tight ( I put two fingers between the collar and them ), well Brady slid out of his a couple weeks ago in the vet parking lot. In five years, he has never done that. My heart dropped, luckily he listened when I said "Stay".

 

[janababy]

Thank you. Great tips from all.

 

[tippykayak]

I see a couple of themes in this thread that I want to second.

First is the idea of working on recall constantly and positively with your dog so it doesn't get associated with the end of play or with punishment. You want your dog to come joyfully with the expectation of good things, and you want to train your dog to accept interruptions to his or her attention. Building a strong habit of interruption and recall is a life saver.

The second is the idea of working on training so you have another layer of protection beyond the equipment. Well chosen, well fitted equipment is an important part of safety, but it cannot substitute for good manners. The less necessary the leash is, the better it is at providing safety. If your dog has lots of practice and training at good leash skills, he's less likely to slip a collar or break a lead. If he has lots of positive experiences returning to you for a reward before heading back out to play, he's more likely to come right back to you when you really need to grab his collar.

We take the dogs all over the state for hikes and runs, and I simply couldn't do it if I had to constantly worry about the boys slipping their collars in parking lots (or leaping out of the car when the door opens, jumping up on strangers, lunging on the leash, etc.). I always have a leash on the guys or a hand on the collars when we're near any kind of road, but I don't want to be using that equipment to provide the control. I want the dog to be walking politely next to me because of his training with the leash there for backup (and compliance with leash rules). That's a training goal, not a total reality, but it's what I'm shooting for.

 

[baumgartml16]

I see a couple of themes in this thread that I want to second.

First is the idea of working on recall constantly and positively with your dog so it doesn't get associated with the end of play or with punishment. You want your dog to come joyfully with the expectation of good things, and you want to train your dog to accept interruptions to his or her attention. Building a strong habit of interruption and recall is a life saver.

The second is the idea of working on training so you have another layer of protection beyond the equipment. Well chosen, well fitted equipment is an important part of safety, but it cannot substitute for good manners. The less necessary the leash is, the better it is at providing safety. If your dog has lots of practice and training at good leash skills, he's less likely to slip a collar or break a lead. If he has lots of positive experiences returning to you for a reward before heading back out to play, he's more likely to come right back to you when you really need to grab his collar.

We take the dogs all over the state for hikes and runs, and I simply couldn't do it if I had to constantly worry about the boys slipping their collars in parking lots (or leaping out of the car when the door opens, jumping up on strangers, lunging on the leash, etc.). I always have a leash on the guys or a hand on the collars when we're near any kind of road, but I don't want to be using that equipment to provide the control. I want the dog to be walking politely next to me because of his training with the leash there for backup (and compliance with leash rules). That's a training goal, not a total reality, but it's what I'm shooting for.

This is all great! I appreciate everyones feedback and tips for safety. We have changed a lot about how we do things with her just from this post. We now have a safe collar with metal clip so as to prevent her breaking it like the plastic one, we have tightened her collar and check it daily since someone said they can loosen on their own, and we have worked more and more with her recalls and leash manners. We have not been through a class where they taught us how to teach heel yet so we have been doing what we can. She is a good loose leash walker right now but we start up in a week and a half with her obedience classes that will finally teach us how to properly train heel and to stay in a heel. I am very excited!