One of the Scariest Moments in my Life
About a year ago, I was in the kitchen & heard a blood curdling scream from the dining room. I thought my dogs, Olivia & Lincoln, were fighting and ran to break up the fight. To my horror, I saw that Lincoln’s tooth was caught on Olivia’s collar. He was choking her! He was the one who let out that scream as he was panicking & trying to free his tooth. This cut off Olivia’s oxygen even more & she was fighting for her life. Her body was dangling from the collar. It was one of the scariest moments of my life!
I calmed myself down so I could think of a solution. I had to! Olivia was going to die if I didn’t figure out what to do. I started feeling around her collar as I knew that the clasp was plastic. After what seemed like an eternity, I was able to free the collar from her neck & then got Lincoln’s tooth free from the collar. Then I noticed there was urine, poop and blood on the floor & I didn’t know where the blood came from. It scared me even more because I assumed it was from one of my dogs. I looked down at my arm and saw it was cut up. Lincoln’s tooth grazed against my arm when I was trying to release the collar, which I hadn’t even noticed. This whole incident could have caused another issue with me as we can get an infection from a dog puncturing our skin even if our dog is completely healthy. Lincoln, Olivia & I got checked out & thankfully we were all completely ok!
I am so grateful that both dogs were ok & that I was home during this incident!! If I hadn’t been home with them, I am certain that Olivia would have died that day.
Prior to this incident, I had no idea that collars inside the house can be a huge hazard! Collar strangulation kills about 26,000 dogs a year! Collar strangulation can occur within seconds, and is possible anytime a dog is unsupervised.
Here are some things you can do to prevent this from happening:
- Always remove your dog’s collar when he/she is home alone or unsupervised even if you only have one dog. Collars can accidentally get hung on anything from a knob, furniture, door handles, etc.
- Only let your dogs play if they are naked. A harness may be a safer alternative if you do not feel comfortable with your dog being naked as it does not present the same choking hazard as a collar.
- If you must use a collar, make sure it is a break-away collar, which will release under tension.
- Spread the word. I didn’t know the dangers of collars until a freak accident. If I would have known before, Olivia & Lincoln would have never been in this predicament.
- Keep something sharp handy. Thankfully I was able to find the plastic buckle & free Olivia’s neck, but some collars aren’t so easy to remove once you find the clasp. Having scissors or even a box cutter handy or in your car can save a dog’s life especially if it there’s a metal buckle or different type of collar.
If you have any other helpful tips for dog safety, please comment below. We would love to continue helping to spread awareness!
