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