Hello. Iam going to tell you about how any puppies or grown dogs can die simply by playing together, if both are wearing collars.
When our Australian shepard, "Apolo" and our golden retriever, "Treasure" were about 12 months old, their favorite things to do were eating, sleeping and wrestling with each other.They loved being cuddled as well.
We never imagined that during their play they could have easily died, if we had not been home that evening.
The "pups" had the kitchen to play in and there was a board up between the living room and kitchen. We were in the living room watching TV when we heard an awful noise. My husband and I hurdled that board into the kitchen. What had happened was something we never would have thought about. Their collars got entertwined with each others and one was being strangled and the other had the collar through his mouth and it was pulled so tight that he was choking.
My husband and I grabbed them and tried with super strength to remove the collars. They wouldn't budge. My husband yelled to me " Cut them, cut them!
I bolted for the scissors. My heart was beating so fast , I felt like I was going to pass out. I grabbed the scissors and when I got back to Apolo and Treasure, I pried them under one collar and started cutting. The desperation, I'm sure, was on all our faces as the life of both dogs was slipping away.
I felt like I had been cutting for an hour and actually it had been seconds.
The one collar popped off from my cutting and the other was totally loose!
Treasure was on his belly crawling away and coughing, he was so weak. Apolo was lying still, but he was OK. I went to Tres and tried to comfort him.
This incident left all four of us shaken and with the vow that we never leave the collars on when they romp and play inside and out and never, ever, when we are leaving home!! Truely a believer, D.bug

Thanks Doodle. Wow, that is frightening. Those poor babies!

A reminder for me to remove Bruna's collar when she's in the home.

Also, don't leave them unattended outside on a long chain or whatever.

Another thing! If you have plastic bags, do not let them go unnoticed on the floor somewhere. I had a couple on my kitchen table and forgot they were there. In the middle of the night there was a horrible commotion. I ran out to the kitchen and my smallest cat, Gracie, had gotten one of the bags (she likes to play inside of things). She had managed to get the handles of the bag around her neck and twisted so bad she was choking.

I understand that panic!

That must have been awful for you. Poor babies must have been in a panic



Years ago, I was just a kid we had a kitten we got her a pink leather collar. we were at school and Mom amd Dad at work.

When i got home from school, the kitty was flopping around the living room, she had gotten the collar in her mouth somehow and couldn't get loose. She then got both front paws under the collar, and couldn't pull them out.

Poor thing was all bloody, she had lost a couple of teeth and a nail.

My Mom threw away the collar. Thank goodness they make breakaway collars now, I hope all cat lovers have them.Too many cats have been hung on fences and trees in the past.

Dottie

yes, my ex forgot to take the collar off of our dog one day when putting her in the exercise run. Chloe attempted to dig her way out, got hung up and strangled. From that day on, my dogs have worn nylon "break away" collars. Sturdy collars were put on for leash purposes and removed when not on the leash. A very sad lesson. Best wishes to all.

My gosh....how terrible.

Thank goodness that your pups all came out of that terrible ordeal, and I thank you so much for telling us all about it, so we don't fall into the same trap.

Who would have thought?
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Oh Dottie and Jane, how awful for you and I'm so sorry!

I have a neighbor a street over who 'inherited' a dachsund from some friends who moved and couldn't take him with. They call him 'Weiner'. What upsets me is that they leave that little guy outside for hours at a time when they are gone, on a long rope tied to their deck.

Now, he has free roam to go up those stairs onto that deck. That upsets me a lot. I'm trying to work up the courage to knock on their door and ask them not to leave the poor thing unattended outside.
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Hi Doody,

People are pretty possessive about their pets (as we all know)... and maybe if you went to them with an alternative to tying him up all day they would be grateful.

I think if you just go up to their door and ask that they not tie him up they will say, "Well what do you expect us to do with him while we are blah blah blah..." And if you give them an alternative, they might be happy about it.

When you approach, tell them how concerned about the little guy, that he could choke, get tangled, etc. Sometimes people just don't "think"! The old, "it won't happen to me" mentality.

One alternative is to put up a dog run, if they have to leave him outside all day. Or do they have a fenced yard? Why don't they put him in the fenced yard? If no fence, then what about a dog run... a small area of the yard that is fenced especially for the dog. There are so many alternatives.

Good Luck!

I almost lost my lab last year when her collar slipped down her neck. We didn't know what was wrong with her until I noticed her neck was swelling. I had to perfrom CPR on my baby. She no longer wears a collar unless she goes out with us.

When we go out - our dog - a shepherd goes into her crate - it's big enough that she can stand - sit - turn around - and we don't have to worry about her getting into trouble or hurting herself when we're not there - the longest she has been left is 3 or 4 hours - and she's fine with it - her crate has always been the place she goes when she wants some off duty time - so it's no big deal -

ITA with SLS people can be sensitive about thier animals. Some don't even know what they do endangers them.

Who really gives alot of thought to an animal getting choked to death on a collar.

Thats why people that know better should educate in a nice non-threatning way, at least once. Once some one has been educated and still does stupid stuff......gloves are off. Animals need a voice!!

Ok jumping off my soap box!!

have a great fur filled weekend!!!

Dottie