Should My Dog Wear Their Collar All The Time?

Dogs wear collars for a variety of reasons - identification, outings, or even to showcase their owners' style preferences. But should your dog wear their collar all the time?

We have three dogs in our household, and the only times they wear their collars is when they leave the property on a walk, to a family member's house, the vet, etc., or if there is severe weather. We live in Illinois so it's uncommon for us to head down to the basement two to three times a year for severe weather like tornadoes or high winds.

So why are our dogs always without collars? One major reason is because it is a safety concern for us. When Roman, our chocolate lab was a puppy, he was in his kennel with his collar and tags and the tag got stuck in between the bars of the kennel. Thankfully, he was able to slip out of the collar by himself and we were home to realize what happened, but it was very scary to think that he could have gotten caught and twisted himself up in the collar and we might not have been at home to help.

I have had several friends share that their dogs were sniffing or lying on a floor vent and had gotten their collars stuck on the vent cover and the dog went flying around the house in a panic, not realizing that they were connected to the vent. Kennels and floor vents aren't the only place they can get caught, though. We have had a dog get caught on the tines in the dishwasher rack when they were sniffing around the dishes after dinner. Dogs can also get caught on cabinet handles or pulls, and when this happens, dogs have a tendancy to panic and can seriously injure themselves or others in the process.

Another thing to consider is the fact that when dogs are playing with each other their jaws can get stuck on each other's collars, and this can be a very dangerous situation that needs immediate intervention. This exact situation happened to a mutual friend who said they had to cut their dog's collar off because they couldn't get it to unbuckle due to how tight it was around their dog's neck.

Picture taken from Wix

Similarly, dogs can even get caught on their own collar like in the picture below, taken from Reddit.

While safety is a major concern with dogs wearing collars all the time, another concern may be that collars can break a dog's fur and even cause it to discolor around their necks because the hair grows back differently. Our neighbor's french bulldog was having a neck irritation because of his collar always rubbing against his short coat, and just having his collar off except for walks helped it improve in just a few days!

Bruno had some rubbing on the underside of his neck, seen here in the picture

Although these are scary moments, many dogs wear their collars 24/7 and never have any issues! As always, you have to do what is best for your pup. If you know they are a "door-dasher" then maybe leaving their collar on all the time is best, or perhaps a collar with their name and information can be printed right on it. Do you have your dog wear their collar all the time? Tell me below your reasons for why or why not.