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The BIG MISTAKE That People Make When Fitting A Dog Collar - YouTube
Channel: McCann Dog Training
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(collar clicking)
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- Having a well-fit collar on your dog
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can make all the difference in the world
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to your training sessions.
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Today, Skye and I are
gonna talk you through
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the benefits of having a well-fit collar.
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I'm Steve, this is Skye.
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Welcome back, to McCann Dogs.
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(guitar strums)
(dog barks)
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So what is having a well-fit collar
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going to do to your training,
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and how's it going to benefit you?
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Well first things first.
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When I have a collar that fits well,
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if I need to redirect my
dog, or move them around,
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I'm doing it with a little bit less force,
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versus when it's down
low on their shoulders,
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or their center of mass.
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One of the reasons we
tend to steer students
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away from harnesses, is it
takes the center of mass
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that we're trying to pull the dog around.
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I want to use as little force as possible
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to move my dogs if I need to,
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whether it be to direct
them away from something
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that they shouldn't have,
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or just to simply have
them walk along with me.
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So, the easier I can do that,
and the less force it takes,
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the more successful we can be.
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Every month, we see several
hundred new people and new dogs,
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and it's our job to help them find
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the best piece of training
equipment for them.
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And sometimes the most
basic piece of equipment,
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can be the most functional.
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(bell dings)
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First and foremost, a
well-fit, flat buckle collar
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is a key to getting off on the right foot.
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This can make life a little bit easier,
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or it can offer some challenges.
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Now, our definition of a
well-fit, flat buckle collar,
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is one that once it's done
up, has just enough room
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for a couple of my fingers
to go underneath it,
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not so much that I can get
my whole hand underneath it.
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Our preferred style of collar
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is one that does actually
have a metal buckle
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that allows you to slide
through and place that pin in
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to give you a secure connection.
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Plastic clips and things are
great, they're very convenient,
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but they can also be
a bit of a fail point.
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I have, even with my own dogs,
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reached down to take a hold of a collar
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and happened to hit that
clasp, that collar's come off.
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Even in colder weather,
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we're approaching winter months here,
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as those things get cold,
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that plastic can sometimes get brittle,
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so metal is a really good thing to have
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in that particular collar.
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One of the biggest issues we
see with flat buckle collars,
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is that they're a little bit oversized.
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They're a little bit sloppy,
they hang low on the neck,
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and oftentimes, it's
really more for convenience
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than anything else.
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People don't understand how
having a well-fit flat collar
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can benefit them in their training.
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Having a collar that's sort
of easy to slip over the head,
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of course, means that the collar
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has to be a little bit bigger.
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Most of our dog breeds' heads,
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the widest part of their head,
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is much wider than their neck.
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So for that ease of
putting that collar on,
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it tends to be quite big.
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The problem is that
when it sits on the dog,
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it tends to slide down and sit
very low on the neck, okay,
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like around the shoulders,
close to the chest bone.
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Like you and I, when we put on a backpack,
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we can carry a lot of weight
on this part of our body.
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But, if we have it
sitting a little higher,
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it becomes a little bit
more difficult, and our goal
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is that we can give our
dogs information very well
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through that ability to turn them
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on the higher part of their neck.
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Skye here has a couple of collars.
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She has one that she wears all the time
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that I put some tags on
and some other things,
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but then I also use a
metal flat buckle collar
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when I'm training her.
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Now you notice her everyday collar,
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oh, we're gonna have a stretch, atta girl,
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her everyday collar simply slips,
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(laughs) Skye, here,
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over her head very easily, okay?
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The problem with this,
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you can see how low it sits on her neck.
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She is a big, strong dog,
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and if she were to decide to
pull with just this collar on,
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there wouldn't be a whole
lot I could do about it,
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especially when she's
younger and they're growing,
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I wanna make sure that I'm helping them
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make a little bit better decision.
