Collars are an essential part of owning a dog. They allow the pet guardian to walk around with the dog on a leash and provide a place to hang the dog’s identification, clinic, and vaccination tags. However, if not used correctly, collars may seriously or fatally injure your dog. There are many reasons why dogs should not wear collars. In this article, we have analyzed five of these arguments against leashing up your dog.
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Suffocation
Dogs love to move around, jumping over fences and out of windows. The collar can easily be snagged up on a fence post or a window latch when the dog leaps through fences or windows. This can lead to suffocation and instant death. Hanging tags can equally get trapped in tiny spaces like crates and choke your dog.
Mouth and limb Injuries
Dogs scratch and groom their bodies using the limbs. When the collar is loose, and the dog tries to scratch their ears or any other part of its body, the front or hind leg it is using may get stuck in the looped collar. This may lead to sprains or even a broken limb. The dog’s tongue or teeth may also get stuck on a loose collar, leading to serious mouth injuries.
To avoid this, use breakaway collars that snap open when enough pressure is applied on the buckle.
Skin complications
When the collar is tightly fitted, it poses a threat to the dog. It leads to skin irritation and loss of hair. The skin around the area where the collar passes also becomes more prone to irritations and infections.
A very tight collar, in extreme cases may cut into a dog’s neck mostly due to negligence. An act of negligence may be an innocent or thoughtless behavior such as leaving a small collar on your growing dog, days on end. It is advisable to let your dog sleep without the collar to allow its skin to relax.
Neck injury
The neck is a very sensitive part of the body and easily gets harmed if the dog pulls the leash hard or the owner pulls the dog around on the collar with force. Every time you jerk the dog, you are potentially damaging its neck.
Long-term medical complications may arise as a result of repeated application of stress around the neck. For instance, the dog’s thyroid glands, salivary glands, and other tissues may get injured due to this action.
General Discomfort
Having the wrong collar can also irritate the dog. Rigid and rough collars also cause a lot of discomfort to the dog. If the collar is too stiff, your dog may act weirdly. It may continuously scratch its head and neck. This discomfort impedes your dog’s movement and makes it less joyful and vibrant.
Many people think collars and pets go hand in hand. They are considered to be indispensable to enjoying the companionship of a dog. Collars ensure ease of moving around and provide a platform to hang tags on. Though there are a lot of reasons why dogs should not wear collars, on a few occasions, they prove to be a necessary evil. Hence, a lot of care and precaution should be taken if you must use collars.