[Jax's Mom]

I test them in the stores by clipping them onto the bottom of the shopping cart and jumping in them with my foot. We've always used them and only had problems with one I got for our lab... it was a pink ribbon collar so I bought it.
Most of the "Tuff" brand clips seem.... tough

 

[AbbyK9]

Can I ask how confident you all are with those plastic clips that many collars have on them ? Similar to the ones they use on backpacks etc etc. Have you ever had them break or slip undone ? I love nylon collars but I am always a bit paranoid those male/female clips are going to split or break under pressure at a bad moment as opposed to buckle style collars. Any comments or feedback ?

I have a fair number of collars with plastic buckles currently, and have had a pretty large number of them over the years. I can't say I've ever had a problem with them. I've certainly never broken one, nor have I had one come unsnapped.

That said, I would not use them on a dog that pulls a lot, or a dog that may suddenly lunge after another animal or at a person or anything like that.

I have one now that I use primarily as a tag collar. It has no purpose other than to hold a tag, and I usually have it on Ronja when we are walking off-lead on our property, or when we're going to/from events. At a lot of events, she just wears a slip collar or a collar with a metal buckle, and no tags. Sometimes I have the tag collar on and a simple slip collar. Just depends on what I feel like that day and what we're doing.

One collar I have that I like a lot has a plastic buckle, BUT the way it's designed, it has two D rings to clip the lead to, and if the dog were to lunge, the weight and pressure would be on the metal D-rings and the collar material, NOT the plastic buckle. It's a really good design and it's disappointing that not more companies make them.

It's this one, from BodyGlove (but ours is a different color) -
Body Glove | Store

The D-ring on the left (in the pictures on the website) comes over the buckle and the lead snaps to both D rings at the same time. No stress on the buckle at all!

If you need a really heavy-duty collar with a nice big metal closure, might I recommend this one -
Nylon ID Service Collar with Metal Buckle

I have one of those and it's really nice. Not really "one size fits all", though. At least not for my little Malinois.

 

[kidkhmer]

I test them in the stores by clipping them onto the bottom of the shopping cart and jumping in them with my foot.

ROTLMFAO !!! I just had a vision of you stomping on one in front of everyone, breaking it and then just casually throwing it back on the shelf and walking off with a "ppffffft...."

 

[kidkhmer]

If you need a really heavy-duty collar with a nice big metal closure, might I recommend this one -
Nylon ID Service Collar with Metal Buckle

Holy Crap that site is the shiznit !! Thanks very much. Now where is my credit card !

 

[Ucdcrush]

For plastic snaps, I bought a dog backpack that used that, and my dog started running with the backpack which very quickly broke that plastic snap, so I replaced it with a metal buckle by getting the parts from a 99 cent store buckle collar. I wouldn't trust one to hold up against a pulling dog or lunging dog.

 

[selzer]

I did say I use them on puppies and on some of my martingales. Joy's is plastic -- the Tuff kind. But I do not leave it on her 24/7. I would think that plastic would fatigue quicker if it was in use and left out in the elements, wet, hot, cold etc. If they are only used when connected to the leash. I think it is a little less likely.

I do keep a collar and tags on the dog when I leave home, the martingale for the leash. That way, even if it does break, I still have a collar on the dog.

And I train them to recall. Equipment failure could still be very bad though.

 

[JOSHUA SAMPSON]

plastic = break away. if you want something quality you need leather and metal buckle.

 

[selzer]

Metal buckels break too. Sometimes they have a flaw in the metal.

I gave a nice, high quality, weaver leather lead and collar to my friend. I had a collar that was too big, 25". He had a mastiff. I then brought him a leash. The clip failed when he walked his dog. I have NEVER had that happen. His dog was well trained and it was not a matter of him pulling. It just failed.

Never trust any collar or lead. Train a good recall, and a drop on command, to help keep your dog safe.

 

[Chicagocanine]

I've never had one break on a collar, but I usually use leather collars with buckles. I've had a leash break with the same type of plastic clip on the handle though...
I do use a soft web collar with a plastic clip for Bianca to wear at home-- it's a special type of collar made to be soft on the dog's neck/fur, it was created for show dogs to wear so it won't rub the fur off the neck. However I usually switch to her leather buckle collar whenever we go somewhere...
I've never had the buckle end stick out funny on a leather collar, and I almost always use leather collars for my dogs. They're stiff enough that it stays flat against the collar, except maybe if you bought one that was way too big. Bianca's is from Paco Collars and they custom make it for your dog's neck size.

I have also had metal leash hardware break several times, in regular use and in some cases when a dog wasn't even pulling or even once when the leash was not even being used!

 

[My2Furkids]

Anyone here use Lupine products? They also have the plastic buckles on the collars, but they also make a martingale style collar. Have been using the same collar and leash with my girl for the last 3 years (but she's only 55 pounds...) Don't know what we'll get for the new puppy yet though!

 

[DogTuff]

I've switched all of my dogs to break-away collars after two of them became entangled, nearly choking one to death. If there is too much pressure on the collar, there is a plastic clip designed to release. When your're walking them you just use the bypass loops on each side of the break-away.

 

[KZoppa]

plastic breaks. i refuse to get a collar with plastic on it. We use the nylon buckle collars and never had an issue.

 

[kidkhmer]

Ok so i went and bought a Nylon collar with a stainless steel buckle and I can tell you compared to the plastic buckle it is royal pain in the butt. Karma likes to make it difficult by shaking and rolling and going down and with the plastic one she is ready to in seconds.

 

[Uniballer]

Nylon collar with stainless steel buckle... pain ... with the plastic one she is ready in seconds.

Do you actually need to remove the collar frequently?