Survive to 5: Why I don't let my dog wear a collar indoors anymore
The best tips for avoiding dogs freaking out when they're scared
I didn't hear it happen the first time. I was taking off my Hound mix Junee’s harness when I noticed her collar had no tags. I found the dog tags near her crate and assumed they'd gotten loose or the keychain loop was cheap.
But then there was a second time months later, and I heard a crate being dragged across my bedroom. I leaped up to find out whether Junee was trying out a new way to play. Instead, I saw a flash of black fur bolt past my legs and into the living room. The loop with her dog tags was twisted into one large circle on the bedroom floor, and the tags were on the floor.
I looked from the key loop to the crate, which was moved a few feet farther than where it usually was positioned, and realized she managed to get the tangled loop off by moving the crate with her until the loop pulled apart.
My first thought was, “I'm done with collars by crates. I want her to live to be 5 years old.” Today is Junee’s fifth birthday.
I am extremely sensitive to dog collars, especially after a cousin found out her German Shepherd’s collar was so tight that it was strangling the dog. She thought the collar was “secure” but had never done the two-finger test. That one story made me do the two-finger test all the time with all three of my dogs. And it also led to me taking my dog’s collar off at night while I slept — just in case her tags tangled.
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But it didn't occur to me that dogs nap multiple times during the day. Humans (usually) sleep one time a day. So why shouldn't the collar come off as soon as she walks in the door? Why didn’t I think that dog tags could get stuck in crates during the day?
I initially thought I would notice anything peculiar because I work from home, but dogs don't yelp or whine nearly as much as I would have expected. Now I understood why my mother never heard her own dog yanking a rubber band off her ear and why my cousin had no clue she was strangling her dog.
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After the crate dragging, I texted the few people who walk my dog and my emergency contacts to always take her collar off as soon as she steps foot inside. There would be no third chance for this to happen.