My Puppy Hates His Collar!? What Do I Do?
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Does your puppy hate his collar?
If you just brought your puppy home or only had him for a few days I’m guessing your answer is a resounding YES!!!
In fact, people tell me all the time in a frantic mood…”My puppy hates his collar!? What do I do?“
The answer is not that difficult: “just leave the collar on your puppy until he gets used to it.”
My puppy hates her collar. What must I do?
But he’s scratching at it, trying to bite it, chew it…he hates his collar! In a calm voice…”leave the collar on your puppy until he gets used to it.”
Of course, make sure you have it sized properly, but besides that, you need to just sit back and let your puppy get used to his new collar.
It’s that easy, but you didn’t think that’s all I had to say about this matter did you…you’re correct!
QUICK TIP: We start our 8-week-old puppies out with a basic nylon buckle collar. See the photo of Dublin below.
My Puppy Hates His Collar!
Dublin doesn’t hate his puppy collar when he’s sleeping ?
I’ve been raising guide and service pet dog puppies for over 12 years now and every puppy I’ve ever brought home absolutely hated his collar and none a lot more than my second guide pet dog puppy in training, Derby.
He didn’t just hate his collar, but he had a vengeance against his pet tags.
Here are a few things I learned about puppy collars and pet identifies after raising Derby.
UPDATE: I’ve now raised several golden Retriever litters, a German Shepherd mix litter, and a Chihuahua mix litter, and one of the things we do very early on is start training our puppies to get used to their collars. By the time our puppies go home with their puppy raisers, they have no problems wearing a collar. Unfortunately, not all litters have the advantage of being raised and trained to wear a collar.
Tips For wearing A Puppy Collar
I actually learned this one before Derby. just leave the collar on your puppy and he’ll get used to it within a few days/weeks.
Get a puppy collar with a buckle system. The buckle makes it easy to remove the collar when needed.
Make sure the collar fits properly. I normally make sure I can fit a couple of fingers under the collar while it’s on my pup’s neck. You want it tight enough so it does not slip over your pup’s head, but as pointed out you want it loose enough to fit a couple of fingers underneath while it’s on your pup’s neck.
Certain materials may stretch or loosen while your puppy is wearing the collar (plus your puppy will grow) so make sure you check to make sure the collar has not become to loose or tight over time.
Have fun with your collars! We have some seasonal collars, different designs, and materials. have fun! just make sure whatever you get is safe for your puppy.
Some puppies don’t collars nor the jingle of the pet tag.
Tips For wearing Pet Tags
Guide Dogs of America issues us school tags, but I also recommend getting a personal identify so if your puppy gets lost people can contact you. Make sure you register your puppy. You’ll receive another identify for registration.
Even if you have identifies you must microchip your puppy. Collars/pet identifies can fall off and if your puppy gets lost people will have no way of knowing how to find you.
Are you worn out of the jingling of your puppy’s tag? try the Pet identify Silencer. I got a couple from our guide pet dog group and love them.
Is your puppy chewing on his tags? Derby taught me this one. While the pet identify silencer did stop the jingling of pet identifies it did not deter Derby from chewing on his tags. What did I do? basic really, I taped his pet identifies to his collar with a little bit of cloth tape. No a lot more jingling and no a lot more chewed-up tags. A very economical option to what was at the time a big problem.
Have fun with your pet tags! There are different designs and materials. I also like to get identifies for certain accomplishments. For instance, I gotten the Canine good citizen (CGC) pet identify for Stetson when he passed his CGC test.
In no time your puppy will be used to wearing his brand new puppy collar and his shiny new pet identifies just leave them on and they’ll get used to it.
By the way, this probably doesn’t apply to a lot of people, but a lot of of my puppies hate wearing their “Puppy In Training” bib/jacket a couple of my pups even chewed up the sides of the material.
I try to get my pups used to the service pet dog jacket by making them wear it quite typically at home even before going out in public. Nowadays I keep a close eye on my pup to make sure he doesn’t chew on the material when wearing his jacket.
First things first. Make sure your puppy is comfortable wearing his collar (and service pet dog jacket). once he’s used to wearing his collar you might start introducing him to other products he might need to wear during training like a leash and harnnull