Collar Warnings, Foxtails, and Other News

COLLAR & HARNESS WARNINGS

I have some awful news. A dog that took puppy class with me this spring passed away last week. Her harness caught on the exercise pen that she was kept in when her owners were gone for a bit, and she strangled.

The family emailed me because they wanted to prevent other dogs from danger. They asked me to be sure to tell people that it was a Shih Tzu - not the kind of dog one might expect to leap acrobatically into the air and get stuck on something high up.

I had heard rumors of this problem, and put my dogs into breakaway collars, but having never actually known a dog that had this happen, I thought it was very rare and got rid of the collars.

Looking into it, it seems it’s common enough to warrant warning you: 91% of vets say they have had 1-5 dogs in their practice who have strangled in the last year. I have just ordered several KeepSafe breakaway collars, which bust open if the dogs tangle in something but can be clipped to work like a regular collar when on leash. You can get them at the training center starting next week, or you can order them on our online dog store.

If you do get a breakaway collar, or have your dog go collarless in the home, it’s *especially* important to microchip your dog.

Love them every day, and don’t sweat the small stuff. Life is too short for dogs, even if we do everything right.

FOXTAILS - Danger!

Foxtails are a plant seed that land on your dog’s fur and then keep burrowing in, given the chance. I’ve had clients whose dogs and cats have had them in eyeballs, paws, and skin. They are known to go deeper, too, into the animal’s body, winding up in hearts and lungs. The dog parks are full of them and they are traveling now due to the hot weather drying up the plants. I spent yesterday removing as many as I could from the front of the training center.

Make sure to look at your pet’s fur whenever you come back inside from a walk or play time. Look in the fur and between the toes. Take note of any strange pawing at the ears or an unusual amount of sneezing. One cause of sneezing is that there may be a foxtail up your dog’s nose.

For more info, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxtail_%28diaspore%29

And of course, the top of the summer danger list: do not leave your dog in a car during the summer. It heats up much faster than you think, even with the windows down.

ONLINE STORE

Our snazzy new secure online store for dog gear is now open. Buy books, toys, and more. We can ship to you or if you’re still taking classes with us, you can save shipping by picking your purchases up in class.

We have books, toys, treats, harnesses, dog fight spray, and more! Any feedback you might have on the new store would be appreciated.

ADVANCED PUPPY

There are two spots left in this Sunday’s off leash Advanced Puppy class. If you think your dog will embarrass you and run around if you don’t have the leash to control her, don’t worry. She will, but so will other people’s dogs - at first. I am consistently impressed with the amount of improvement between the first and final classes of Advanced Puppy.

We also have another Canine Good Citizen test on the schedule (September - start training now), a Basic Manners and Puppy Training Class in Burien, and a whole bunch of other classes.

NEW FANS

I’ve just bought 4 new quiet fans for the training center, so the space is pretty cool. Don’t let the summer heat keep you from training!

Written by Grisha Stewart, Ahimsa Dog Training, Seattle

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 12th, 2007 at 2:36 pm and is filed under Safety Warnings, What's New? . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

9 Responses to “Collar Warnings, Foxtails, and Other News”

Maureen Says:
July 18th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
I am very very saddened by this. I do thank you for this news however. I think i will go with a safety collar. thanks and i pray for the person that lost their sweetie.
Sandy Says:
July 18th, 2007 at 6:07 pm
What a sad story. I feel terrible for the owners. They must be heartbroken.

I would like to tell you about something that happened with our dog that could have been disastorous had we not been sitting right there with her.

We have tight berber carpet in our family room. Somehow, the ring that holds Sydney’s tags on her collar got caught on one of the berber loops. It was the end of the ring where you split it open to slide the tags in. After it got caught, Sydney started pulling and unravelling the carpet. In just a couple of seconds the length that was unraveled was as tall as Sydney. Fortunately, we were sitting right next to her and were able to remove her collar immediately.

While her collar is a breakaway collar, I don’t think it would have helped in this situation. Sydney could have easily gotten tangled up in the loop itself and strangled.

If I hadn’t seen this happen myself I never would have imagined the carpet could present a danger. There were no loose loops. There was no reason for the ring to get caught, but it did. I’m still thankful we were right there.
Grisha Says:
July 18th, 2007 at 8:08 pm
How scary! Thank you for pointing out that tags themselves can be dangerous.

For my dog, we drilled a second hole in her ID tags and sewed them onto the collar, so nothing dangles down.
Randy P Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 10:03 am
I’m very glad you shared this story with everyone. A close friend lost their dog due to the same causes. The had buckle collars (that buckle just like a belt buckle). When two Labs were playing/wrestling somehow one got stuck underneath the other and was strangled. When the dogs were found the were still stuck together. They have since gotten the breakaway collars and advised me to as well. The buckle collars are sold as attractive fashion pieces, but are not practical nor safe.
Jen Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 11:40 am
That is so sad, I didn’t think dogs could strangle with a harness.

