7 Ways to Keep Your Dog Safer

We live in a world where accidents happen. Collars are slipped; gates are left open; leashes are dropped. No one plans for their dog to get hurt, but it happens. And when it does, the damage and trauma ranges from minor to catastrophic.

Although we can’t completely eliminate accidents and injury, we can do things to reduce the likelihood and impact. Part of taking precautions is understanding where the potential for danger is and taking steps to reduce the threat. Here are seven things you can do to keep your dog safer.

1) Say no to on-leash greetings with unfamiliar dogs

Dogs meeting dogs is a dicey situation. Doing it on leash gives you extra control in case something happens, but the dogs can also feel trapped on leash which can actually trigger aggression.

For physical and behavioral safety, it’s better to just say no to on-leash greeting with unfamiliar dogs. There are just too many unknowns. Has the other dog been sick in the last few days? Is it a recent addition to the family? Is it overwhelmed by the environment? Is it dog-selective? Does the other owner know what to do if her dog gets upset? Does she know what NOT to do?

2) Use a safety line to attach your dog’s harness to his collar

Note the brown safety cord from Bold Lead Designs connecting Cesar’s harness to his collar. The Leash gets clipped to the ring on his back. If he pulls out of the harness, my leash is still attached to the harness which is still attached to his collar which is (hopefully) still on him.

I am a major advocate for dogs being walked on harnesses instead of collars. Not only does this reduce the likelihood of neck injury, but it also provides an extra layer of safety in case the dog slips out of one piece of equipment.

Instead of clipping the leash to one piece of equipment, I either clip the leash to both the harness ring and the collar ring, OR I use a second piece of equipment to connect the harness ring to the collar ring. (Bold Lead Designs makes a little safety cord that can be used this way.) If the dog accidentally slips out of the harness, I’m still connected to the collar and vice versa.

You can just barely see the red carabiner threaded through both the harness ring and the collar ring.

3) Check the fit on your dog’s collar. Even better, fit him in a martingale collar.

I worked as a spay/neuter technician for four and a half years and saw a number of poorly fitted collars during that time. A properly fitted collar should be snug enough that you can fit two fingers, stacked, between the collar and the dog’s neck. Any tighter than this is uncomfortable for him; any looser and he can easily slip out.

For extra safety and comfort, consider fitting your dog with a martingale collar. These collars stay loose most of the time, but will snug up if the leash goes tight. Fitted properly, it’s much more challenging for your dog to back out of a martingale compared to a regular collar. Of course, I don’t recommend walking your dog on a collar for extended periods of time, anyway, but it’s nice to have just in case. Especially if you’re using a safety cord as described above.

4) Crate your dog naked.

Unless the dog is a big bite-risk, we crate dogs naked at Koinonia: if the dog is going to be in the crate without supervision, I take all equipment off before putting him inside —no collar, no harness.

We do this because there’s an inherent strangulation risk with collars. If the collar gets caught on a piece of the crate and no one notices, the dog die of strangulation. #cratenaked

5) Consider an airlock system if your dog is a door dasher

Air-locks are great! We have them at the house for our Board and Train dogs and it makes so much sense. What’s an air-lock? An air-lock is a gate that separates an exterior door from the rest of the house. This keeps dogs safer because they don’t have direct access to the door so it’s harder for them to escape. Our air-locks prevent the dogs from accessing either the front door or garage door. It’s so handy for unloading groceries! Instead of worrying the dog will escape with all the in and out, all the grocery bags can be brought in and set outside the gate. Once they’re all inside, the exterior door can be shut and the bags transferred into the kitchen (behind the air-lock).

I would love to put an air-lock in the backyard for our fence gate, but that might be one step too many for my non-dog trainer family.

6) Carry Spray Shield when you walk

Spray Shield is a little canister of pressurized, citronella-based animal repellent. I carried it on walks for years before I actually used it to effect this year. I was out with a Board and Train dog when a neighborhood dog escaped and made a bee-line for us. I sprayed toward the dog while it was still across the street from us and it worked wonderfully! The dog turned around and trotted away from us.

If you take your dog anywhere off your property, I HIGHLY recommend you carry this product with you.

7) Make sure your microchip has your information

Collars with tags firmly affixed are great, but microchips are supposed to be even better—the back-up in case your dog looses his collar.