Advice on a new collar/gentle leader/ or something else.

J

jerros

Forums Enthusiast
Vash slipped out of his collar today, it's the 2nd time it's happened while out on a walk. The first time I thought that his collar had simply become loose over time. But I recently adjusted his collar for a tighter fit just the other day, so I know it fit well.

The collar slipping typically happens when Vash sees one of his neighborhood puppy buddies and he starts getting all wild and crazy.

I was thinking about getting a gentle leader, but the last time I looked at one I kind of felt as though the things was too complicated for humans to use.

I need to get something though, because today when Vash slipped out of his collar it was near a main road way and a car was barreling down the road while he was super excited and not paying much attention to his surroundings.

Thankfully he obeyed my "come here" command and everything turned out ok.

Any advice would be appriciated, Also. If a gentle leader is the way to go then do you think petsmart/pet co would do a fitting for vash? I can't count the number of times I bought something I thought would fit and it didn't.
 
I always use a martingale style collar on my girls. They cannot slip out of them, and they work beautifully. My local training facility requires them, since they are almost a safety necessity when near roads.
 
Che does not slip out of martingale but he is not easy to handle when he wants to go after furry rats so we got gentle leader, it is take after the horse lead, turn the head and body follows I am loving it!
Susan Garrett recommends it too!
 
if your PetSmart/PetCo has a good trainer on-site, they would be able to fit your pup with a Gentle Leader. If you have another trainer, ask if they will help you. My beagle mix wore a gentle leader and he was fit by a professional (Behavioral vet)- we never had any problems with it. but some other people I have known did have problems with their dogs slipping out - won't happen if it's properly fitted. same deal with the martingale, needs to fit properly or it won't work as needed.
 
Is Vash going to obedience classes? Most obedience clubs will have instructors on hand to fit training collars. I know the last couple of months I have been out on the grounds during Thursday night training fitting collars and harnesses of various types (depends on the dog and the problem).

If not make sure you take Vash with you and pull them out of the packet to check the sizing. Basically you can tell if a gentle leader is too tight, its a bit harder to decide if its too loose. So start with a smaller fitting one and work up. There is nothing worse than a too big lead because the lead connecter is more likely to drag on the ground.

You could also try a light weight harness. I often have mine in harnesses, esp in winter when they have thicker coats. Deska is the master of slipping from martingales - and it can be done by a heavy coated houdini.
 
I use a martingale collar on my dogs. When adjusted correctly, they are a non-slip, non-choke collar since they only tighten enough to prevent the dogs head from slipping out.

Some reading I've done on martingale collars mentioned they are highly recommended for Collies and Shelties because their heads tend to be smaller than their necks. The martingale allows you to set the collar to be loose on the neck but tighten to the correct size for just behind the ears on the head so they can't slip out. The rings on the main part of the collar should just barely touch one another.
 
Well I picked up a gentle leader the other day. It has worked wonderfully from my perspective, I have more control over Vash. He doesn't go "bonkers" when other dogs are around like he used to (Not that I minded him playing, but not all other dog owners were thrilled with his antics).

Vash on the other hand isn't adjusting well. He spends most of our walks doing the "sheltie prance" and lifting his front paws up high enough to scratch at his nose. When he's not doing that he's got his nose burried in the ground trying to get it off. (I think he was actually pouting on our first walk)

I tried to leave it on him in the house, but Vash is able to slip the nose strap off pretty quickly.

Hopefully he'll adjust soon, in the mean time he's making me laugh a whole lot with his attempts to get the gentle leader off while on our walks.
 
I use harness for my boys it is especially helpful with pulling, keeps the pressure of there necks. But if he is a Houdini he can get out of that also, my Maverick did when he was younger, but not since he's gotten bigger.
 
jerros said:
Well I picked up a gentle leader the other day. It has worked wonderfully from my perspective, I have more control over Vash. He doesn't go "bonkers" when other dogs are around like he used to (Not that I minded him playing, but not all other dog owners were thrilled with his antics).

Vash on the other hand isn't adjusting well. He spends most of our walks doing the "sheltie prance" and lifting his front paws up high enough to scratch at his nose. When he's not doing that he's got his nose burried in the ground trying to get it off. (I think he was actually pouting on our first walk)

I tried to leave it on him in the house, but Vash is able to slip the nose strap off pretty quickly.

Hopefully he'll adjust soon, in the mean time he's making me laugh a whole lot with his attempts to get the gentle leader off while on our walks.
Click to expand...

you might want to see if you can find someone to help you fit it correctly. The dog is not supposed to be able to get the nose loop off easily. My beagle boy, Happy, had a gentle leader and he would roll around and paw at it and it never came off.
 
jerros said:
I tried to leave it on him in the house, but Vash is able to slip the nose strap off pretty quickly.
Click to expand...

If they can get the nose loop off, it's WAAAY too loose. The neck piece should be no more than one finger loose. If you can get two fingers under there, it's too loose. When fit correctly, the collar should fit just under the occipital bone, where there is a calming pressure point. It was not uncommon for dogs in my class to fight the leader for a while, and then be sound asleep by the end of class. The nose loop should be tight enough that they can't get it off, but not so tight it makes the eyes bulge.

I much prefer prong collars to the gentle leaders, because once you fit a prong, there is no "fixing" it when the students go home. Invariably, they would decide the leader was too tight, loosen it, and then wonder why it wasn't working. :rolleyes2: That, and prong collars are self-correcting.

Anyway, use really good treats to get him to put his nose through the loop, over and over. At some point he'll get over it.
 
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