Be careful when it comes to collars!!
 

I'm sure this is not going to be the first story many of you have heard. I did not think this could happen, but was told after the fact that there are stories like this. I have to share mine in hopes to stop a catastrophe for someone else in the future. Before i start i just want to say this story DOES have a happy ending thank GOD!

Yesterday, my 2 year old was playing with charlie and put him in his crate and shut and latched the door. She got bored and walked away. I seen him in there, but he was content chewing his cow hoof, so i just let him be for the time being instead of unlatching the door. Five minutes later i hear him screaming. Irun to the crate and his collar is stuck in the bars and he's pulling trying to get loose. I run over there to help him and calm him down fot the moment, bur i am unable to get him loose. He starts panicing and pulling in while doing so choking him self out. I start yelling for help. The more he panics the more he chokes. Thankfully my hubby is home and always has a pocket knife on him. Im yelling to my hubby to come help me, we need to cut off his collar, he's choking to death! My hubby runs over and is able to cut the collar off him and get Charlie loose. Charlie was shaking like a leaf! He still hasn't gone back in his crate, which he usually uses as his little safe haven to just chill. Well see what happe s with that.

I am so thankful we were able to handle tge situation how we did because that could have been so bad! Ill be replacing his collar with a plate one instead of a dangling one amd i am not going to allow the crate door to be closed anymore. We use it as he pleases and rarely ever close it. Idk if he'll want to go back in it though.

I am do glad that your story has a happy ending. Thank God your precious Charlie is ok.

From someone who makes harnesses and collars, with all sorts of closures, I can assure you that collars simply aren't safe. I have in my hardware drawer at least a half a dozen "quick release" buckles and after thorough testing, I don't believe that most yorkies have the strength to twist and pull them apart. Even if they did, just the though of the damage to the delicate trachea is heart breaking.

Tragedy only takes the blink of an eye.

Hopefully there is no damage! I am off work tomorrow and will go get my vets opinion tomorrow. He seems ok so i don't feel a need to rush him to er sooner. Yes, im definately going to put a lot of thought into his next collar.

Thanks for sharing and I am happy that he is ok now. As a first time dog and Yorkie owner, I continue to learn each day. Thankfully I read most sticky posts on this forum the day before I adopted my pup and one of the first things I learned was to use a harness not a collar. I would not had a clue if it wasnt for this forum.

I really don't recommend collars. With that said, I am home most of the time and live on a farm. If my girls were to get out I would know in a heart beat and they would be relatively safe in the few minutes it would take to retrieve them. When I leave the house they go in the master bedroom be away from doors. In addition, my girls are micro chipped just in case. When we travel, they wear their harnesses with tags 24/7 taken off only for grooming.

With that said, I understand that others NEED for their kiddos to wear identification at all times. If tags on a harness aren't feasible, then I would suggest a quick release collar that has been modified to come apart with less tugging and twisting. I would be happy to help you modify a collar, please pm me.

You're welcome! This post is mostly for people who may not know. That was me two days ago and ive been a Yorkie mom for years!

OMG, thankfully your husband was home, how terrifying for you and Charlie. I do hope he doesn't stay fearful of his crate, his lil safe haven. I have never used a crate for any of my dogs, who would have thought collar with tags could cause death if caught between crate bars. Thank you sooooo much for sharing your story, hopefully those who crate will benefit from your story.

My hubby is really into knives. Its like a hobby to him. I knew he'd have one in his pocket. His love for knives came in really handy. I bougjt him the knife he used for thus past father's day. It came in more useful thsn i would have ever imagined.

I only use collars when I am out with my pups. Never, ever at home and/or unattended! I had a couple of close calls years ago with collars catching on things where luckily I was there. Then, I had two pups get their mouths around the soft ones (ultrasuede) and one of them I had to cut the collar to get it out of his mouth. Hard to explain...my guess is those collars stretch a bit. Anyway.....I don't want any of my pups to be a statistic so there is a no collar rule inside.
Oh...and as for crates, there are warnings about not leaving collars on when dogs are in them..
If you google dog collar dangers, you will not be looking for collars to use inside again...pretty scary.
Thank goodness your pup is ok!

