Dealing with a Dog who Pulls out of his Collar

Some very clever, fearful, or aggressive dogs make a habit out of pulling their collars off so they can escape. Most dogs who are able to pull their collars off are narrow headed breeds but if the collar is loose enough any breed can figure it out.

If you have a dog who frequently tries to escape her collar you have a few options.

The easiest solution is a martingale collar. A martingale collar tightens behind the ears when a dog pulls- making it impossible to squirm out of a collar. When we are working with a rescue dog that has a tendency to slip our of their collar, we keep them in a martingale style collar all the time unless they are playing with other dogs indoors or are crated (two situations when a martingale collar should never be left on). Some people don't recommend keeping them on 24/7 because a dog could theoretically get a leg caught, but we adjust them so even if they are pulled all the way they can't choke the dog, just tighten to prevent escape. There is still a danger of choking, but each owner must evaluate the danger of the dog slipping a buckle collar and running against the chance of getting the collar caught on something.

If you choose not to use a martingale collar you should consider putting your dog in two collars whenever you leave the house- one collar with the leash attached and another collar, with ID, not attached to the leash which that would stay on if the leash-collar was escaped.

If you have a dog that absolutely escapes at every opportunity you may want to consider putting a t-shirt on the dog whenever he leaves the house with this writing on the side: “If I am alone, I'm lost. Call 555-1212”