I had to tell you what happened to our puppy shortly after she finished puppy class with Ahimsa.

Ava and Tanky were playing in the backyard, like normal, collars on. We’d just upgraded Ava’s collar, since she was growing bigger by the day. It was a normal flat nylon collar, with a metal belt buckle piece for the attachment. They were wrestling, like normal, when I heard an ungodly sound coming from the backyard, Tank was screaming and Ava was making wheezy sounds so I ran out, and they were stuck together.

Tank had grabbed Ava’s collar, and flipped her (she was relatively small to him), so her collar did a figure 8, one part of the eight stuck behind Tank’s molars, the other half tight around her neck. They were both so upset, I tried to undo Ava’s collar and couldn’t, those belt collars have to get a little tighter before they release, and there was no room to do that.

I ran in to grab the kitchen shears to try and cut Ava out of the collar, and when I got back out her eyes were all bulged out, and her tongue was purple. As I watched (and screamed maniacally) she collapsed to the ground. Magically, Tanky’s teeth were freed, and they both released. She seemed to wake up just as she hit the ground, and ran as fast as she could into the house, to hide under the coffee table. Tank was just fine, Ava was incredibly freaked out, but doesn’t seem to carry any emotional trauma to this day. Physically though, she hurt her trachea, it’s now a collapsed trachea, and she honks and wheezes a little when she runs. The vet thinks she’ll be fine as she gets older, just because she was a small puppy when this happened, she seems to be growing out of the honking.

We threw that collar away that day, and got her one with a snap release. It was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen, and I will never buy another buckle type collar for my dogs. I can’t imagine what could have happened if I hadn’t of been there.
Susan Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
Here’s another example of the danger of foxtails to add to your list: when I was a child, our family dog got a foxtail stuck inside his throat. We couldn’t figure out why he was hacking and coughing so had the vet take a look. The really sad part of the story is that after the vet removed the foxtail, which had penetrated the tissues in the throat, he gave our dog a shot of penicillin. Unfortunately, he had a severe allergic reaction to the penicillin and died …. Needless to say, I REALLY keep a look out for foxtails on my doggy walks!
Richard Says:
July 20th, 2007 at 9:20 am
After reading your email and visiting the KeepSafe web site (http://www.keepsafecollar.com), I immediately removed the collar from our young and active Swedish Vallhund, Tilda, and convinced myself that I needed to get new collars for her and our old Corgi Popcorn right away. Considering that Popcorn has worn the same collar for 14 years without incident, this was probably an overreaction, but the thought of strangled dogs was just too much to bear.

Thank you so much for sending out that email. I hope everyone who hears of this takes it seriously and that the breakaway collar will become the norm rather than the exception.

On another note, Tilda has been doing very well with the things we learned in Basic Manners, and the fear issues we talked about in Fraidy Dog are fading away. I think that within a few months we’ll be ready to move on to some more advanced training. Ahimsa has been a great help to us. You are doing a fabulous job! Thanks again.
Linda Says:
July 30th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Thanks for the warning. I am from central California, where there is an abundance of these weeds. Many years ago I had cocker mix that routinely would get these in her ears. Unless I caught them immediately, they required a trip to the vet to get the little devils out. I hadn’t noticed a lot of them around here until last year — and they seem to be getting worse. I mentioned the problem to a couple of my friends, and they were completely unaware of it.
Julia Says:
July 23rd, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Hi, Grisha. Just a suggestion to remind new puppy owners about the foxtail. It’s out and I’m seeing it a lot. Despite best efforts, one got way down into my dog’s ear without my seeing it, and thankfully he started shaking his head and crying so I knew and could get him to the vet to take out….

Comments? Thoughts? (Please use our contact form instead to email a dog trainer.)

Maureen Says:
July 18th, 2007 at 4:47 pm

I am very very saddened by this. I do thank you for this news however. I think i will go with a safety collar. thanks and i pray for the person that lost their sweetie.

Sandy Says:
July 18th, 2007 at 6:07 pm

What a sad story. I feel terrible for the owners. They must be heartbroken.

I would like to tell you about something that happened with our dog that could have been disastorous had we not been sitting right there with her.

We have tight berber carpet in our family room. Somehow, the ring that holds Sydney’s tags on her collar got caught on one of the berber loops. It was the end of the ring where you split it open to slide the tags in. After it got caught, Sydney started pulling and unravelling the carpet. In just a couple of seconds the length that was unraveled was as tall as Sydney. Fortunately, we were sitting right next to her and were able to remove her collar immediately.

