A bunch of us get together almost daily to meet with our dogs and hang out, train and let the dogs play but I'm glad I was not there on Tuesday.
Rick just rescued 2 German Shepherds 6 months ago, Colt a male about 75 lbs and Ziva a petite female maybe 50 lbs at best, they have lived and played together daily since he rescued them.
Both dogs had choke chains on and they were playing like any other day when I'm told the choke chain got caught on the lower jaw of Colt. The dogs panicked and started pulling away from each other, flipping upside down, twisting around and every twist and movement the choke chain got tighter until it chocked and killed the male Colt. I guess they were trying to get it untangled but it was to tight and somehow choked Colt, one guy ran to get bolt cutters but returned to late Colt had died in his owners arms.
I have not talked to the guys who were trying to help the dogs but will know more once I talk to them. Hard to believe and very very sad.

Wow, so sorry to hear that. My thoughts are with Rick.

That is very unusual. I've used chokers as a primary training collar for more years than I care to think about. Just wondering why; if there were two people, and he had one dog in his arms, they couldn't seperate the two. Very odd

DFrost

It's not the first time I've heard of this happening. I'm glad it's so unusual. The other time I heard it happen the dog who got the chain in their mouth broke their jaw flipping around and the other dog was never quite right after which was assumed due to the oxygen being cut off of the brain. She was able to separate the dogs via bolt cutter and had to bring the one back via cpr.

That time it was two golden retrievers.

You can google for a lot more examples of this happening.

Poor dogs and owners. It's a fluke when it happens and it's such a sad way to go.

Between this and the story about the dachsund chewing off the toddler's genitals, I'm experiencing a new wave of paranoia as my puppy pick-up date approaches.

That would be a horrible freak thing to have happen... Although I'm sure those of us that work at shelters or vets can tell more stories than you'd care to hear. 2 freak accidents come to mind right off the bat -
While working at the Humane Society, a fellow staff member had one of the pittys down in the basement, in the indoor play area. They were playing ball with one of those really hard, red kong balls. Well, somehow, the combination of the angle and power of the bounce, along with the angle at which the dog jumped for the ball, caused it to become lodged deep down his throat. Sadly, the dog died even before help arrived from upstairs.
Recently, we treated a small fluffy-type dog, for severe road rash on it's stomach and all four paws. We knew it was somehow related to a car, but couldn't figure out how. We later found out, the owner of the dog also has an autistic son, who suffers from epilepsy. The son's caretaker had taken him and the dog out to the park, when the boy had a seizure. In a mad rush to get the boy home, the caretaker forgot that the little dog was tied to the back of the car. I can't stop thinking about how that little guy felt being dragged, so scared and confused. Not to mention, how the owner of the dog/mother of the son would deal with it...

When do you pick up your puppy Ross? mine is supposed to be born next week - can't wait! But getting nervous a bit as well...

This is a well-known safety issue.

Many crates and x-pens, as well as collars and harnesses come with a warning that any gear the dog is wearing should be removed if the dog is to be left unsupervised.

The gear also should be removed every time the dog will be playing with other dogs.

Dog parks often require removing dog's gear at the entrance.

I don't know yet why they couldn't separate them its crazy all I can think of is they were not watching closely enough and by the time they realized something was wrong, to late but I am guessing?
I found out a little more info and the dog that died was choked by his own collar, it got caught on his own jaw and was also tangled in the other dogs collar and the twisting caused it to tighten until he choked. The collar was not a proper fit for a choke and more like a loose neck tie making it possible for his own jaw to get caught.
I also have used choke collars and use pinch collars but never leave them on after training and no collars on when the dog is unsupervised.

This is not a new problem at all. I've had to cut a fur saver off with bolt cutters, and I've had to cut off more martingale collars than I care to count.

Because of the panic, the dogs are REALLY hard to keep calm and to separate.

I finally got smart and either didn't leave collars on at all, or only left a snap-lock collar on if it was absolutely necessary.

This is just so sad.

They couldn't separate them because the collar gets twisted when the dogs jump and pull away and spin in panic. The handler cannot actually hold the panicking dog and go through all the moves backwards.

These kinds of accidents happen too often because people are not aware of the issue.

Google "collar accidents" for a very detailed info on this topic.

Another collar safety issue arises when a dog is tied out on an elevated surface such as a deck or balcony where the dog could jump down and hang himself.