# Constant Collar Wearing?



## Dorothy's Mom (Apr 8, 2015)

Okay, my recent experience of thinking Dorothy escaped the yard got me to thinking....how many of you have collars on your Chis at all times?

I typically only put a collar on her if we are leaving the property. And I ALWAYS put it on her 24/7 when we go camping. But otherwise I don't have one on her. Most of the time I am even in the yard with her when she goes out to pee. I feel it's cumbersome and uncomfortable for her to wear all the time. But now I am second guessing that. What if she HAD gotten out? ACK!


----------



## LittleBeverly2015 (Jan 26, 2015)

Beverly and Bentley wear their harnesses if they are outdoors for any reason, even though our yard is fenced. They never wear collars or harnesses when we are indoors.


----------



## Dorothy's Mom (Apr 8, 2015)

LittleBeverly2015 said:


> Beverly and Bentley wear their harnesses if they are outdoors for any reason, even though our yard is fenced. *They never wear collars or harnesses when we are indoors*.


I worry about her getting caught and strangled while we are not at home if she was wearing a collar.


----------



## CuddlesMom (Feb 22, 2014)

Cuddles wears her collar inside and outside at all times, even though she isn't prone to escaping. I'd rather not take my chances. I think she likes her collar, because when I put it back on her she runs right to it.


----------



## LittleBeverly2015 (Jan 26, 2015)

Dorothy's Mom said:


> I worry about her getting caught and strangled while we are not at home if she was wearing a collar.


I don't leave them outside by themselves and I don't see a reason for them to wear harnesses while they are inside. They actually don't ever have collars on, because the oldest has collapsing trachea.


----------



## AngelicMisfit13 (Apr 20, 2015)

Mine always has her collar on (I don't have an ID for her yet, so only her rabies tag is on her collar). Sometimes I will have her harness on a lot, so its easier to just hook her leash on to go out to potty...she doesn't like putting on her harness but is fine after its on.


----------



## zellko (Jul 3, 2013)

Mickey always wears a collar with only rare exceptions. If he would ever escape I want our phone numbers to be handy. Not everyone knows about chips and people often assume a dog without a collar is a stray. Piper is too small for a collar except for dress up.


----------



## Chiluv04 (Dec 19, 2013)

zellko said:


> Mickey always wears a collar with only rare exceptions. If he would ever escape I want our phone numbers to be handy. Not everyone knows about chips and people often assume a dog without a collar is a stray. Piper is too small for a collar except for dress up.



Susan Lanci and Greenbelts make tiny collars 😊


----------



## AngelicMisfit13 (Apr 20, 2015)

zellko said:


> Mickey always wears a collar with only rare exceptions. If he would ever escape I want our phone numbers to be handy. Not everyone knows about chips and people often assume a dog without a collar is a stray. Piper is too small for a collar except for dress up.


Why not try a ferret collar on her? I did that for a kitten I had that had the tiniest neck.


----------



## Moonfall (Nov 16, 2012)

Mine wear theirs except during the night. Alli wears a collar (we have quite the variety!) but since I got our buddy belt, I've loved it so much that Doug has his ID tag attached to that instead. So he wears that except at night.


----------



## Hollysmom (Nov 26, 2011)

Lilly only wears one when we go somewhere.


----------



## waldo (Feb 16, 2015)

great topic. i've always worried about this. there's no way for timmy to get out, but if there were some emergency, say in the middle of the night, and i had to get out immediately, if he didn't have a collar on things might be a it more difficult.

or if i were gone, and someone else had to break into rescue timmy during an emergency, they'd never be able to get him easily without a collar

i keep going back and forth about this. . .


----------



## woodard2009 (Aug 4, 2010)

In the winter, I usually don't keep a collar on unless we go somewhere, but now that it's summer and we go for frequent walks and are gearing up to go camping, she practically where's it 24/7.


----------



## susan davis (Mar 25, 2011)

Mine don't wear collars. They are chipped though. They are mostly house dogs, with a double exercise pen in the back for outside fun. I worry about emergencies too. I had a dog catch his tag in a in floor register, so am pretty well against collars in the house.


----------



## LittleBeverly2015 (Jan 26, 2015)

susan davis said:


> Mine don't wear collars. They are chipped though. They are mostly house dogs, with a double exercise pen in the back for outside fun. I worry about emergencies too. I had a dog catch his tag in a in floor register, so am pretty well against collars in the house.


Same for us. When my husband was a kid they had a wiener dog get his collar stuck in the carpeted floor and they never knew how long the poor thing was stuck like that. Its scary to think what could have happened.


----------



## Chiluv04 (Dec 19, 2013)

Mine wear their collars indoors. Their tags have their name and my number on it. microchips are great, but I also like knowing how swiftly I could be contacted if there were an unexpected emergency. I've heard of peoples dogs slipping out behind their owners unnoticed. at least with a collar and tag a neighbor could call right away. This happened with my cat once😳. poor thing roamed the halls of my apartment over 8 hrs before I was contacted. He didn't have any tags, collar, chip.


