pitbull broke choker collar

[SusieJJ]

Tonight I was walking the pitbull around the humane society I volunteer at. He saw some cats and went after them. I was going a really good job at handling him and not letting his leash go or letting him pull me with him and then... his choker collar broke right off of him. What a strong dog!!

Now I'm emailing the woman who runs the shelter and I'm dreading the angry phone call that's going to come my way

:cry3: The cats are fine, the dog is fine - barring 2 scratches on his paws from running through thorns after cats... he's back in his kennel and looks like he just had the best night of his life

But I'm scared of getting yelled at! AH! I think the choker collar was undersized for him...?

I need a hug tonight - that was a very scary incident!

 

[Christina Noraas]

I'm sorry that you had to go through that; I hope you don't get yelled at.

From my experiences, choker collars break way to easily in any situation; I hate them personally. My dad's lab use to go through them like crazy.

 

[Sycamore Chins]

I know it's too much of a splurge for a shelter, but as an fyi they do make heavy duty choker collars. They're made in Germany and very nice, very hefty - weighs more than a can of soda. I have one for my border collie because she is very head strong and physically strong.

 

[SusieJJ]

I know it's too much of a splurge for a shelter, but as an fyi they do make heavy duty choker collars. They're made in Germany and very nice, very hefty - weighs more than a can of soda. I have one for my border collie because she is very head strong and physically strong.

Oh those sound good! He also has a harness, but he's got sores on his skin where the harness rubs so that's why I didn't use it on him. I really don't understand why a choker would break like that I guess it makes sense, rather than choke the dog to death, right? I wish I knew tho.. Sometimes I feel too ignorant for my own good.

Don't you hate when you don't know you don't know something? sigh

 

[addictedtochins]

I need a hug tonight - that was a very scary incident!

(((Hugs))) illowfight:
Susie, I don't know why you think you would get yelled at? You did nothing wrong and even if you had done something wrong nobody should be yelled at. That is abusive. Boy, that just sounds awful, you think you are gonna see cats being killed, you probably ran through the thorns yourself (which can not be done without getting scratched). Thank you for caring for those animals :thumbsup: Theresa

 

[CTChin]

I have a 95 lb. doberman that is usually wonderful to walk unless I go into public...such as the vet. Then he seems to lose his brains somewhere on the trip there. He is just a big friendly dork and wants to greet everyone and he can be overwhelming. I've learned to have two collars and two leashes on him for extra insurance LOL. My worst fear is that he'll break lose outside and run into traffic. When I worked at a vet's office, I saw this on more than one occasion. Head halters sometimes work magic but you have to try them out in an enclosed area beforehand.

 

[jacd061506]

I have two rottweilers and a german shepard/rott mix....I could only walk one dog a day because I was getting pulled down the sidewalk and my arms/legs were sore! My friend recommended a head halter. this is how I walk my dogs now (I can even take two out at the same time!!!) :
I put a leash on their normal collar then a leash on the head halter. the leash and regular collar are just an extra "just in case". I just use the halter for control, if the dog pulls then the halter pulls their head down and to the side so they have no forward movment, they can't go. Mine took a couple days to figure this out, even my "not so smart" male rott. They are very inexpensive and work wonders. My shepard mix loves to chase anything that moves, I dreaded my walks with her, now as soon as the halter is put on her she knows she can't go anywhere so she just makes this whining noise instead of taking off after the cat or squirrel.

Hope you didn't get yelled at, it's not like the collar breaking could have been your fault! :hug2:

 

[eroomlorac]

A head halter is an excellent idea.

 

[Milo10]

You could also try the Gentle leader! It painlessly and effectively removes their natural tendency's to pull. It places gentle pressure on calming points and it eliminates uncomfortable pressure on the throat. It reduces the dogs pleasure to pull away. We use it on our pit bulls. Zeus didn't like getting his nails done, so we put that on him and everytime he would pull away it would pinch him and he would be calm again and stay there for like 5 mins and then he did it again. Now Zeus lets us do his nails! It works wonders and was highly recommended to us by our vet. I would give that a try. I know a lot of other people that have used it for their pits and it worked.

But you do want to have a second collar and leash on the dog too! I would get a collar thats built for a mastiff! Heres a site you could order it from, http://www.mastiff-dog-breed-store.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=6! We have to get one for Zeus too! His neck just isn't fit for any other dog collar. ITS HUGE!

 

[SusieJJ]

Thanks for all the support and ideas! He has an easy leader we were using, but it was giving him sores where it rubbed on his skin. I'm not sure why! So that's why I didn't use a harness, trying to avoid making the sores worse. They're mostly gone now, but I didn't want to start anything up again with the harness. Now he has a harness that is a real pain to get on him! Both his paws have to go through it and then it clips around his back - which seems easy enough, but he has paw issues He's one of those dogs who's not too keen on your touching his paws. But he's getting really good at just stepping into it and then I can pull it up and clip it.

I'm going to look into gentle leaders more - see if it's something that will work for him!

I did run through the thorns after him And I sprained my ankle a couple days before this happened, so running through thorns and rocks and hills with a healing ankle was not fun!!!

I didn't get yelled at too bad Much better than I thought it would have been! I think I've proven myself in my work there for over a year. If I had just started there she probably would have asked me to leave! But I've been there a while, and am reliable and dependable so she wasn't too hard on me.

She did say to one of the other women there tho that "if anything happens to any of those dogs I'm sending whoever was there the vet bill." which doesn't sit well with me. I was bit by a dog there and didn't ask for any coverage of my medical bills! I know I signed a waver with her when I started. I think I may ask her to sign one saying that I'M not responsible for anything that happens to the dogs while I'm there! I might have to stop volunteering there and find a new place if that's going to be her policy. I can't be dedicating 6 hours a week to a place that's going to threaten things like that - and I can't afford the liability that places upon me either.

I might be in the market for a new shelter to volunteer at!

 

[~SG~]

You volunteer 6 hours a week!! WOW ~hugs~
Thank you for all you do for the animals!!