# Martingale collar



## SheetsSM (Jan 17, 2008)

I use a martingale for any walking outside of a fenced in area--it prevents the dog from backing out of a collar but doesn't choke the dog.


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## thorbreafortuna (Jun 9, 2013)

I have a martingale on Thor as well. On more challenging locations I actually use both the collar and the EZ walk harness and it gives me a lot of control. As stated above properly fitted it won't choke or slip out. The beauty of it is that if he's not pulling it hangs nice and loose and very comfortable. I personally don't like the ones that have chains, I use an all soft martingale.


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## Anon-2130948gsoni (Apr 12, 2014)

With my would-be car chaser, I use a martingale combined with a harness and have a small carabiner clip I use to hook the two together. (I turn the collar around so that the loop is at the top of his neck.)

You do have to remember to always take it off before leaving them in a crate, but that's true for any collar, really...


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## _Paul (Jan 15, 2014)

Thanks all for the advice.

Do you only use the martingale collar when outside the house and is it dangerous left on all the time? I was considering getting this collar to replace Shelby's conventional collar which she wears for most of the day, but not at night. I tend to worry when shelby doesn't have her collar with id tag on.


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## laprincessa (Mar 24, 2008)

I use a martingale to walk Max. One of my friends makes them and donates them to greyhound rescue, she made him a beautiful sparkly blue one.  It helps a lot on walks, I notice a huge difference when I just use the flat collar.

I keep it attached to his leash, in the car, for just in case. The only time we use it is on walks or anywhere he has to be on leash.


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## thorbreafortuna (Jun 9, 2013)

_Paul said:


> Thanks all for the advice.
> 
> Do you only use the martingale collar when outside the house and is it dangerous left on all the time? I was considering getting this collar to replace Shelby's conventional collar which she wears for most of the day, but not at night. I tend to worry when shelby doesn't have her collar with id tag on.



I do remove the collar when Thor is unsupervised in the house or before going to sleep. Certainly when he was crated I made extra sure to take it off. I would have removed any type of collar as suggested above, but I think the martingale with the extra loop can be even more easily caught on something. Most of the time in the house he's not wearing a collar even if we're home. 
I understand the concern with not having the id. In our case he's very unlikely to find himself outside of the house since we don't have a yard. I felt it was far more likely for him to injure himself accidentally inside the house with the collar. At least he's microchipped.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

A martingale that's set properly does not choke the dog at all. It just goes snug enough that the dog can't back out of it. Lots of people use them as limited chokes, which I don't think is a great idea.


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## _Paul (Jan 15, 2014)

I was really looking at the Martingale collar as an alternative for the Ezywalk harness. I didn't want anything to choke Shelby, but I was hoping that a loose collar that had the sensation of get tighter (without any choking) would put Shelby off from pulling. A little like the harness. The harness works great, but I tend to feel that the front strap always hangs low on her and I worry that it restricts her leg movements. If a properly fitting Martingale collar can get a little more snug without choking that's great, but I am not looking for anything like a choke chain. Can anyone comment whether I am looking at the right thing in the Martingale collar, or should I just stick to the harness?

Thanks


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## laprincessa (Mar 24, 2008)

The martingale will only tighten to a point of snugness that you choose. It won't choke unless they pull like a tank and then anything will choke. 
The second loop pulls up till the collar is snug, no choke. 
I hope that makes sense


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## thorbreafortuna (Jun 9, 2013)

Sorry I didn't intend to confuse you. The removing of the collar is a precaution I would take with a flat collar also. NO, the martingale won't choke, if properly fitted.


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## oakley95 (Feb 20, 2015)

I use a martangle on oakley to train to walk. He is only 10 weeks old but loves the collar because its not super heavy or tight when he is walking correctly. I also love the gentle leaders, those work well


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## MommyMe (Jan 20, 2014)

We switched our dogs to martingales after adopting our second golden from a rescue in 1999. She had been found as a stray and after seeing with my own eyes how quickly she could slip out of a standard collar, I could see how it was possible she had gotten lost. It did help with the pulling on walks as well. One drawback though, our dogs both had their collars on and while playing one day, one dog got her lower jaw stuck under the collar of the other dog and twisted it somehow so that not only was her jaw stuck, but it was strangling our other dog. Thankfully we were home and able to untangle them but it was not as easy as undoing a buckle or a snap would have been (my husband got them untangled as I was running for scissors). And thankfully we were home, I hate to think what would have happened if we weren't. After that event, dogs were "naked" all them time, and collars joined the leashes on the hooks for when we took them out.


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