question about collars

[Chadder]

The nylon collar I had on Bama I believe is causing her hair to become matted. She's been without a collar for a few weeks now and her hair has been fine, but I dont like the idea of her not having any tags around her neck. I know I can do the micro chip method, but I also like having something to hold on to every now and then. My friend has a chow, and he keeps a loose metal chain link collar, which you can not even tell is on there. Is that something that is recommended? thanks.

[chowhuskylass]

Hi, most would recommend a rolled leather collar this design stops from matting and pulling on the fur around the ruff, you can also get rope collars that will do the same and maybe slightly cheaper....Microchipping is one the best things you can do whether they wear a collar or not, metal choke chains are only good if your dog is not a puller if she is she will choke herself and can damage the muscle and bones in the neck if used incorrectly.

http://nationalleash.com/PolyProCollar.htm

http://www.hotdogcollars.com/oak-tanned ... ir-026.htm

[Chadder]

ok thanks. I wouldnt use the choke collar for walking her, i forgot to mention that i have a harness to walk her with. thanks for the input.

[Michael's Maggie May]

I must disagree about your recommendations, I would never use a collar that has a plastic snap together clasp, they are not strong enough. I tried someone elses hint on this forum about the martingale, I had to chase her 2 blocks because they can balk and back out of it. If you can control your chow with a harness then you have a pretty tame chow. I even spent $50 on Ceasars
illusion collar which was pretty good in controlling her but to put it on when she is expecting a walk became a hassle. The only time I use a harness is riding in the back of my SUV to secure her from bouncing around in an accident or taking a leisurely walk in the forest. If I walk through the neighborhood I use a choke collar that has a thick piece of material weaved through the chain. It does not break the hair in her ruff and it's only on for the walk.When she is in the house or fenced in the yard {Un-escapeable}she wears nothing. If I want to tie her up in front of the house
then I use a buckled collar similar to a mans belt and make sure no more than 2 fingers can get between her and the collar. I have won obedience ribbons in my past life with GSDs but since I fell in love with the chows they are a stubborn,affectionate,ignoring,deaf when they want to be
difficult and the only way I can control Maggie is a choke collar. Otherwise she thinks we are mushing the Iditarod in Alaska. It's great to be a Chow lover but you nust be able to control them.

[LEO's mum]

I use a nylon choke collar on LEO on walks. I've never had any matting problem from the collar. She does not wear a collar when at home. She is microchipped, but don't wear any tags. If you'd like to put on a collar for tags, have a loose rolled leather collar or a loose nylon collar for tags on top of the nylon choke on walks. Once you're back home in a secure place, you can take off both collars and leave her in her birthday suit.

[chowhuskylass]

The links posted was only for reference I am in the UK and most here are US based I posted for pictures only they were not recommendations or I would have stated as such I did not take notice of the clasp and agree with you on that front especially if your does not walk nice. it was just a quickie google search to show what i meant by rolled leather and rope collars.

Martingale collars should not slip if fitted tight what I mean by that is the slip part should pull tight if the dog pulls forward or backward, but be loose when not pulling, if they pull and the slip part of the martingale is loose when being pulled on then it will come over the head that mean the collar part need to be tightend so that the martingale engages tighter when pulled forward or back, I use martingales on huskies and the chows have fancy ones but they are wide and rub the ruff so only use them every now and then lol but they must be tight when pulled on and not loose, its a kinder version of a choke/slip and should work in a similar way loose when walking respectfully and tightens when pulled on or being backed out of, thats what they are designed for but supposedly kinder than a full choke, My girls wear handmade nylon rope chokes they're over 13mm thick but they walk with respect on the lead so i never worry about the choker ever coming into action i just like the way it does not wreek havoc on their fur, I won't recommend chokes as most people I know their dogs pull and I have seen damage done when used incorrectly. In the house they wear nothing for safety reasons, but are chippped.

[Victory]

My two wear rolled slip collars. They wear them 24/7 for the same reason you want your's to wear one, so that they always have their tags on. I don't use them for walking because they have these leather ends next to the rings which prevent them from ever becoming too tight so that they can slip them over their heads if they want to. Dreamdancer is especially good at slipping his off. For walking they wear the gentle leader harness, which they have never been able to slip out of, they also have car restraint harnesses which they haven't slipped out of either. I don't use choke/martingale type collars on my two when we walk because they pull constantly and they don't mind choking. It really depends on the chow, I've had some I could have clipped the leash to a braid in their hair and they would have walked perfectly, one that walked off leash excellently, but these two nope, no way.

I don't have the URL of the place where I got their slip collars at the moment, I'll post it tonight after I get home.

I'm at home, so I looked up the URL:
http://www.dogids.com/dobrnyslco.html
and here is a picture:


Firesong has a pink one, (it is hot pink too) and Dreamdancer the blue one, which is really bright blue.

In the picture of Dreamdancer in the birthdays section, you can just see his peaking out.

[samsonite23]

Most definitely think that you should get your Chow chipped because one time Skye escaped and on of the tags fell off his collar but luckily a neighbor found him and knew he was mine. Was kinda scary but having your Chow chipped definitely helps situations like so.

[Chadder]

I must disagree about your recommendations, I would never use a collar that has a plastic snap together clasp, they are not strong enough. I tried someone elses hint on this forum about the martingale, I had to chase her 2 blocks because they can balk and back out of it. If you can control your chow with a harness then you have a pretty tame chow. I even spent $50 on Ceasars
illusion collar which was pretty good in controlling her but to put it on when she is expecting a walk became a hassle. The only time I use a harness is riding in the back of my SUV to secure her from bouncing around in an accident or taking a leisurely walk in the forest. If I walk through the neighborhood I use a choke collar that has a thick piece of material weaved through the chain. It does not break the hair in her ruff and it's only on for the walk.When she is in the house or fenced in the yard {Un-escapeable}she wears nothing. If I want to tie her up in front of the house
then I use a buckled collar similar to a mans belt and make sure no more than 2 fingers can get between her and the collar. I have won obedience ribbons in my past life with GSDs but since I fell in love with the chows they are a stubborn,affectionate,ignoring,deaf when they want to be
difficult and the only way I can control Maggie is a choke collar. Otherwise she thinks we are mushing the Iditarod in Alaska. It's great to be a Chow lover but you nust be able to control them.

I would say my Bama is very similar to your chow. She's barely a year old and she is super hyper. When we go for a walk she just pulls and pulls. The leader harness I have helps a little bit but not too much. Shes about impossoble to train because I can't find one treat that she likes enough to come when she is called. She listens to me more than anyone else by far, but its basically only when it suits her (similar to most chows as I have heard). I knew what I was getting into when I got her so I am not complaining that she is a bad listener, but I feel much more comfortable when she has some sort of leash with tags on her when she is outside. I had the belt bucks collar when she was chained up outside, but it just seems to mat her hair over time. I have been brushing her every day so I am hoping that helps as well.