# what collar size does your Adult GSD wear?



## Adele

Mine at 7 1/2 months wears her collar at the 18" mark.


----------



## onyx'girl

My male wears a 27" fursaver. And that is still a bit hard to wiggle over his ears.


----------



## Anubis_Star

Zeke wears a 24" choke chain 24/7 with his tags on it.

Personally, I hate flat collars on mature GSDs, hides their scruff and makes their neck look small, IMO


----------



## onyx'girl

You leave a choke chain on your dog? Why? That is an accident waiting to happen. What if that ring(or his tags) got hooked on something and he was strangled to death? In case others read what you do, and take it as advice, I think it is a fair warning.
I'd rather have an ugly neck scruff on a live dog than a smooth coat on a dead one.
Get a rolled buckle collar, much safer.


----------



## Liesje

Nikon's collars are 22-24". His SV show collar is 27". He doesn't wear a collar unless we're doing something.


----------



## SueDoNimm

Jerry has a 22" rolled leather buckle collar. It's on the tightest setting and loose enough to get four or five fingers underneath (well, really my whole hand). I wouldn't mind it being a little tighter, but it seems to be OK. He wears it all the time, but I have another collar I put on him for walks.


----------



## Chicagocanine

Bianca usually wore 20" collars, for flat collars.

Here's a photo of her in Paco Collars leather collar. She didn't wear it all the time though, she wore a 3/4" White Pines soft collar in the house.


----------



## doggiedad

my dog is 5.5 yrs old and i think his collar
is 22" maybe 25". i need to measure his
collar to be sure.


----------



## DollBaby

22" rolled leather


----------



## doggiedad

my dog never has a collar on when he's home.


----------



## Rua

Both of mine wear fursaver half check martingale long link collars. I often remove them when we are home, but they otherwise have them on all the time. Since they are half check, I don't worry about the risk of choking as much. 

Juno is 16 months and her neck is scrawny still...so it's only a 19.5 inch one. I honestly don't think she will ever need a bigger one. She's a small girl.
Bowser is 5 months and he's wearing the same size as her! I reckon I'll have to upgrade his size when he's older.


----------



## Anubis_Star

onyx'girl said:


> You leave a choke chain on your dog? Why? That is an accident waiting to happen. What if that ring(or his tags) got hooked on something and he was strangled to death? In case others read what you do, and take it as advice, I think it is a fair warning.
> I'd rather have an ugly neck scruff on a live dog than a smooth coat on a dead one.
> Get a rolled buckle collar, much safer.


The ONLY collar accidents I've ever seen in emergency clinic - and I've seen two of them - was a flat leather collar get stuck on a chain link fence, and a nylon flat buckle collar stuck on a housemate's canine tooth.

If we shielded our dogs from EVERYTHING that might kill them, they would live in a cage 24/7. And don't give them food or treats, they could choke on that!

In my proffesional opinion as an emergency veterinary employee, I know there are risks to ANYTHING kept on the neck 24/7, I do not believe a choke chain poses a major risk. My dogs have ALWAYS worn them, their entire lives, and I have NEVER had a problem.


----------



## Kaleb f

When I was a kid my mom left choke chains on all of our dogs never had a problem but I wouldn't recommend it. It's your dog do what you want with it. I'm gonna protect my dog as much as possible


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Anubis_Star

Kaleb f said:


> When I was a kid my mom left choke chains on all of our dogs never had a problem but I wouldn't recommend it. It's your dog do what you want with it. I'm gonna protect my dog as much as possible
> 
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


You're right, each person has the right to do what they want. And it's fair enough to give a warning. But there's been multiple times I've been attacked for leaving choke chains on 24/7, and I simply find it a little ridiculous. It's the ONLY things my adult dogs have EVER worn. Granted, puppies, especially in their kennels, have flat leather collars on. But adults = choke chain.

Every time I drive the 35 miles one way to work on one of the most dangerous highways in the state, I risk my life too. Doesn't mean I'm going to stop driving, or stop going to work. EVERYTHING has risks.


