Product Review: Red Dingo Bucklebone Collar

Red Dingo's Bucklebone Collar comes in so many eye-catching colors and designs, it's tough to choose just one! Their ribbon collars stay fresh and new-looking for ages, and the designs hold up remarkably well. Each collar has their signature bone-shaped quick-release buckle. They also offer plain and reflective collars, but the decorative ribbon collars are my favorite. Bucklebone collars are available in four sizes, to fit dogs with necks 8-25"around.

Photo by Erin Koski

This hot pink Stars collar is currently my favorite flat buckle collar for my personal red dingo. (Yup, Australian dingoes were used in the development of the Australian cattle dog!) I really love star patterns in general, and the lime green ones on this design stand out just right. They're not patriotic, just cosmic.

Pros

• Available in a near-infinite number of color and design combinations
• Bone-shaped buckle is secure and easy to use
• Super durable
• Resists fading in the sun

Cons

• Lighter colors start to look dirty after a while

Bottom Line

This is an excellent choice of collar to leave on your dog for months at a time. It will still look pretty snazzy, and a trip through the washing machine will have it looking almost new again.

Product Review: Dogit Style Collar

Hagen's Dogit Style collection features collars with a variety of heat-printed patterns that won't rub off. These are classic ring-end design collars, where half the plastic quick-release buckle must pass through ring before attaching to the other half. The result is a stronger collar with less force placed on the buckle itself. Dogit Style collars are available in tons of colors and patterns, and four sizes to fit dogs with necks 10-26" around.

Photo by Erin Koski

Hagen is a company I normally associate with aquarium stuff, but it turns out they own a bunch of familiar pet brands. Most of their stuff is for exotics and aquatics, they own ExoTerra, Habitrail, and Fluval, among others.

Their Dogit brand consists of what I would call economy basics. They make just about everything, at an affordable mass-market big box store price point. I consider it a cheap brand, but more reliable than dollar store stuff. Admittedly I had never really looked at their collars until I found this one in a thrift store.

I wasn't familiar with the process of heat-printing, so I had to look it up. The process involves evaporating ink from paper onto nylon webbing. Cool! I suspect that Buckle Down products are made the same way.

Pros

• Ring-end collar is very strong and durable
• Comes in tons of fun prints
• Inexpensive

Cons

• May loosen up over time

Bottom Line

These collars are probably best used to hold tags and look cute. If you're looking for a similar collar for a dog that pulls on leash, I recommend the Rogz Side Release Collar.

Product Review: Thunder Collar

From the makers of the Thundershirt comes the brand new Thundercollar! This collar features a unique quick-release closure that solves some of the common issues with plastic side-squeeze buckles. The nylon webbing has reflective stitching for visibility. This collar is available in five colors and four sizes to fit dogs with necks 8-26" around.

Photo by Erin Koski

I purchased this Thundercollar at SuperZoo because I could not stop playing with the buckle. It's totally different from every other collar fastener I've ever encountered.

Having worked at a, lets face it, seriously overcrowded doggy daycare for years, I have buckled and unbuckled a TON of collars. My first thought when bringing a dog out to the yard was always "How fast can I take this collar off?" The biggest disaster we could possibly face out there was a dog getting their jaw wrapped around another dog's collar while playing. If a collar didn't have a quick release buckle, it came off. If the buckle had a safety lock, it came off. If it had an unusual fastener that I didn't think other staff would instantly be able to operate in an emergency on a panicked dog, it came off. If I was petting the dog and noticed that the buckle was a bit stiff, it came off.

Photo by Erin Koski

If you've ever had to open a standard side-squeeze quick-release buckle under major stress, you're already aware of how difficult it can be. Pressure sort of locks them shut, you need a tiny bit of slack to open them smoothly. I haven't had to unfasten a Thundercollar in an emergency, but the buckle seems to open under stress the same way it does when slack.

Emergency situations aside, pinching a dog with a quick-release buckle makes me feel like a horrible monster. A properly-fitted collar should be pretty snug to avoid it getting caught on things (like other dogs' faces), and it's pretty easy to pinch a short-haired dog's neck when snapping it on. An occasional pinch isn't a big deal for many dogs, but for the

Photo by Erin Koski

sensitive ones it can give them yet another reason to feel that the world is not a safe place.

Pros: Buckle opens top-to-bottom rather than side-to-side to prevent pinching. Can be opened under pressure, with one hand, without looking. Quieter than a standard plastic buckle.

Cons: Slightly tricky to open by itself, much easier to open when it's actually on a dog. There's no overlap between the small and medium sizes, so if your dog has a 14" neck the small will be a bit small and the medium will be a bit large.

Bottom Line: This is a quick-release safety collar for noise-sensitive dogs, those with sensitive skin, and dogs who require a nice snug fit.