Monday, April 22, 2013

Collar warning.

When we arrived home yesterday after our vet visits and I opened the crate in the car to get Azule and Brook out, I realized that Azule didn't have her collar on.  I know she had it on when she got into the crate because she was leashed coming out of the vet's office.

I am a firm believer in restrained dogs in the car for their safety and having a wire style crate in the car allows them to see out and also has great air flow.

If you have ever used a wire style crate, you no doubt have seen the warning about removing the dog's collar for safety, that is printed on the plastic tray liner. I've seen it many times. Not much of a concern for us I always thought, since none of the pack wear collars at home.  

They do however, all wear collars when we go out and they are crated in the back seat of the car.  But I'm right there in the front seat. If anything happened, I would know. Right?  WRONG!

This is where I found Azule's collar.  Hanging near the top of the crate.




I was driving and oblivious to this happening. She never made a sound.  What scares me is that she could have choked and I wouldn't know until it is too late.  I still feel sick and on the verge of tears when I think about what could have happened.

We're getting new, tagless collars for the car crate. 

24 comments:

  1. How scary for you!!! We don't wear collars at home either....and we don't wear tags. Glad it turned out okay and was an easy way to learn a lesson.

    XXXOOO Daisy, Bella & Roxy

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    1. Yes, it was very scary thing once I realized what could have happened.

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  2. After my nightmare with Kaya, collar issues freak me out! Glad she's ok! There are breakaway collars for dogs like the cat safety kind.

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    1. I recall reading about Kaya's collar incident and it was a scary read.

      The breakaway collars make me a bit nervous due to the breakaway part.

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  3. That's scary. I always keep Beamer's collar on, even when he's in the crate. Maybe get the dogs harnesses instead of collars for car rides?

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    1. We've got a collection of collars (second hand and older, plain) that we can use without tags and then switch to tagged collars when we get out of the crate.

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  4. That's so scary! The good thing is that nothing bad happened! I know how you feel though. :-(

    So it looks like she slipped her head out of the collar, as the collar looks like it is still intact. Is that what happened?

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    1. Yes, I think that she slipped out. Interesting thing is that when we were at the vet's, I was holding her with one hand on her collar and slipped my finger under and thought of how it fit just right, not too tight, not too loose. Thank God it was loose enough.

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  5. We also have crates in our van, for traveling to dog shows. And I thought the same as you, and never removed collars. Thanks for sharing this!

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    1. We've been crating with collars on for years and never had anything happen. This is a lesson for all of us who use crate in a vehicle.

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  6. Anonymous4/22/2013

    Yikes...that is scary! I wouldn't think to remember to remove the dogs collar either!

    Glad everything turned out fine!

    Elyse and Riley

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    1. Thanks. I am telling everyone what happened so maybe it'll prevent a tragedy.

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  7. That is so scary, thank goodness everything ended up okay. We have had two very close calls with collars as well, and that terrible feeling of "what if" stays around in the pit of your stomach for a long while afterwards. Have you checked out the breakaway collars yet? If they work as good as people say, I think they sound like a much better option for all of us pet owners.

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    1. You are so right about that feeling of what if and a whole load of guilt too. I think we'll be using some of the older and plain collars while in the crate.

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  8. I'm so glad this had a happy ending! I use a safety harness rather than a crate for Wrigs in the car, but those have their share of potential issues too!

    Susan and Wrigs

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    1. I tried a harness for Callie once and gave up after less than five minutes. She kept twisting around and getting tangled.

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  9. Anonymous4/23/2013

    Yikes!

    I love Silas's embroidered collar, because it has our phone number on it without him being burdened down with tags (which I do attach to his harness.) With a pack as large as yours, you may just want to use a Sharpie marker to write your number on a plain nylon collar.

    I'm so glad it turned out to be okay!

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    1. I was thinking the exact thing - using a Sharpie! (great minds think alike)

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  10. You know, I had totally forgotten about this until now, but a couple we knew years ago had a sweet, big older dog, then got a puppy for their young children. The puppy's collar got attached to the big dogs', and they came home and found the puppy had strangled to death. Horrible for the kids :(

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    1. I am so paranoid about collars with tags now. We had an incident one time last fall with blind Hiker getting her dew claw caught in the tag ring of her collar. These are things we never think of which is why I am telling everyone.

      How awful for that family. It again emphasizes to me how lucky we were with Azule.

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  11. Oh my goodness, how scary. I'm so glad she was okay!

    I confess I'm terrible and don't crate Rita in the car. Of course, that just leads to other worries. But she's so good about staying seated in the back seat. We do have a car harness and I should probably try it on her. Our last dog was always such a spazz, getting herself all tangled up in it & I was so worried she'd hurt herself, that I stopped using it.

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    1. I started to crate in the car due to thinking about a dog being a projectile if something ever happened (thought process from work, perhaps) and a blind dog is more likely to stumble around in the backseat. Also, if I leave them in the car while doing errands on the way to a hike or while on vacation, I have a lock on the crate for extra security and peace of mind.

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  12. Oh my gosh! I completely understand your worry!
    We do not have the collar on at home during crate times, but it worries me in the car! Jozi loves to ride shotgun and sometimes I let her but this worries me since all her tags are on the only collar we have for.
    Good thing you are going to be proactive and get tagless collars..that may have to be something we need to do too!
    It is up to us to keep our kids safe and I have no doubt you will take care of this right away!
    Peace, Love, Barks and Treats Forever,
    Cat and Jozi

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    1. We're going to use collars with no tags in the car crate so that at least there is something on them to grab if needed. All the pack have been taught to "wait" when the crate door opens but, you never know. We have extra collars so will likely only to buy a couple more.

      I worry about dogs in the front seat because of the air bag and also they could be ejected if there is a collision. Just something to think about.

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