----------



## onyx'girl

But why take an unnecessary risk? Choke collars are _training_ collars, not intended to be left on a dog without a leash and certainly not intended to have tags attached. UNLESS you are keeping it on a dead ring, so there is no slip movement, and the dog can hopefully get out of it easily if it gets hung up on something. Then it would be safer.
Same thing goes for a fursaver, they are for training, not for wearing tags on. Though I see it all the time and if the dog never has an accident, then he should have the middle name of lucky. 
To each his own. 


> The ONLY collar accidents I've ever seen in emergency clinic - and I've seen two of them - was a flat leather collar get stuck on a chain link fence, and a nylon flat buckle collar stuck on a housemate's canine tooth


Of course any collar can cause an accident but a *'choke'* collar is named that for a reason.
http://www.germanshepherds.com/foru...-another-scary-reminder-take-collars-off.html


----------



## Anubis_Star

Well, then you have people that DON'T have collars on their dog, because it's "dangerous"... then the dog somehow gets loose, gets hit by a car, is brought into an emergency clinic in the middle of the night by animal control. Either the dog isn't micro chipped or no one can be reached because it's 3 am, and we have a somewhat severe case, and we end up euthanizing because an owner can't be found/contacted.

That has happened at my clinic more times than I can count. If dogs only somehow knew to run away only when they were wearing their collars...

I mean, when fear gets so severe that people are scared to leave collars on? I'm sorry, I know people have lost dogs from collar accidents. And I can't imagine how horrible that is. But it's a freak accident. There are much bigger risks to pets - like running away and losing your life because you have no identification. Freak accidents happen, your dog will NEVER be 100% safe. Pros and cons to everything, it really depends on the person and what they're willing to risk. Personally, I think it's a little absurd to risk losing your pet with no identification on simply because it might choke on it's collar. That's my opinion. I don't judge people though who do decide to leave collars off for safety reasons.

BTW yes the tag is on the dead ring


----------



## frillint1

What is a dead ring? My GSD collar is about 20in with a 2 finger wiggle room. I just ordered him a collar from pikoda on Friday, so we havn't got it to share yet. I almost never have a collar on Smokey as he is always inside and he is 17 he don't rush out the door he knows to wait and even if he did get out get don't move fast. If I do take him on a walk I do have his leash and collar on even though I don't need it. As for Chief he has he collar and harness on when outside hooked together. He has his collar on in the house all the time except when its time to go to sleep. They don't play as one is 3 or 4 and the other is 17.


----------



## Mikelia

Eli wears a 24" flat leather collar or same sized choke chain. Lately I have been using a large sized martingale for walking/training. Cajun wears a 22" rolled leather collar (I think his is one size smaller than Eli, he's had the same collar for a long time now) and a 22" choke chain for training. I like their collars on snug, especially when we are out and about.
I always used to leave choke chains on the dogs. From time to time I will for a day or two. However, one day my border collie cross managed to get hers into her mouth and couldn't get it out. Her neck was a little sore and she had to stretch her mouth once I got it off but it did scare me. Knowing she had been in her kennel all day and who knows how long it had been in her mouth. This dog also ate the extra peice of fabric from leather collars that sticks out and ate her tags as a puppy. I don't imagine your average dog could reach its choke chain to get it into its mouth, but it was food for thought and I rarely leave choke chains on any more.


----------



## PXDesign

frillint1 said:


> What is a dead ring?


It's attaching the lead to a link on the collar that won't allow slip. For example, instead of attaching the lead to the single loop/attachment point on the collar that will allow the collar to tighten, you might attach the lead through BOTH big attachment points so that you've got a firm connection to the collar but the collar won't tighten.


----------



## Adele

I appreciate all your replies, its always good to know approximately
what size to look into, since they are growing up fast.
My GSD always wears her collar, even inside with id tags. Althou I tend to leave the prong collar while she's in the car driving with me. Other than that the prong always comes off when not in use. Sometimes rarely, I'll take her leather collar off at home simply for the 'look' of it; than I end hearing me wife yelling.... Adrian why is your dog running around NAKED !!! lol


----------

