I'm not sure if I'm posting things on the right thread, but I had a quick question about holding a dog's collar.
Do all dogs not like to be held by the collar? I know that on Victoria's very first episode of season 1, she said that grabbing a dog's collar is a very dominant thing to do, so it's dangerous to do so. But I noticed that some dogs don't necessarily show or act like they don't like it..Some seem to be fine with it. I was just wondering...
Holding the collar
Moderators: emmabeth, BoardHost
Re: Holding the collar
Being restrained around the neck is not something dogs naturally 'like' and so you will see that puppies initially HATE having their collars on and hate being leashed and fling themselves about and scrat at them etc etc.
It is an area of the body that other dogs will grab to do harm, or the mother will grab to control and really no animal naturally likes being held around the neck, not even humans!
But most dogs, raised well and socialised and taught with rewards from being very young, come to tolerate and accept it.
What can happen, and unfortunately frequently does happen, is that this acceptance of collars and the neck being handled is abused, people use collars to drag dogs around, pull them off furniture, hold them whilst they yell at them or even hit them, yank on them or even hold dogs up and choke them ... so its pretty easy to see how some dogs rapidly connect the collar being held or reached for, with trouble and react badly to it.
Some dogs who have been taught to accept it and have never experienced anything bad about it will be fine with it though, so thats why you are seeing mixed reactions. Some of those dogs may actively associate it with good stuff (lead going on for walks), some may not really like it, but happily tolerate it.
So because of that, I certainly will never grab a dogs collar, particularly if I do not know the dog, as there are so many ways it can be associated with pain, discomfort, fear, and it is just quite a rude thing to do.
It is an area of the body that other dogs will grab to do harm, or the mother will grab to control and really no animal naturally likes being held around the neck, not even humans!
But most dogs, raised well and socialised and taught with rewards from being very young, come to tolerate and accept it.
What can happen, and unfortunately frequently does happen, is that this acceptance of collars and the neck being handled is abused, people use collars to drag dogs around, pull them off furniture, hold them whilst they yell at them or even hit them, yank on them or even hold dogs up and choke them ... so its pretty easy to see how some dogs rapidly connect the collar being held or reached for, with trouble and react badly to it.
Some dogs who have been taught to accept it and have never experienced anything bad about it will be fine with it though, so thats why you are seeing mixed reactions. Some of those dogs may actively associate it with good stuff (lead going on for walks), some may not really like it, but happily tolerate it.
So because of that, I certainly will never grab a dogs collar, particularly if I do not know the dog, as there are so many ways it can be associated with pain, discomfort, fear, and it is just quite a rude thing to do.
West Midlands based 1-2-1 Training & Behaviour Canine Consultant