Pinkie wrote to ask about whether she should be worried about her prong collar coming apart: “Hi, on another website they claim that prong collars can easily come apart on the dog when you don’t want them to, by a link breaking or if you don’t fasten it correctly. They sell what is called a dominant collar to be worn with the prong collar, in case it breaks. They also sell a special leather leash that has 2 snaps, it attaches to the pinch collar and also the dominant collar, so you always have backup. Does anyone have this problem of the prong collar breaking? I just ordered a pinch collar today from them.
When Prong Collars Come Apart — Adam Replies:
Hi, Pinkie:
Buy a Herm Sprenger brand prong collar and you shouldn’t have any issues. Yes, they occasionally will fall off, but it’s not frequent enough to be an issue. I’ve had some for three years that I’ve used every day that never come off. If you get a bad one, send it back. Or use a pliers to bend the prong tight again.
If you’re really worried about it, just get a “choke chain” collar and put the harness snap of the leash through both the live ring of the prong collar AND the choke chain collar, so you’re using both collars at the same time. If you do that, you’ll want to size the chain collar so that when it’s pulled tight there is only about 1 1/2 inch excess.