drjohn

I just talked to a lady about the collar on her dog (a few days ago). It was a (gasp) choke chain....however, she says she never leaves it on because they could get tangled. Then she goes on to say that a relative's two dogs here in Loxahatchee, Florida died when they got tangled together a few weeks ago. I mentioned the safety collar and she said that they had never realized that collars could be so dangerous, nor had she read my newspaper article about collar hazards.....that's a shame, had she, her relative's dogs may still be alive Moral of this sad story....collars are very dangerous and you can never know if and/or when a tragic accident will strike your pet, however, you can take steps to prevent accidents from happening

[color=red][b]ATTENTION.....THIS IS NOT SPAM, I REPEAT....THIS IS NOT SPAM.....THIS INFORMATION HAS BEEN REQUESTED BY A MEMBER!!! DO NOT DELETE DO NOT EDIT THIS IS NOT SPAM.....[/b][/color] ok, now that we got that out of the way (and it was meant to be humerous) here is the REQUESTED info you can go to [url]www.homeopet.com[/url] and look at their products including the anxiety relief. I don't think they updated their site as there are 2 or 3 different anxiety formulas, for storms, or travel. I've only started using them, so I can't really vouch for their effectiveness, however, I used the anxiety formula on a stressed out, aggressive cat on a housecall last week and once we umm, caught the cat, restrained it, pried fingers out of mouth of cat (thank God for gauntlet gloves), moved couch, moved chair, trapped cat in corner, and caught cat again....... it worked very very quickly...........the cat was actually handlable......I'd like to think it was the remedy you can also go to vetriscience.com and click on the "Composure" link of course, both of these products are available through my housecall practice....email me or PM me if you would like cost/shipping charges (pay by PayPal) (hey, I'm not gonna do all the work and tell you to buy if from someone else :D )

Hi, Desensitizing against Tstorms is difficult in many cases, esp. if you live in an area prone to storms, but it can be done There is a new product called "Composure" that is a nondrug, nonherbal calming supplement that works very well in SOME dogs. There is also a new herbal remedy made by Homeopet called "Anxiety". They just reformulated for different types of anxiety. I'd list websites but I don't need the hassle again. If anyone wants more info on these products and where to "obtain" them, shoot me a private message. If the anxiety is severe enough to where the dog may injure itself then drugs are called for valium or xanax work well I wrote an article on Tstorm phobia for my newspaper a few years ago and it's available on my website Dr John

so, drjeff....are you a real doctor? a vet? an MD? a dentist? wasnt that dave guy the one that alanis morrisette wrote her song about that VH1 has speculated about?

Michele, I live/work/play in SE Florida....paradise except for Hurricane Francis, Hurricane Jeanne, Hurricane Wilma Dear Hmmmmm........ the collar is designed to be used in several...but not all...situations.... it's for people who want to keep collars on all the time when dog or dogs are alone in the home or yard it's for people with multiple dogs that are left alone and like to play and wrestle it's for people who take their dogs to dog park where they play and wrestle with other dogs I think you are forgetting...and I don't mean this in a condescending way.....if your dog got hung on something, or stuck, or however you want to word and you are NOT around to free him there is a very good chance he/she will be severely injured or killed....how is that a good thing? everyone assumes that if the collar releases as it is designed to do then your dog is loose and it runs away.....that is not the case in every situation When I did a tv interview 2 months ago at a local dog park, I met a guy whose 2 dogs got stuck together in his fenced in backyard......1 died because of the collar I've also heard of several incidents at the local dog parks where the dogs are playing, get stuck and one flips over.....that is a very bad situation, esp. if it involves big dogs and actually, the safety release can be disabled and the manufacturer recomends doing so, if you anticipate being in a situation that you need to control your dog

DrJeff.....just wondering...is that you dancing in that little picture under your name? just curious

for the support.......are they always this hostile?

Tammy, The collars work great as designed to prevent strangulation and hold ID tags....but you could have used a second collar, such as a choke chain (is that a dirty word on this board) for walking. My dog Nikki was an escape artist and could slip out of just about anything.....so I tell people with dogs like that to use the KeepSafe to ummm.....keep their dog safe.....lolol........and just use a second collar/harness for walking There is no perfect solution, but I think the KeepSafe Collar is the best solution (for some dogs) vs no collar or a collar that can lead to an accident.

actually hmm, my last post (about NCPE) was the last part of my answer to Divine, the first part was placed in a different thread. I think I've said all I can say about it... Unless, of course, someone askes me another question :)

