I wager it is relatively safe to assume that if you own a dog, your dog arguably wears a collar. Perhaps not all of the time, and maybe only when said dog is taken for a walk outdoors, but it is more likely than not that if a dog lives alongside you, there is a collar somewhere nearby.
Our dog, Lenny, wears a fabric collar. She has had it since we got her, and it hasn’t given her any trouble for the most part, but I will admit that I don’t regularly check her skin underneath her collar to make sure it isn’t irritated. However, I plan to check the skin beneath her collar much more frequently after learning some valuable information about collars, and I’d like to share this knowledge with all of you.
My parents’ dogs wear leather collars, and they always have. Last week, we had several consecutive days of very wet weather and a lot of rain, and because my parents’ dogs roam outdoors, they got soaked. Naturally, their collars were also sodden, but none of us realized that because the leather collars didn’t get a chance to dry out properly, both Blue and Finn had irritated skin around their necks. As soon as we noticed we removed their collars, but because we all feel terrible and like shitty dog parents, I wanted to write this post to encourage anyone with a dog to regularly check the skin around their neck to ensure it hasn’t been irritated or damaged by their collar.
Blue and Finn are fine, and their skin should heal up within a few days. I’m not saying not to use leather collars, but if you do, perhaps try to make a mental note to take them off of your pup frequently and make sure they’re not doing any damage.
ontheedgeofeverything 