#79. Choke Collars, Slip Leashes, Rolled Collars & their Potential Risks

Choke collars are appropriately named, they cause a dog to be choked as a means of teaching them to do what the owner wants. I have heard people say I have used these for training for years without issues, but my reply would be Do the ends justify the means? Meaning is it worth hurting an animal you say you love or at least are very fond of to have them as part of your life & family to train it when there are more positive ways to train.

I honestly think some people never thought about the fact that this is causing potential injury to their dog. A trainer (not a positive trainer) told them to use it or someone told them it was a good way to get their dog to mind them. If someone was choking you & you could stop them you would probably do what you thought they wanted as well. Any training method that uses negative punishment to teach a dog is hurting them in some way, then in turn it is breaking some of their trust in you. Dogs that don’t trust might behave, but it is out of fear not out of a bond it has with you. I have been told by many people that they can see the bond I have with my dogs by the way my dogs look at me & look to me for guidance. I am not saying this to brag, saying it to say I have built trust with my dogs. I was told they were both potential runners when I adopted them & as we built our bond my dogs don’t wander far even if off leash.

Dr Nicholas Dodman, Author of the Dog who Loved to much & a Professor & Director of Tufts University of Veterinary Medicine was part of a University level research project that showed the misuse of choke chains “can” cause thyroid damage. More research has shown that the thyroid damage can contribute to aggressive behaviors. A German study found that 48 out of 50 dogs had neck & spinal damage after NORMAL use of choke collars.

My dog Sam (pictured above) was a victim of damage caused by choke chain use, not from me, but prior to me adopting him. He started to have seizures & I took him to his regular Vet & a Holistic Vet where I found out he needed chiropractic treatments because of his neck & back being damaged. The Vet said this is from choke chain collar use. It later led to thyroid issues which showed up as aggression towards other dogs. It didn’t happen right away & took sending his blood to be tested by a lab who specialized in Thyroid issues to find out what was happening. We got his thyroid back to where it should be & the aggression towards dogs subsided. I will blog about Sam’s full story in the near future, it was a big part of me going more the holistic route with my pets when possible.

I know in the show ring dogs are walked on choke chains, but these are very thin & they are not choked, it is kept high up & off their throat & thyroid which is extremely hard to do while on a walk with your pet dog. Show dogs aren’t pulling against their collars & are trained from young ages. These collars are used because they don’t flatten out the coat, allow the judge to get up & feel the neck, head, ect of a dog to be sure it fits the best of the breed standard.

Slip leads like this are basically a choke collar that is not metal & is a choke collar & leash all in one. This one has a stop to keep the neck loop from slipping too big, but nothing to keep it from getting too tight & choking a dog. These in my opinion this is not a pain free or a free of potential injury way to walk a dog. There is a place for a no slip leash such as Animal Control officers use them to prevent a dog from the risk of escape & to help them apprehend a loose dog. Rescues use them on transports as many different rescue transporters do 1-3 hours of a trip then transfer to another vehicle for the next part & over & over till they reach their final destination. Vets offices sometimes use them as well as groomers. ALL of these places use them for a very short time and just to get a dog from point A to point B.

Rolled collars are not recommended because of the potential pressure they can cause on a dogs throat, windpipe & thyroid. A flat buckle & snap closure collar is best, a wider one of 1-2″ for longer necked dogs is good because it is distributing the pressure on the neck. If a dog pulls on a leash, then I am a believer in a well fitting harness. I previously wrote about harnesses in my blog, & it was post #32.

A Martingale collar is a safe alternative to a choke collar or no slip leash. They come like this one without a snap to undo (it goes over their head) or you can buy with a snap release. Both my dogs have smaller heads than necks so a regular collar easily falls off them when they put their heads down, so they both wear martingale collars with snaps. When camping I use one like the one above for Echo as he is reactive & if goes after something it is more secure. I had a snap Martingale collar on him when we were camping, he was tied out using it. He was startled by someone running by with their dog & he ran towards them & it snapped. I learned quickly how positive training & our new bond worked because he stopped when I told him to. I had only had him for about 5-6 weeks, but he had already learned to trust me.

There are many countries where the use of choke chains on dogs is illegal. There is a growing global trend towards banning them due to welfare concerns.

I hope you found this educational, informative, & it made you think. The goal of my blog is to educate & to help pet owners to help their pets Thrive & not just survive. I hope you will help me spread the word about my blog & you can do this a variety of ways such as: Visit often, hit the like button on each post you read, subscribe to my blog & get a notice that I published a new post. You can share my blog on your social media sites, tell your friends & family about my blog. Comment on what you liked or learned from a post. If you have a pet topic you’d like to read about let me know. I can be emailed at echoinggreatpetcare@gmail.com Thanks, Debbie