So scary. When mine go in crates their collars come off because I have heard of that. Collars are very important an unless they are getting a bath or in a crate the collar is always on. If fitted right and not used with a leash or crate they can be very safe. To many peoples dogs get lost for mine not to have collars on. Lots of people don’t know there are microchips or wait to take them to vet to get scanned and with a collar and tag the number is right there.

As long as it’s fitted right and you don’t use it when they are crated they are perfectly safe.

You might could try a soft sided crate it would be different so he might not be scared of it.

Thanks. I'll check it out. So far, he's yet to go back in.

Mine broke a tooth by chewing on her crate and that scared her from using that crate again so I bought a new one the was soft sided and she used it. You can find some with good prices on ebay and at jet.com. I seem to like the soft sided ones better anyway because they seem more cozy.

I also prefer he has 24 hour identification easily accessible on him. I'll be doing my research this time though.

Is he microchiped? That's a good thing to have as well as a collar.

I had one pup who jumped up and her collar caught on a kitchen drawer handle..,it was years ago but I think it was the loop of a tag that snagged it. The other one was lying on a rug one day and couldn't get up because the tag holder had caught on a loop of the rug...if I wasn't there he could have injured himself trying to get loose.
I am terrified of collars in the house now.
I have had dogs chew other dogs collars off of them and have heard of dogs getting caught up in other dogs' collars. If you can put two fingers under a collar, a dog can fit a lower jaw in.

We made hid nice and cozy with a nice mat and blanket he can fit to his comfort. 2 toys and his chew hoof goes on there too. Its also a nice comfortable size for him and its smack dab I the middle of the house so he still feels he's close to us when he wants to go in there. Im going to look at the soft sided ones. Maybe after another couple days ill put a snack he cant resist to get him to go back in if he doesnt go on his own. I can tell he enjoys the crate. I don't wnt him to be scared of it. But for sure no more collar while inside it regardless of the kind we end up using.

I'm thinking the tags might be the big issues. I never heard of collar problems until yorkietalk. Grew up with dogs having collars and other peoples dogs having collars and never heard any issues. Callie's is loose enough to slip out of if she got caught on something because she never put it in her mouth or anything. Joey and Penny wrestle all the time and as long as the collar hasn't gotten to loose its not an issue never have the gotten stuck or caught or choked each other and they can wrestle hard sometimes. Penny who is still sleeping in the crate has her collar taken off at night because of the crate. I would not feel comfortable with mine having no collars on. I train them not to jump up at counters well Penny is the only one I had the issue with and I was terrified she was going to bust her jaw because she can jump higher then the counter. I also only have three and it's easier to watch 3 then more then that. I also am lucky right now that I don't have to leave them alone because my grandmother stays with them if I have to go somewhere. Callie ran out the door many times as puppy before she was trained not to and we almost didn't keep up with her one time and if we were not able to I would have been worried sick if she didn't have a collar on. Although Joey and Penny are microchiped I know lots of people who don't know about microchips so its just faster and quicker to get them back if they have a tag. Now they have embroidered collars and tags that slide onto the collars so there is no dangle. The noise of their tag helps me keep track of them though. There are so many dogs lost every year with no tags that never find their owners or are lost a lot longer because they don't have a tag. I feel the majority of the time they are very safe.

To each his own....I will not leave collars on unsupervised dogs. I have seen and heard of far too many issues with them. Only takes one time

It seemed like it was the buckle on the leash that got caught in the bars rather than the id tag itself. I forgot how to post pics in the forum. Can someone refresh my memory. I can post pics of his old collar, crate, etc..?

I remember. .. i think. No one prank call me ok. Lol joking. Here's the cut collar and his crate. The buckle is what was wedged in the bars. I also put a pic of his crate.


Shoot it didn't work. One sec!

Well you can use the link instead..

http://i349.photobucket.com/albums/q...psiho3vytz.jpg


http://i349.photobucket.com/albums/q...psz4xgeajc.jpg

I hope that works!

And this pic was taken today so thankfully my 2 LO's are still friends!

http://i349.photobucket.com/albums/q...psrsdjpteq.jpg

To the question earlier, yes he is microchipped.

The buckle, I thought it was the tags, this is even worse, thank GOD your husband was there.

Yes, the buckle was wedged in a way i couldn't get it loose. It was horrible. The tags probably played a part in how it got that way in the first place