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So one of the big things to keep in mind,
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is if I do put my flat
buckle collar on my dog,
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and it's a little too big,
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the easiest thing is actually
to take it off the dog,
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adjust it, and then try it again.
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This collar's a little bit big,
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come on back here, girlie,
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you're just gonna hang tight there.
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And I know that, because
not only can I feel
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that there's too much room under there,
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in fact, I can put my
whole hand underneath this,
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but the moment I let go,
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you see how it just sort
of sinks down on her?
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Okay, even if she was to
shake her head a little bit,
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you can see how it slips
down a little bit too far.
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That's not gonna give me
the fit I'm looking for,
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and trust me, it's critical
that fit is perfect.
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So I'm gonna take that collar off her.
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I am gonna make it a little bit smaller,
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and then I'll try again.
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I'll come underneath her,
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slip this on here, do it up,
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and now, my collar is a much better fit.
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I can still get a couple
of fingers under here
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without any trouble at all,
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and you can see, that even if
she moves around a little bit,
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even when I start to pull
this hair out of the way,
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the collar doesn't
naturally want to slip down,
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it just wants to stay a little bit higher.
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Collar fit is one of really
the most important things
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to come up, and it comes up every session
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when we see new students.
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And I can tell you that
an improperly fit collar
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really adds some training struggles
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to the ability to give
their dogs information.
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Dogs pull, dogs do all sorts of stuff,
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when that collar doesn't fit well,
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and it throws off our timing.
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Timing is our most important
thing in dog training.
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I need to tell my dog
within about a second,
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whether I like things or not.
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I need to be able to help
them to be successful
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within that second, or not.
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And if in that time, my dog's
collar has slidden down,
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they've lowered their
head and started to pull,
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I'm really putting myself
behind the eight ball.
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When you have a young dog
that's growing quite a bit,
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it's important you check
that collar every day.
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Even large breeds like this,
but even our smaller breeds,
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you need to make sure
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that it's not getting too tight on them.
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One of the benefits of that,
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is that they get used to
wearing it all the time,
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and I literally say all the time,
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because I keep these collars
on my dogs all the time.
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If it's well fit, there
are a lot less issues
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that can come up with some
of the fault of the collars,
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they're a little bit oversized.
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We've seen lots of bad things happen
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with dogs who've had
collars that are too big.
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Whether it be an interaction
with another dog,
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where part of another dog
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has gotten caught underneath that collar,
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or a stick or something else.
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Having a well-fit collar,
there's a whole lot less chance
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of that sort of thing
happening with your dog.
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Lots of people seem to have an issue
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with leaving collars on their dogs
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while they're in their crates,
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or all the time for that matter.
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A, I want my dogs comfortable
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wearing this collar all the time,
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and B, provided the collar is well fit,
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and my crate is in good shape,
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most of the issues that I've seen come up
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with dogs having troubles
with their collars,
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is there happened to be something sharp,
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or something to catch that
collar on, in the crate.
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So keep an eye on your collar,
and double check your crate
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and make sure it's safe
enough for your dog.
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One of the most common things that happens
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is we see a collar that we like
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that has cool pictures on
it, or a neat little design,
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and we buy it for our dog.
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I'll admit I have lots of
collars for all of my dogs,
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and those fancy, nice collars
are a great thing to have
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for my older dogs, who are well trained,
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and who understand how
to listen to my voice.
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But every time I get a young dog,
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I get a nice flat buckle collar like this,
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which is their training
collar, it's their tool.
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It's part of my training kit,
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that I spend with them every day,
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teaching them how to be a great dog,
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and how to go through life with me.
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Now I've made some references
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to teaching your dog to move towards you,
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and sort of help you from
pulling on that leash.
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If you're struggling with that,
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check out the video that I did over here,
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that addresses that specific thing,
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teaching your dog never to pull on leash.
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Now, if this is your
first time on the channel,
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make sure you hit that subscribe button.
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On that note, I'm Steve, and this is Skye.
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Happy training.
(playful music)
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