We have had our Beagle pup for a week now, everything is going well except i can't get her to wear a collar. When i put one on her she just keeps scratching and running round in circles. I left it on for 3 hours then took it of her, then i have tried just putting it on for short periods every day but its not getting any easier. Shall i just put it on and leave it on ?any advice will be greatly appreciated!!

I would put it on and leave it on - if you keep taking it off she'll get the idea that if she keeps up the 'I'm not happy with this' behaviour, then you'll take it off.........

Hi peacebabe,

Put collar on and LEAVE on for a good few hours and try to ignore the puppy jumping around etc (mine did the same for a couple of days)  He (Alfie) is now 13 weeks old and has been wearing the collar every day now since he was 9 weeks and now he doesnt bat an eyelid.    Last week i attached the lead to the collar and believe it or not he was perfect.   He is a very happy abd confident puppy though so i guess his temperament helps.    Rest assured it will all come together in the end, just remember its like having a new baby in the house :o)

yes i agree, leave it on. i had this same problem, i started off with putting it on for few hours each day, but she wudnt get used to it. so in the end i just left it on!  Takes em a good week to get used to it i found.

If you're a girl, how long did it take you to get used to wearing a bra? ;)

haha i like that JG!  forever is the answer!

Thanks 4 that, she has had it on for 2 days now and it dosn't seem to be bothering her now!!

A lot of the books say to put it on for short periods and ease them into it slowly.  My person opinion is that this method only draws more attention to it.  I've always just put it on and left it on.  I've gotten inexpensive ones for their first collar so it didn't matter if they scratched it to bits.  The last two pups we've had I've bought stretchy cat collars for so that if they got caught on something they would easily come off.

After a couple of days the worst of the scratching is over.

Wendy

I agree! i put the collars on my dogs and just left them on and they never really had any problem with it. A little bit of scratching to start with and that was it.

With my puppy, I have always got him to sit (if you can), put his collar on (saying "Collar On") and the given him a nice treat and say "that's collar on, Good Boy!!!" with lost of praise. This have worked extremely well for me. If your puppy cannot sit, it does not matter, just put it on whatever position he/she may be in. Hopefully your puppy will soon realise, with the treats, that the collar is not such a bad thing after all!

Hope this helps.

Julia

As this thread was started right back in the middle of December I imagine the problem is over and done with now! But on the off chance the OP is still having trouble, I always put the collar on with the minimum of fuss, immediately before feeding. In the normal course of events, by the time they have finished feeding they will have forgotten about it. I put it on first thing in the morning just before the first feed and don't take it off until last thing at night. Beware of leaving it on over night. Young puppies grow so fast that in a couple of days the collar could be so tight as to cause distress! I start putting a collar on right from the time I get a puppy. Because this collar is never likely to be used with a lead I get the smallest, softest and thinnest I can find which will fit the puppy. Once the pup has got use to it and certainly before I take the puppy out I get it a heavier, more substantial collar which will withstand a sharp jerk by the puppy. This collar I buy as large as I can get which will still go down small enough to fit the puppy an the grounds that the pup will very soon grow into it! :)

Regards, John