Would you be offended...

Would I be offended? Probably not, but maybe. But I might be embarrassed. Here's what I would do in your position.

Tell them the truth. Don't purposely break another person's property! Just put the other collar on her (if it fits) and tell the people that she must be going through a growth spurt because you noticed that her collar was pretty tight. Give them the old collar (unbroken) and the new one, too (on the dog). And let them deal with it. If you want to buy another collar, just give it as a gift for the same reason.

If someone lied to me or broke my stuff on purpose... THEN I WOULD be offended.

FIC you beat me to it lol i WOULD be offended if someone broke my collar and lied to me about it just so they wouldnt offend me for getting my dog a new collar. 

i like to keep my collars.... all of them... even if they are old, ugly, dirty, etc. i even keep the broken ones because SOMETIMES you can repair them.  they always have a purpose of some sort around here.... 

i say tell the truth and roll with the punches if there are any. if they get pissy about a new collar then they need to find a new dog sitter.....  

Depending on how long they are away for ...  they may "see" that she has had a growth spurt, to which you agree and say "She is even outgrowing her collar!".  When we are away from our puppers we can see the difference as opposed to seeing her every day.

I wouldn't break the old collar or tell any stories - just spin the growth spurt idea.

Hehe probably not but this is coming from someone who is ALSO dogsitting this weekend  for my sister in law's two dogs. Not only a re they going home bathed and nails clipped, they also are getting sent home with a big bag of new dog food (she has been feeding them BENEFUL YIKES!)... however I did warn her of this all. She knew ahead of time I wouldn't be feeding the beneful and was comfy with that, but she doesn't know of my large gift of new dog food yet :).

Good Lord No, I have equipment from 27 years of owning a kennel and more from just having dogs as part of the family our whole lives.

We start every puppy off with gifts and life goes on... I would change the collar and when the family showed up I would saym" He really is going through a growth spurt and I was worried his collar might leave a mark on him. You are welcomed to this collar,  mine did the same thing. They are like kids tiny one minute and 10 feet tall the next."   Then just talk about his personality etc ... The collar is a generous thing to offer and if they don't like it , say it is pink and rhinestones and he is a rottie then don't be hurt if they run out and buy a new one. the whole point is you see a need for the dog and you have a quick and easy fix available. Use it , save his old collar in case they want to put in in a shadow box etc but ..tell the hubs to chill, it is simply being a normal dog   person to offer.

Bonita of Bwana

DumDog

i like to keep my collars.... all of them

Me, too! LOL I have every collar my dogs have ever worn. The little tiny red and blue ones that Cara and Mia had as puppies.  

Same here, I still have Teddi's little baby blue rhinestone collar that I bought for him when I brought him home. It fit him for like 2 weeks until he grew out of it, but I always look at it and remember how small he once was. 

I wouldn't be offended, but I agree - tell them the truth.  A lot of first time dog owners don't realize how fast pups grow and they don't always  think to run their fingers under the collar to make sure it isn't getting too tight.

Joyce

I am going to tell them the truth. I just put her old collar on her again just to check, and I can barely squeeze my two fingers through, not to mention she whimpered when I clipped it on her, which its a struggle just to get it clasped around her neck which IMO is a bit too tight. I'm going to take her down to where I work later and pick out a nice new one so I hope they like it! :) 

 I'm sure they will. :) I think you're definitely doing the right thing telling the truth, and if you make it like, "This is a present for me, because I really wanted to do it, and had so much fun!" instead of "This is a present because you bozos are too cheap to do it yourself" then I'm sure it will be well received.

Be sure though that you show them how tight the old collar is, because otherwise they might alternate back and forth, strangling the poor dog half the time.

Joyce

The pictures needed resized and I'm too tired to do that, but you can see what I'm showing still:

Jilly's Old Collar

Jilly's New Collar

And for the hell of it, here's Jilly (Teddi's Girlfriend)
 

What a cutie pie!!! I like the new collar. Much cuter than the old one.