AllAmericanPup..... bowing towards you, butt in the air pawing at you, woof woof (for those of you that don't get that......it's an invitation to AllAmPup to play, doggie style)

sales pitch? condescending! OMG, does it ever stop? I was answering a question that Divine left, but in my newness I put it in the wrong place. And I was speaking my heart, not being condescending, and I was explaining the situation, not giving a sales pitch. All AmericanPup....thanks for the back up. Do you want to be friends?

not all collar strangulation accidents are fatal in themselves, however some dogs that suffer even short bouts of airway obstruction may develop a fatal complication called "noncardiogenic pulmonary edema"....basically this is where the lungs fill up with fluid (as in heart failure) but the condition is VERY hard to treat and the dogs do not respond to the medications very well, so even if the dog is rescued quickly, as little as 15 or 20 seconds of strangulation may be enough to trigger NCPE

Right after my dog had her accident, a girl that I knew had her 2 big Rhod.Ridgebacks get stuck the same way....unfortunately, she was at work and when she arrived hours later both dogs were near death. Her emergency bill was over 2 grand and one dog lost a bunch of teeth (both did survive). Afterwards, her neighbor told her she heard the dogs "fighting" for over 6 hours, but she didn't know how to get in touch with her. Over the past 6 years I have talked to hundreds of clients about collar hazards and the vast majority had no clue that something like this could happen (a collar strangulation), but I'd say about 20% of the people I talked to either had it happen to their dog at some point in their lives or knew someone it happened too. And I've discussed this issue with lot's of techs too (I'm currently a relief doc) and some of them had it happen to them, or again, know someone that it's happened to. The company that makes the collar (Premier Pet Products) estimates that thousands of dogs are injured or killed every year. One client that I talked to several months ago had her medium sized dog at a dog park with her friends dog...who was wearing a choke chain...well, guess what. The first dog got its jaw under the choke chain while wrestling....and dog number 2 flipped..... 3 guys had to tackle the panicked stricken, struggling dogs and lift up and flip over dog #2 to untangle them.... Now little hornets.....picture THAT scenario with 2 110lb Rotties..... .......not too pretty, huh? It took 30 years of having dogs before it happen to me, so....is it all that common? Obviously not as common as HBC's and other injuries....but does something have to be common to be talked about and prevented? Some owners like to keep ID tags on their pets...sometimes it's required by law....others don't keep collars on....but if you do, you need to be aware that if that collar gets caught on something (it only takes one time) it could kill or severely injure the dog....are you willing to accept that risk? I'm not. Some people tell me that they wouldn't want to use a break-away collar because if the dog got caught on something and the collar released (as designed) and the dog "ran away" then they would be upset because the dog "got away" without its collar on.... Unfortunately, that is flawed logic.....for if the dog got caught and strangled by its collar, well, heck, the dog surely won't be running loose without ID tags....because it'll be dead....so, take your pick.... (now remember little hornets....the assumption in the above example is that the dog gets its collar caught on something and can't get unstuck and is fatally injured)...loose dog that has a chance of being reunited with you...or dead dog....to me...that's not a hard choice and the other flawed piece of logic is that once the collar releases the dog is loose....not always so.....as many strangulation accidents happen inside the house, or in a fenced yard sigh, all I can do is lead dog owners to water.......I can't make'm drink from the pond though...but at least I've done my job and made them aware of the situation

because I'm not........there was no intention of being a SPAMMER.... as I said before, I am just a hard working veterinarian....trying to save dog's lives and help the animals injured in the hurricane(s). I was just trying to reach as wide an audience as possible and since there are many different topics on this website, my thinking (however erroneous it may/may not have been) was that not everyone who visits this website visits every topic on this board....therefore, in order to reach more people (and save more lives and raise more money, yada yada yada) I posted the same message 4 times under 4 different topics........ (again, the only rules I read when I signed up were against obscene things, hateful things, etc) so...I intended to do no harm........(and intended to do good) boy, was I wrong........maybe the owners should change the name of this site to hornetsnest.com.......lol (that was intended as a joke) I don't visit boards much so don't know the UNWRITTEN rules.......sheesh........... Dr. John

actually drjeff...i am NOT a spammer.....nor do I have a cavalier attitude. I am a veterinarian who is just trying to get an important message out. And I am not "hawking" a collar as you so graciously put it. What I am doing is spending 40+ hours of my free time building the pages on my website..... spending hundreds of dollars on collars to have in stock....... spending my free time filling orders that have come in......... and donating all of the proceeds from the sale to charity.......to save dogs lives so, when I read the rules that were presented to me when I signed up.....and it said nothing about limiting posts to anything other than obscene or objectionable material.........I felt this was a GREAT forum to get my message across.....dogs die in collar strangulation accidents.... if there were other rules then I should have been made aware of them at sign up.......I'm a vet........not a psychic and having my first message just disappear without any explanation wasn't the right way to go about it either