I just want to share this with you for what it is worth.

The outside weather conditions had not permitted my dogs to be outside for any length of time to run off their energy and play. I was in another room working while hubby was supposed to be supervising the dogs in the livingroom. I heard him yelling for them to "knock it off" and then his voice yelling for me to help. As I ran into the living room; two of the dogs were standing on their hindquarters head to head in what appeared to be a fight.

Hubby grabbed one dog by the hindquarters and I grabbed the other; attempting to pull them apart with blood flying everywhere!

After what seemed to be an eternity; I realized that the collar of the border collie was stuck in the other dog's lower teeth and jaw. The border collie's tongue was hanging out and turning blue from the strangulation. There was too much pressure and twist on the collar to allow me to unsnap and was finally able to pry the collar from the dog's teeth and jaw.

We immediately separated the dogs and I began an assessment for possible punctures once I had all of the blood cleaned from each.

Neither dog had any tears or punctures but were both very traumatized and confused from the experience. Each looking at the other wondering "what happened" with no aggression "we were only playing".

The collar had cut into the one dog's tongue and gum causing the spray of blood and the border collie's eyes were blood filled from the strangulation which finally disappated after a week's time.

In speaking with my vet; he indicated that he averages four or five of these such accidents within his practice a year and that the majority of these accidents result in death for the strangled dog when the owners are not present to interveen.

I've had dogs all of my life. All wear snug fitting collars ( 1 - 1 1/2 fingers) but accidents can and will happen.

Good post, meaning I never considered this type of accident but will watch for it. I keep two dogs in the yard alone for several hours at a time. They rough house and chase each other all the time. I can see how this could easily happen.
You should have posted this under "raising multiple dogs". Do you think a different type of collar could have prevented the situation?

We have been down this road before, and Barbara, with all do respect, any time you post a story like this the fact that you have 11 dogs living together in the same house comes to mind. I in no way intend to start a debate again about this nor do I mean any dis-respect. However it is hard to classify this sort of thing as an unfortunate accident knowing what is known about your situation. If you had lets say 2 dogs and this happened the focus possibly could swith to why this happened and if certain types of collars are dangerous in a specific situation. With 11 dogs in the house, I think the answer is quite obvious why these things happen. I give you credit for hanging with this board and you have contributed positively on other threads but I'm afraid when we start talking about multiple dogs living together you are way out there.

I'm so glad they are ok Barbara. I have heard quite a few of these scary stories, I have more than one dog as well and I actually only put collars on them for walks now.

After reading the original post again, I suppose that the point is the dogs really weren't fighting, they were playing and the dogs teeth and jaw got caught in the collar. Fine. But the fact still remains that I can't imagine the chaos that must go on every day in this environment. With that many dogs, play sessions can erupt into full fledged fights or if not fights "accidents" like this can happen in the blink of an eye. If others want to focus on how the collar caused this situation I think they are missing the boat(of course IMHO.) I'm not sure where this thread is heading but I will sit back, watch and shake my head for now.

I've never had any dogs get caught in collars though I have read that it is a quite common cause of dog injury. What I have had problems with in the past is those "s" hooks they supply with the dogs lisence and rabies tags. I have had them snag up on ganglines and harness and just make a tangle all the worse. Have also heard of dogs getting their teeth stuck in them in play sessions. I only use the continuos "key ring" type of ring for their tags now.

I think we posted at the same time Chuck - the other issues slipped my mind. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I also understand and have heard of these types of injuries as well. Look.....I am a reasonable person(at least I think I am) and maybe I'm guilty of veering this thing off topic or what Barbara intended the topic to be. I may also be guilty of pouncing on poor Barbara here but its like I just can't help getting this visual of all those dogs, nor can I stop feeling like without these circumstances, this stuff probably would not have happened in the first place. I guess I can't remain objective on this one.

It could happen with only two dogs or even only one dog- I think the post is a good one to point out the perils of something so everyday common as a dog collar. How many people leave the collar on in the dogcrate? the kennel? I bet alot of people do, I know I do but now I'm reconsidering.

Originally posted by ringsport:
Do you think a different type of collar could have prevented the situation? I use quick release collars on my dogs. I also use the key ring type of ring that tiggy2 mentioned, for their tags.