While her collar is a breakaway collar, I don’t think it would have helped in this situation. Sydney could have easily gotten tangled up in the loop itself and strangled.

If I hadn’t seen this happen myself I never would have imagined the carpet could present a danger. There were no loose loops. There was no reason for the ring to get caught, but it did. I’m still thankful we were right there.

Grisha Says:
July 18th, 2007 at 8:08 pm

How scary! Thank you for pointing out that tags themselves can be dangerous.

For my dog, we drilled a second hole in her ID tags and sewed them onto the collar, so nothing dangles down.

Randy P Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 10:03 am

I’m very glad you shared this story with everyone. A close friend lost their dog due to the same causes. The had buckle collars (that buckle just like a belt buckle). When two Labs were playing/wrestling somehow one got stuck underneath the other and was strangled. When the dogs were found the were still stuck together. They have since gotten the breakaway collars and advised me to as well. The buckle collars are sold as attractive fashion pieces, but are not practical nor safe.

Jen Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 11:40 am

That is so sad, I didn’t think dogs could strangle with a harness.

I had to tell you what happened to our puppy shortly after she finished puppy class with Ahimsa.

Ava and Tanky were playing in the backyard, like normal, collars on. We’d just upgraded Ava’s collar, since she was growing bigger by the day. It was a normal flat nylon collar, with a metal belt buckle piece for the attachment. They were wrestling, like normal, when I heard an ungodly sound coming from the backyard, Tank was screaming and Ava was making wheezy sounds so I ran out, and they were stuck together.

Tank had grabbed Ava’s collar, and flipped her (she was relatively small to him), so her collar did a figure 8, one part of the eight stuck behind Tank’s molars, the other half tight around her neck. They were both so upset, I tried to undo Ava’s collar and couldn’t, those belt collars have to get a little tighter before they release, and there was no room to do that.

I ran in to grab the kitchen shears to try and cut Ava out of the collar, and when I got back out her eyes were all bulged out, and her tongue was purple. As I watched (and screamed maniacally) she collapsed to the ground. Magically, Tanky’s teeth were freed, and they both released. She seemed to wake up just as she hit the ground, and ran as fast as she could into the house, to hide under the coffee table. Tank was just fine, Ava was incredibly freaked out, but doesn’t seem to carry any emotional trauma to this day. Physically though, she hurt her trachea, it’s now a collapsed trachea, and she honks and wheezes a little when she runs. The vet thinks she’ll be fine as she gets older, just because she was a small puppy when this happened, she seems to be growing out of the honking.

We threw that collar away that day, and got her one with a snap release. It was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen, and I will never buy another buckle type collar for my dogs. I can’t imagine what could have happened if I hadn’t of been there.

Susan Says:
July 19th, 2007 at 12:29 pm

Here’s another example of the danger of foxtails to add to your list: when I was a child, our family dog got a foxtail stuck inside his throat. We couldn’t figure out why he was hacking and coughing so had the vet take a look. The really sad part of the story is that after the vet removed the foxtail, which had penetrated the tissues in the throat, he gave our dog a shot of penicillin. Unfortunately, he had a severe allergic reaction to the penicillin and died …. Needless to say, I REALLY keep a look out for foxtails on my doggy walks!

Richard Says:
July 20th, 2007 at 9:20 am

After reading your email and visiting the KeepSafe web site (http://www.keepsafecollar.com), I immediately removed the collar from our young and active Swedish Vallhund, Tilda, and convinced myself that I needed to get new collars for her and our old Corgi Popcorn right away. Considering that Popcorn has worn the same collar for 14 years without incident, this was probably an overreaction, but the thought of strangled dogs was just too much to bear.

Thank you so much for sending out that email. I hope everyone who hears of this takes it seriously and that the breakaway collar will become the norm rather than the exception.

On another note, Tilda has been doing very well with the things we learned in Basic Manners, and the fear issues we talked about in Fraidy Dog are fading away. I think that within a few months we’ll be ready to move on to some more advanced training. Ahimsa has been a great help to us. You are doing a fabulous job! Thanks again.

Linda Says:
July 30th, 2007 at 3:42 pm

Thanks for the warning. I am from central California, where there is an abundance of these weeds. Many years ago I had cocker mix that routinely would get these in her ears. Unless I caught them immediately, they required a trip to the vet to get the little devils out. I hadn’t noticed a lot of them around here until last year — and they seem to be getting worse. I mentioned the problem to a couple of my friends, and they were completely unaware of it.

Julia Says:
July 23rd, 2008 at 2:09 pm

Hi, Grisha. Just a suggestion to remind new puppy owners about the foxtail. It’s out and I’m seeing it a lot. Despite best efforts, one got way down into my dog’s ear without my seeing it, and thankfully he started shaking his head and crying so I knew and could get him to the vet to take out….