Warning! For those who use a choke chain as a collar on their dogs, please don't. Take them off! Only use choke chains during training sessions, or if necessary, when walking on a leash.
We used to have a friend who used a choke chain as a regular collar on her Chihuahua mix. She used to bring her dog over to play with my Tibetan Spaniel. One day the dogs were in the yard playing and all of a sudden we heard the worst yelping from both dogs we had ever heard before. We ran out and the two dogs were caught up together and tumbling all over the place trying to get free.
If it wasn't for another neighbor hearing our screams for help and coming with a strong set of chain cutters, we'd have both lost our dogs that day.
Choke chains are fine, but they have their place. And using them for every day collars is extremely dangerous.
By Cricket from Parkton, NC
We use a choke chain on our Chow Chow's leash but we take it off after every walk, it just stays attached to the leash. She would have to wear a harness otherwise. We did have another type of collar that would tighten slightly but she always got mats around her neck from it.