----------



## AngelicMisfit13 (Apr 20, 2015)

Chiluv04 said:


> Mine wear their collars indoors. Their tags have their name and my number on it. microchips are great, but I also like knowing how swiftly I could be contacted if there were an unexpected emergency. I've heard of peoples dogs slipping out behind their owners unnoticed. at least with a collar and tag a neighbor could call right away. This happened with my cat once😳. poor thing roamed the halls of my apartment over 8 hrs before I was contacted. He didn't have any tags, collar, chip.


You were lucky you lived in one of those apartments, if my puppy or if i had a cat...and it got out...my apartment complex is located right next to a long busy street. It would be less of a problem if I lived further in the back of my complex but what can you do? It's good thing she actually is scared of the traffic, she'd probably just find a person to run to. She doesn't have an ID tag yet or is microchipped, but has her rabies tag.

What should happen if she was actually someone's dog and is already chipped? I'd be brokenhearted. I think she is better off with me, she would of have never gotten loose if she was originally mine.

Anyways, my pups (meaning future dogs i should own) and if i ever own cats too...they will always have a collar on...inside or outside. You just never know what could happen.


----------



## Corona Pup (Jan 27, 2015)

Corona never wears a collar, but she is chipped! She is never out without a leash. To many dogs and to much wild life in my neighborhood to be trusted! That's why we frequent the dog park, and where we go is very secure with double gates etc, so she can have some free run time! And I do have an expandable lead that she wears on walks and we walk at least a mile a day. My house has a front and back deck with the stairs to high for her to venture down, so I am not worried about her getting out. The doors are often open so
She has access to both decks and even though she won't venture the stairs I put up gates as well. I'm to afraid of a collar getting caught up somewhere! I do think I'll rethink this when we camp this summer!!! Just in case she were to slip out of the travel trailer!!!


----------



## mom2marley (Feb 15, 2015)

My dogs wear collars 24/7 for identification purposes. The two Chihuahuas are chipped as well. For walks they all wear harnesses to attach the leash to.


----------



## CuddlesMom (Feb 22, 2014)

Cuddles's previous collar was a cat breakaway collar, so that if it ever did end up caught somewhere, it would come off. Unfortunately, the one she has now isn't a breakaway, but I've been considering putting it back on her.


----------



## Moonfall (Nov 16, 2012)

Once Doug caught his collar in a grate and couldn't get free so it's made me weird about leaving them on. 

So they wear them during the day. They do make dog breakaway collars, so that might be an option.


----------



## jshiloh (Apr 21, 2014)

There's no need to have a collar on all the time. It's uncomfortable to the dog, and it breaks the coat. Get a microchip, and make sure you have a harness or collar on (with ID tags) if you're going out. Otherwise forego the collar.


----------



## MMS (Aug 2, 2012)

jshiloh said:


> There's no need to have a collar on all the time. It's uncomfortable to the dog, and it breaks the coat. Get a microchip, and make sure you have a harness or collar on (with ID tags) if you're going out. Otherwise forego the collar.



Sorry, but no. My dogs (and many others) are more comfortable with their collars and harnesses on. My rescue's demeanor changed completely, and he settled in at an amazingly faster rate once I put a collar on him. When someone new comes to visit, he begs to have him harness on, because it makes him more comfortable.

All of my dogs wear collars nearly 24/7 (unless they're in the wash, and we do take a week or so collar free every once in a while to keep the fur from getting too damaged). They've never gotten them caught on anything, and believe me, they've tried! But when fitted properly they shouldn't. 

Microchips are not the 100% reliable godsend everyone makes them out to be, and in my neighborhood a free roaming dog without a visible collar is likely to get shot - so while I do not let my dogs out unsupervised, I feel safer knowing that IF they happen to somehow get out while I'm away, they are safer with a highly visible collar on (whether the tags stay on or not) than hoping that someone will (1) be able to catch them (2) have the thought of microchips and take them to the vet (3) the vet will have the right scanner to be compatible with the chip (4) the chip is functioning properly and hasn't migrated.


----------



## Chiluv04 (Dec 19, 2013)

Mine wear their collard all day every day. they do not have broken fur. they do have collarless days lol. I have heard of microchips failing. though I am not against. I do agree the first thing someones gonna do is check the tag and call the number on back. also, because my dogs are used to their collars...they are they are quite attached to them, so they aren't happy when I remove them, and very excited to get them back on.


----------



## Darkly_Innocent (Jun 9, 2010)

My two also wear their collars with their id tags on them at all times. I only put their harnesses on them for walks.


----------



## Bexasaurus (Aug 7, 2015)

All of ours wear collars, but we found even the XS regular dog collars were far too big for our chis so we got the cat collars that have the emergency snaps. Artie is very rarely outside so his ends up on all of the time; Rook is always wrestling with the cat and our bigger dog, so he loses his occasionally. They are both microchipped, so the tags are more so someone can call us directly. But I am also worrying about strangling, so the cat snaps are nice since if they get caught on anything they will come off.

ETA: We have harnesses too, but only for outings and walks like others have said.


----------



## Kismet (Jun 18, 2014)

Mine all wear collars 24/7. Chad got out one day when a fence paling fell down while I was home and got a phone all saying he'd been found at the local school playing with kids!! He was gone for less than 10min and the tag enabled them to call me straight away. We use either break-away collars like this: KeepSafe® Break-Away Collars by PetSafe - GRP-KSC or cat collars with break away clips. They're walked on harnesses so the collars are strictly for ID.


----------

