Well this morning was quite a deal. Our german shephard and our lab were playing in the bedroom when they started yelping and coughing. Our lab got her lower jaw caught on the collar of the german shephard and they both started to panic and twist. It twisted our shephards collar to choking him. He began to wheeze and run. The lab puppy was being dragged. The shephard began to poop all over the place and his eyes were starting to "pop" out. He was having thick saliva and could not breathe. He began to go limp from not breathing. My husband held the dogs to stop them from twisting tighter and I ran downstairs for the hunting knife. My husband dug the knife in to cut off the collar, the collar was digging into our shephards neck. We cut them free finally. They both lived. After cleaning up the floor and ourselves as well as the dogs from rolling around in it, I did some internet searching.

Had we not been home, our dog would have died. And the other dog would still be attached.

It seems that strangulation is very common with collars. Matter of fact, there has been a site dedicated to it. It wasn't some freak fluke accident. This happens a lot to many beloved pets.

Here are some stories:

Celebrate the holidays, and the Gentle Spray Citronella Anti-Bark Collar as a behavior tool as necessary. Where can I purchase the KeepSafe Break-Away Collar, and how much does it cost? The KeepSafe Break-Away Collar is available from pet suppliers, retailers and veterinarians.

The collar retails for about $15 to $20. Or click here to purchase

Oh MY. I am so glad you guys were home. I love our babies. Thanks for the info.

Wow, Princess what an ordeal! Are you alright now? Something like that would surely raise my BP. Im glad you posted this info, I hope this word gets out. I think Ill copy it and send it to my Vet. They probably know about it but if they do, I wasnt told anything. Ill ask them to post it somewhere and hope they do, as if anything happened to my bebo, and it could have been avoided, I would have a hard time forgiving myself.

You deserve lots-o-hugs!

wow that would totally freak me out! We don't use collars on our cats because they don't go outside and I've seen some cats try so hard to get them off they end up getting half stuck in their mouths and struggling with it. It's nice to know about those safe collars....we might order some of them.

Since our moggie hung herself from the picket fence courtesy of a collar, she no longer wears one at all, luckily I was there to get her down. Cats have to be registered in Melbourne, so she should wear a collar and a registration tag but with cats, who climb, its just too dangerous.

Once when I was a child we put our cat in the kennels when we went away and when we went to pick her up she had her lower jaw caught in her collar and had been that way for ages, she was thin, hadnt eaten, had saliva dried all over her and her jaw never recovered properly, she was never able to fully close her mouth again. It was really awful.

Yes, I am better. I sat and cried for awhile in the bath. It really scared me. We ordered ours today (and even ordered spares). But this had me so scared that I am on a mission of sending out information and education!!

We have our dogs microchipped for ID but not all vets check them. Someone could just "claim" my dog and the vet would never even check. My vet said that sometimes dogs can have 2 or 3 chips in because no one checked.

I definitely will NOT repeat this mistake. My dogs will have breakaway collars now forever. I was just so surprised that it happened so often. I thought it would be a fluke but it happens a lot. And once they are gone, they are gone. I hope some of you go and get the breakaway collar for your dog or cat. It is worth it to know that this could be prevented and many tears saved.

Here is the direct store link, talked to her today..... http://www.bestfriendsgeneralstore.com/mm5/merchant.mvc

Do a search for keepsafe

Lapbanders, If you use the code: wishes you can get 10% off your total, so basically free shipping!

You can get the collars a lot of places. I am not benefiting at all from this, this is just where I went to get mine and she was very nice and offered the 10% for anyone else. I do not know her nor am I in any business with her. Just a place I found that was nice and organized.

What an awful thing to watch! We had a Breakaway for Kitty, but our dogs run around nakey unless we go bye bye, then they put their jewelry on. Here's their pic.

Thanks for the info. I had a friend lose her dog to collar strangulation on the fence. It was sad.

I will buy four of these immediately. I have always worried about my dogs collars. The cats don't wear collars unless they have fleas and those don't usually last long. I found Ozzie's collar in the yard this week. I think he and Sarge were tustling and it came off. I always have my dogs collars pretty loose,but they can still get caught. I will buy these collars now. Thanks a million.

Thanks for the wake up call. I have a little Maltese, Ozzy, that is home by himself sometimes. I would hate to come home to a tradegy. I also forwarded a link to the website to my pet loving friends. Thanks!

I am so glad my message has reached some people. While on vacation I was talking to a couple that their two shitzu's had the SAME thing happen. They didn't know about the snap away collars either. One shitzu died of strangulation. The other died a week later from not eating and exhaustion from stress. SAAAAAAAAAAD!

My fur babies wear harnesses. They are like suspenders, around the chest, not the neck. This is another option for the dogs. I have their tags attached to the harness and I just have to slip on their hoodies and a leash and we are off. Works well, and our vet reccomended it, as Boston Terriers are know to be hyper and jumpy. She told us of the collar risk and that harnesses were safer. ~Mandy

I got my breakaway dog collars yesterday and all the dogs have them on now. I also got a seat belt for the car. My old dog, Jasper, likes to ride in the front seat, but he has been thrown in the floor a couple of times when I had to brake fast.

I should also note that some friends had a kitten who died because he got his claw caught in a berber carpet. They were gone and he couldn't get loose so he died of thirst and hunger as well as injury to his foot. I will not buy berber carpet with animals, especially cats, in the house. Just another little warning.

I just ordered two of these for my little rug rats.

Thanks Jenna. I am glad your babies are ok.

Just talked to Candice again. She said she is going to extend the coupon code of WISHES for the discount to cover the shipping until Spring!!!!

http://www.bestfriendsgeneralstore.com/mm5/merchant.mvc