Freak Collar Accident

[Wolfiesmom]

Last night, after walking the neighborhood, Wolfie and I came in to the guys in the family watching the football game. Wolfie loves to attack our 55 inch LED tv that hangs on the wall, every time there is football or hockey on. I don't know what it is, but whenever the players line up, he goes nuts and tries to jump through the tv. It doesn't last the whole game, just until he gets bored with it and lies down. Usually we keep him off by voice control, but it gets annoying after a while, having to remind him to stay away from the tv so much. Last night, I decided to keep him on his longer leash, until he calmed down. The leash was just long enough for him to walk around and visit everyone in the living room, but not long enough for him to reach the tv. Knowing that he was on the leash and prong collar from our walk, he made his rounds to say hi to everyone, did a few turns and curled up at my feet. When our team scored, the guys jumped up yelling and screaming, like they do, and Wolfie jumped up as well to join the celebration. I was still holding his leash, when I noticed him panicking and trying to back away. I saw that his legs had got tangled in the leash when he did his turns before he had laid down. I let go of the leash, and hubby was right there trying to get him untangled. Then hubby yelled that Wolfie isn't breathing and was choking! I jumped up, and grabbed his collar and couldn't believe how tight it was on his neck. Luckily, I have very small hands and was able to squeeze a few fingers in between and unclip the prongs. We figured that Wolfie had jumped up in his excitement with the leash wrapped around his back legs, and that action pulled the prong collar way down on his neck. He was absolutely fine after I got the collar off, and went right for his ball, looking to play. I am always so extra careful about his collars. He never wears them unless he is supervised. I am still stunned and sick over the fact that he had such a collar accident when I was holding his leash! I am so thankful that he is ok. Poor Wolfie.

[Lilie]

Whew! That truly gave me chills. I'm glad Wolfie is ok. Thanks so much for sharing, many can learn from this!

[Bear GSD]

Oh my gosh, that must have been so frightning! I'm glad that Wolfie is ok.

[Wolfiesmom]

I am just sick over it. I am going to go out and get a new prong collar with the latch that I can quickly release. The one I have, you have to take the prongs apart to get it on and off.

[Kyleigh]

Scary, glad you have quick reflexes and that Wolfie is fine!

[onyx'girl]

Glad he's ok!

The quick release may not be good when you actually need the prong/it may come apart. I would keep him on a flat when you need to leash him in the house and only use a prong when you have a shorter line on him. I usually only have a tab on my prong and it is only on when we are training.

That is a freak accident for sure!

[Rerun]

Scary accident but I wouldn't use the quick release. I have seen too many of those release for no reason at all. I actually lost Dante's prong collar in a big field one afternoon when I had let him off lead to play fetch and run around. He returned at one point and the collar was gone. This was a huge, mowed, field. No trees/brush to get it caught on. It just fell off. And it was properly fitted as well, snug up behind his ears.

[Heidigsd]

So glad that Wolfie is ok

I like this prong collar for Nikki when we go for walks, just another option for you BLACK 19 in. Herm Sprenger Neck-Tech Nylon Pinch Collar. $54.95.

[jocoyn]

Wow those freak accidents can be scary. Glad it did not become a tragedy

[Liesje]

Scary! Glad it ended OK.

I've used quick release HS prongs for years and I've *never* had the quick release break apart. Actually, all of my HS prongs (3 different ones) have popped apart at the links including the quick release one (and I know how to fit a prong and use a prong) but I've never had an issue with the quick release itself. If you look at how it actually works you can see that it can't just come apart unless it's broken and being HS they are good quality and don't just spontaneously break. The quick release part would have to be jammed or have something smash it to spontaneously come apart while the links I've seen pop apart, even during protection work. Nikon can itch his neck a certain way and pop his prong collars off. I know a few other people who've only used quick release prongs and they've never had an issue either. The people I know of that are so against it don't use them and have never had a personal experience with one coming apart. I'm fine with people not liking them (hey I have 2 normal prongs and 1 with a quick release at the moment) but so far I haven't personally met anyone that's had a problem with the quick release component of the prong, just people that insist they are faulty or aren't safe. So if you want to try the quick release I'd say go ahead, in my experience they have not been any better or worse than regular HS prongs. I have noticed that the HS prong links are not as "tightly" fitting as the pet store brand and are very easy to take apart, which is nice for them going on and off but I've had them pop apart and have seen it at training several times with other people (again we know how to fit them and use them). NO prong collar or collar is 100% fail-safe. The quick release does have it's advantage and I have used it as an instant collar release, something you can't do with a normal prong unless you carry around a tool that can cut curogan.