What a performance! Getting Ted's collar on is a major event of the day. Now I know that putting the collar on while he's busy eating is a simple way, and it does work. Trouble is I like to walk Ted before breakfast. I know I can buy a clip on collar for ease of use, but I really want him to "get" this idea that it's ok to have your collar on. If there are two of us here once can normally attract his interest with a treat, but when it's just me it is comically frustrating. He's such an adorable hound and just loves to play. Obviously I wont leave him in his crate overnight with a collar on, so it's a daily performance. Typically it goes: I approach him, silently, collar in hand and get him to sit. Then sees the collar, and falls back into his "tickle me now" position, tail wagging, panting with excitement. I try to get the collar fastened while he wriggles (He's laughing at me - I just know it). I get it on eventually, but the poor guy is almost choked, and I'm exhausted from the morning's first wrestle. Funnily enough, he's fine when I clip on his lead.... OK he gives the lead a cursory bite, waits for the "Leave" and looks expectantly for the treat. Oh, and he's fine with the collar once it's on. I wouldn't swap Ted for anything - he's brought such character and fun into the house and won us all over completely. It's just these little challenges - read about the poo-eating elsewhere here! He's also a great fan of runner beans from the plant, stripping the low hanging ones and chomping away. I hope they're not harmful to him. Any tips for getting round the ritual collar wrestle?
I remember from family dogs how much of a palarva it was to go for walks. We'd have to be really sneaky about getting the collar and lead, not making a single noise and "ambushing" them, because otherwise we'd have an over-excited loon on our hands, bouncing and thrashing around the place, completely over threshold in anticipation for walks. So, I wanted to be very careful to avoid that with my own. I don't have a word for "walkies". I have been very careful not to associate any phrase with it, nor to make them excited by it - none of this, "Is it time for walkies? Is it? Is it?!" here. I just pick up the collar and wait. Wait for a sit and wait for calm. I bend down and try to put the collar on. If they act the fool, I stand back up, without saying anything, wait for a sit and wait for calm. They don't get to have their collars put on until they're calm. They soon figure it out. Of course, they still get excited. I get full body wags, and once the collars are on, they tend to have a mad few minutes grabbing each other by them while I get myself organised. I don't expect them to be robots, but they only get to have their way by following my rules. It's another one, of a long list, of impulse control exercises.
Yup we do the same. Lean down to put collar on, dog gets over excited stand up again. Rinse and repeat until calm. These things pay dividends in the long run and while your puppies don't need long walks they're easier to do rather than when you feel pressurised into getting on with the walk. I also get mine to wait after we've gone through the garden gate so I can get it shut properly and we can set off with a modicum of decorum. Usually falls apart after that but it's a good start
Stryker wears his at all times. I have taken it off a few times only to adjust it or when I added his name tag to it. Putting it back on was pretty fun only because I was imagining a bucking bull at a rodeo. Then he runs around trying to figure out what's around his neck. I need to go get another one as he's already out grown his current one. It's getting tighter and I can't make it any bigger so that will be fun putting a new one on. Dozer on the other hand was different. I took it off and he never wanted to put it back on. If I attempted to put it on, he's lay down and roll over pushing my hand away with his. He LOVED going for car rides so I would always say, "Mount up" and he knew he was going for a car ride. Not even that made him want to put it on. After I did manage to get it on him he was fine.
Mine only wear theirs for ID purposes as required by law when they're out and about. Not in the house and garden and not when they're working or training on private land.
I like a naked dog They only wear them when we're out in public or if there are hunters around, on our private land, too, but not in the house or garden (which the hunters can't get into).
I feel like I should be flattered or offended or something! I like Ella without a collar too so we only put hers on where we're out and about or when she's at home by herself, just in case she escapes. We used the same method as the ladies above. It took us a while at the start but I'm so happy that we did it
Here is what worked for me. Oban only wears his collar for walks and we didn't do those around the village till he was safely vaccinated at 18 months. He was so fidgety from excitement it was a real chore to get the collar on. Bounce, bounce, bounce. One day I got fed up, snapped the collar around one of my rubber boots which was handy right beside him, put the leash on the collar and took it out for a walk around the house. If only I'd had a camera ready to catch the look on Oban's face when I went back into the house. Such a long, woe begone, surprised, disappointed, incredulous all at the same time little face I have never seen before. And he never fidgeted again. This isn't supposed to work. As per my readings dogs can't make associations like that, but apparently he did. By the way, I started with quick release clips and now use a buckle collar and am not finding much of a difference in the time it takes to do one up, now that he doesn't fidget. That fidgeting caught my finger in the clip more than a few times, OW.
Bailey has his collar on all the time now he is not in a crate any more. We have the opposite problem because when we take his collar off he knows its either bath time (which he loves) or the paddling pool is out and ready for his attention (which he also loves), so we have a five minute session of zoomies when its taken off, followed by running to the bathroom door and barking, then dashing out at full speed to the garden, racing round looking for his pool. When he is dry from whatever activity we've done, we pick up his collar and he runs over and sits in front of us wagging his tail. Once its clipped back on he goes back to chilling, wrecking a cardboard box or whatever vitally important investigation he was doing
Jesse has his collar on most of the time. He will sit as soon as he sees his collar or leash his looses it lol. Runs around and it takes what seems forever to get the leash on. He loves his evening walk , and I am proud of him for walking well on loose leash. Makes me smiles when I see our neighbor and her two dog pulling basically down the street. I have been working daily with him in short session but it is paying off. So proud of our boy
My dogs are naked unless out and about. Never have a collar on in a crate or pen. I would use treats. Put the treats on the floor and ask the dog to 'wait' - then don't release the dog to get the treats until the collar is on.
This made me chuckle. Ted also walks well on a loose leash (he has the odd moment when distracted by a person/dog/bicycle, but walking down the street? A star. We too have neighbours who, for years have been dragged up the street - it's like a chariot scene from Ben Hur
She is 150 lbs. and walks two large dogs, both pulling her down the road and back. I am not sure how she holds on to them at times. If we can learn how to sit so we can put the leash on, we get an extra treat lol. He learned in puppy, only gets petted when he sits. We practiced last weekend with him in the pet store. The sales people are very helpful. We had several walk up and ask if they could pet him. We told them yes, but only if he sits. I hold on to his collar and he gets some attention and loves it. It doesn't work when my daughter comes to visit he gets so excited and still jumps but we working on it.
Our dogs normally have collars on, but we usually add a harness if we are going for a walk. No problem getting them on since they know it means going for a walk.
