Collars

Hi Jaime;
This morning we went to get coffee. When we got home we let both of our dogs out of their kennels. As always they started playing ruff as they always do. All of a sudden it was like they went nuts barking and growling. He was on top of her and had her by the throat. I grabbed him and he wouldn't let go, so I thought. I actually hit him in the ribs a couple of times which didn't help a bit. By this time she was wetting on the floor and drooling on the floor trying to breath. I grabbed him by both jaws and could not get his mouth from around her throat. Finally I got my fingers in his mouth and discovered her collar was caught in his lower teeth, he had turned to try and get loose and tightened her collar around her throat and his teeth. Got her collar over his bottom teeth and that freed her and him.

She got her breath back and is okay.

He was just as scared as she was, and kept fighting harder to try to get his teeth loose so he was shaken by the incident.

I was glad we were home when it happened or we may have had two dead dogs.

I have been around animals of all kinds all my life. Never have I seen or heard of this happening before.

Both are fine and back to their old selves again.
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I told my friend about this and sought her advice. She is an AKC judge, has bred Goldens for over 40 years, shows her dogs in the CKC and the AKC, and is married to a retired vet. This is what she wrote back: -

This is not unusual. When I worked with my husband saw it a few times. Once resulted in one dog's death & the other dog's jaw broken. This is the reason my puppies are always marked with finger nail polish, never yarn, ric-rack or a collar. At home, my dog's do not wear collars. For shows & class they do, then when they get into the car, collar comes off.

I suppose a buckle collar that was closely fitted, so there is no room for the other dog's jaw would be a solution. They were lucky neither dogs was seriously hurt.