Do Your Dogs Always Wear Collars?

wow you people with naked dogs aren't anywhere near paranoid enough. I think dogs should ALWAYS have ID on them, 24/7. What if your house catches fire and you have to bolt outside and your dogs run off in terror? You'll never get them back if you left the collars hanging in the kitchen. What if someone breaks in while you are gone and leaves the door open and they wander off?

All my dogs wear thin collars with riveted on ID tags (no danglies) 24/7. Leashes are never attached to these collars in case of the dreaded slipped collar.

Max actually escaped twice during the time I was having the fence between my house and the next door neighbors replaced.  He discovered he could slip into her yard and find a way out to the front.  Both times he took himself down to the park at the end of the street (that's the direction we walk) and both times I got him back very quickly because of the collar ID tags. The first time a man called me from his cell and stayed there with him while I dashed down there and the second time someone walked him back to my house because the address is on one of the tags. He might have eventually wandered back home, but then again he might have been picked up by the dog catcher and taken to the shelter or worse, he could have run out in the street.  I was really happy when that fence was finally finished.

Joyce

mudpuppy

wow you people with naked dogs aren't anywhere near paranoid enough. I think dogs should ALWAYS have ID on them, 24/7. What if your house catches fire and you have to bolt outside and your dogs run off in terror? You'll never get them back if you left the collars hanging in the kitchen. What if someone breaks in while you are gone and leaves the door open and they wander off? 

You are, of course, entitled to think whatever you wish.  I  think people who let their dog wear a collar 24/7 aren't nearly paranoid enough.

But then we all draw on our personal experiences, don't we?  I've personally known two dogs who choked to death when left alone with collars on (separate incidents, and both dogs were alone in the house).  But I don't know a single dog who bolted when their house caught on fire, or a dog who was lost during a break-in.

In the end we all do what we think is best, based on our experiences and our assessment of the risks.

Statistics should be referred to before drawing on personal experience for evaluating risk: dogs get lost/run away all the time. Dogs rarely choke to death because of collars. And then of course there is the safety break-away collar. Solves both problems.

The reasons mudpuppy cited are the reasons why Zack and Maddie have collars on all the time with their tags.  I once opened the front door last year and a very excited Zack bolted out the front door and ran across the street and into the park, luckily we got him back, but had he not listened to me and kept running, if he had no tags on, he would have been gone

- As their hair grows out it gets little matts around the collar.

- I can't stand the sound of their tags jingling - I'm a light sleeper and Abbie likes to roam the house in the middle of the night sometimes

- Their comfort - I just think they're more comfortable without them

- My coffee table has ironwork scrolling design which Abbie has gotten her collar caught on once before when she was playing. Fortunately I was sitting right there and was able to get her loose, otherwise, who knows what might have happened..... When we go for a walk they have harnesses and I don't worry about them getting away. If we just go out for potty, I wrap the end of their retractable leashes around their necks loosely, but not too loose........

mudpuppy

Leashes are never attached to these collars in case of the dreaded slipped collar.

This is what I do, too.  He always wears his thin tag collar and then whatever he's being walked on (martingale or harness).  His tag does dangle, but it's attached to a very sturdy ring and he only needs one tag as rabies tags aren't used/required here so we don't have the jingling problem.

He never wore a collar when crated as a puppy but he wasn't getting loose from that anyway.  It went back on when he was let out.  

We have two doors separating us from the outdoors. In order for the dogs to escape we have to have both doors open at the same time, which never happens.

If an emergency ever happened, such as a fire, and the dogs got loose, Gaci and Shimmer would not be able to be caught by anybody anyhow, they wouldn't let anyone close enough for it. Collars or no collars, most people would be lucky to get within 10 feet before they evade.  Zipper would go to anybody....all are chipped with chips that are recognized by both the humane society scanners and vet scanners (my mother owns the same type of scanner that the humane society uses, and all of my dogs are chipped). Lastly, chances are if they DID get caught, by that time all vets and the humane society would know who they belonged to anyhow.

But chances are in some form of emergency, the only *exit* is the same one we would be using....we live on an upper floor. So if we can get out, the dogs will be under arms with us.

And as for burglars....if the burglar wants to risk letting three barking dogs (one of them angry) out of the closed bedroom, and two of those out of their closed kennels..... well.....he's an idiot. LOL. There's no good stuff in the bedroom anyway so I doubt he'd go that far!

We all make our decisions based on our experiences, and based on mine, I don't let my dogs wear collars in the house. And I don't plan on changing it based upon my lifestyle and dogs. I've not had a dog yet I felt needed to wear a collar at all times, if I did then I might do it. But if they don't need it, I won't use it.

 I agree it depends on the setup.  My front door opens directly onto the pavement, 5 or so feet beyond that is the road.  If it weren't for my vigilance (and he did, once, bolt out the door but thankfully recalled) he really could get out into the big wide world.  Before we got Ben we had a break-in and the burglars left the front door open - were that to happen again, that would also be a serious problem.  It is, however, unlikely given the unholy racket Ben would make if someone even attempted to break in. 

If anyone were to try to break into my house, they would be quite sorry I would think. We normally use our side door as an entrance door (in fact you can't get to the front with all of the snow right now anyway) and the side door, when you walk in, you see wide stairs down into the basement, to the left is a closed door that goes into the kitchen. I'm not sure a burgler would see Timmy right away, as he usually waits until we are inside to surface from the basement. If they got inside, I doubt they would get back out. I'm pretty sure Timmy make them sit tight until we got home. Even if a burglar left the door wide open, Timmy wouldn't go out it and leave someone strange in the house. Like I said before, Sadie has a collar on 24/7 because theres a good chance she would go on an adventure.

We all make our decisions based on our experiences, and based on mine, I don't let my dogs wear collars in the house. And I don't plan on changing it based upon my lifestyle and dogs. I've not had a dog yet I felt needed to wear a collar at all times, if I did then I might do it. But if they don't need it, I won't use it.

I'm on a variety of local lists and I get begging "please help find lost dog in such n such area" at least twice a day. The dogs manage to get lost in the most bizarre sets of circumstances such that one would never predict they would happen or could happen. But they seem to, all the time. Microchips are great, but your average person seeing your dog running down the street is much more likely to be able to contact you quickly if you have visible ID on the dog at all times just in case. People tend to assume collarless dogs are ownerless dogs and dump them at the "kill in three days unless claimed" pound.

mudpuppy

People tend to assume collarless dogs are ownerless dogs and dump them at the "kill in three days unless claimed" pound.

AGREE 100%! 

I'm kind of on both sides.  I have one dog who has tried to run off and will try if the opportunity presents itself.  I have another dog with a shorter coat who has gotten her collars caught on things before.  So for me it's a compromise.  The boys ALWAYS wear collars and tags because they are the ones that would probably go for a joy run around the neighborhood if they ever had the chance.  They both have more coat, so their collars and tags have never gotten hooked on anything.  Kenya's has more than once.  She has been wearing a collar for about a week now, one I'm hoping does not easily hook on anything.  In the past she was nekkid.  We don't have a fence and I don't ever leash her or tie her out.  She has never run off.  Not saying it wouldn't happen, but luckily of the three she is super clingy and nervous of strangers. 

All three are chipped and Nikon is tattooed.

I am of the opinion that an ID tag should always have a number and an address.  I've found stray dogs WITH collars on, but no tags or chip, no choice but to surrender them to the shelter after driving around looking for an owner or a "lost" sign.