My Boxer Almost Died Yesterday (Warning about collars)

[DRAGO78]

This is my 2nd post, my 1st one I talked about my Boxer (Drago)and my parents Golden retreiver (Sadie) They are very much bestfriends besides some Jealousy issues. Yesterday my friend and I were in my backyard and Sadie and Drago were Playing. Out of nowhere they start fighting and I try to break them up. They were yelping and screaming so loud I couldnt here what my friend was saying to me. It had turned out that they werent fighting. Sadies lower jaw was stuck in Dragos collar. So we try to calm Sadie down and get her free. Now heres were it gets scary, about 3 minutes had gone by and I look over and Drago wasnt breathing. He was being choked from the tightness of his collar. I start freaking out looking for something to cut the collar with but nothing would fit. It was too tight around his neck. Now 5 minutes had gone by. Dragos eyes were buldging out of is head and all the airs in his lungs had escaped. We were finally able to get scissors in and cut the collar. I fell to the ground thanking God. I really thought I was gonna see my Boxer die right before my eyes. After that Sadie came up to Drago and started licking his wounds from her bites. Dragos eyes were bleeding but he was alive. This is something I would have never thought would happen and if I wasnt home my Drago would be dead. I just wanted to let everyone know to be careful leaving your dogs alone with collars on. We took both of there collars off and only use them for walks now. I feel I was very lucky in this situation. Take care, Paul

 

[brwneyesk8]

Oh my God that's horrible, Paul!!!! I am so relieved to hear Drago's allright!! You must have been petrified. Wow just thinking about it makes me worry for all the dogs out there. How is Drago doing now?? What did the vet have to do and will there be any long term effects?? How horrible!! Sadie must have felt so bad, Poor girl!

You're right about the collars....I hate letting Porter play in the dog park with his on. I keep a close eye on his and check it periodically to see if his playing has tightened it.

Thank you so much for the warning, I'm just sorry it had to be such a dire situation for you. PLEASE keep us posted on Drago, ok?? Sending LOTS of healing thoughts your way for your furbaby.

 

[craZ4HERKIE]

What a horrible thing to have happened to Drago! Thank goodness he's ok, and thank goodness you were there, and able to see it happen, and now can prevent any further occurances. Please let us know how he's doing.

 

[TazzysMom]

How terrible. I have always been yelled at by my husband for leaving my dogs collars off unless it's walk time. Now I'm glad, I'm glad Drago is ok poor baby. Give him lots of kisses from us. Is he completely ok no problems? I hope so.

Boy what a nightmare!

Leilani

 

[lafsalot]

Thank God everything turned out alright, and that Drago is fine after his ordeal. I am always afraid that this may happen to one of my furbabies, so I leave their collars very loose so that it can easily slip off. ~ Cathy

 

[Starlitew2]

Ouch, I hope Drago is all better with no complications. I have always taken Jessie's collar off when crating her but never considered harmfulness with anything else...

I found a great site posted on this board that shows different types of collars and their uses. One in particular is a break-away collar that someone designed after his dog choked to death by getting caught by its collar.

Here is the site: http://www.boxerworld.com/training/collars/

Your story is very scary! I hope your baby is all better.

 

[mancin]

Wow, I can't imagine how scary that would be. :( Glad Drago is OK. That's also why I only use collars for walks now. I had collars on my puppies in the house when I first got them so that they could get used to them, but they were never out of my sight.

 

[kassa]

The breakaway collars are great (you can put the clip of your leash through a link that makes them non-breakaway for walking purposes) - you don't want to leave a loose collar, because that's the most likely to get caught on something and strangle the dog.

This is why in playgroups and daycare you never want to use a place that leaves collars on the dogs. Getting to a knife or scissors in time (and managing to use them on thrashing, panicking dogs) is too much of a risk to run. And when they say they've never had a problem, remember Drago.

 

[DRAGO78]

Thank you everyone very much for your concerns. This was most definitely one of the scariest things Ive ever gone through. The hardest part was not knowing what to do. You couldnt call the cops or paramedics it would be too late. Dragos collar was loose but Sadie started twisting around like a alligator and thats what made it so tight. Drago is doing good. The vet said they were worried about brain damage but after a physical exam they said he looked ok. His eyes are still really bloody but the vet said that will go away. I think I would also like to learn how to give a dog CPR. If he would have passed out I would have had no clue what to do. I got Drago about a year ago he was 11 weeks. For the 1st 6 months I was kind of having buyers remorse about having a dog. I wasnt quite sure if I was a dog person. Then slowly I started getting really attached, but after that incident it really showed me how much I love this dog. I would love to post pictures of Drago but it says my pictures are too big if anyone could give me advice on how to post them it would be greatly appreciated. Thank You all again for your concerns. Take Care, Paul

 

[gmacleod]

I'm glad to hear Drago is OK and hope there are no lasting effects from his ordeal.

You're far from the first person this has happened to - and there are several similar posts in the archives here. The risk of a collar catching on something, including another dog as you've described, is something worth bearing in mind anytime your dog is wearing a collar, especially unsupervised. As Kassa has mentioned, the breakaway-type collars are very good in that sort of situation (and in fact, I believe it was an experience just like yours that lead to it's design in the first place).

A good rule of thumb for the wearing of collars is that if it's not needed to be on, then leave it off. Naked except when off your own property is a good way to go That includes in crates - I'm afraid there are a multitude of horror stories of pups strangling themselves while crated with collars on too.


Shifting this thread to the Boxer Ring - it's not really a behavioural issue (unless you count people behaviour LOL).



PS: Paul - check out the Help section, and the computer forum, for help on how to reduce your pics. The best size is 640x480 pixels, but there is a KB limit as well. You can download programs from the net to help you resize - a good one is irfanview, available *free* at www.irfanview.com