Puppy Collar

[AlanD]

Hi,

we have an 9 week old female called Missy. When it comes to the time when I start to socialize her outside on a lead, she'll need to be comfortable with her collar and lead.

What is the easiest way to get her used to the collar first. I gave her the collar to play first so she is used to it, but when I put it on her, she's writhing around the place trying to get it off. Will I just continue with the playing and putting it on for a short period until she's used to it, then in a week or two, try attaching the lead and go for walks in the garden?

Alan.

 

[pinkpuppy]

I don't see any harm in cliping the lead and letting her drag it around the house or the yard; hopefully your lead is light one . Just make sure she's supervised at all times when the collar is on - so she doesn't get caught anywhere.

We would put Chloe's on and try to play with a ball; we would pick up the lead and run along side - encouraging her, etc. She never chewed on it; but I hear some puppies do. It was just funny watch her try to scratch and literarly kick off the collar (and she didn't know where it was)... so cute.

I also carried her in my arms around the block with her collar on; and she just observed. This way, the outside world was new and interesting - thus she wasn't worried about the collar; and possibly she made the association that collar on = fun.... :D

 

[Angie K]

We put our girl's collar on as soon as we took her out of the breeder's house. So on the drive home she was distracted with the drive and new people and did not pay attention to it that much. When we got home we left it on all the time and only took it off when we put her in the crate. We used to say to her "Are you doing the Collar Walk again?" every time she try to scratch it and walk at the same time. She got used to it in about 2 wks and stopped the silly walk also. Now she is just a Kidney Beaning Fool. She had lots of practice with the collar walk. Also when she was about 10months old we stopped putting the collar on at all in the house. Only when we take her out for potty or walks. Its attached to the lead hanging up. The same for our adopted boy. He has a huge neck and he has a mark from prior to us with little hair on his throat so I think someone before us had a collar on him and it was rubbed raw or something. So they are naked babies in the house.

 

[AlanD]

so the "collar walk" isn't much of a big deal for the pup then? That's good. I'll get her to wear it for longer then, if only I could get her to stop wriggling while putting it on! I must get a smaller collar though, her neck is tiny and the collar i bought was too big. I can still get it to fit though, but there's a long piece of spare collar hanging down. She managed to grab this bit today and bring herself for a walk. I couldn't stop laughing!

 

[pinkpuppy]

Get her a nylon collar with a clip - not a buckle - they're faster to put on. They're also very cheap - so no big deal if the small size will only last 3 to 4 weeks. And the scratching is not serious; they're just drama puppies - so nothing to worry about...