Every dog needs a collar, a lead and an identification tag with your telephone number on it.
As soon as you collect your new puppy you should buy him a little collar. Put the ID tag you bought on the collar. Put the collar on the pup and leave it on!
Puppies grow fast, so check the fit of the collar frequently. It should fit snugly but not too tightly. Too often growing dogs are seen with collars which have grown far too tight for them. Check the fit by making sure you can fit two finger tips between his neck and the collar.
When you begin to walk your dog on a lead, check the fit of the collar before you leave and make sure that it cannot slip over his ears if he pulls backwards. You don’t want him to slip his collar and bolt into the road. For a pup or small dog, you may want to buy a harness that fits over the chest, rather than a regular lead.
As an alternative to clipping the lead onto a regular collar, you may want to use a choke chain or a choke collar (made of the same material as a woven lead). If you choose a choke chain please buy a fairly thick, smoothly finished one that will not dig into the neck.
Avoid choke chains with spikes – they hurt the animal.
So…..Collar, check!…I.D. check!…Lead, check!….OK, WALKIES.