Puppy FREAKING OUT about collar!

[cinnamongirl66]

Kodi is 7 1/2 weeks and we just got him his first collar. He is freaking! It is just a very thin,loose,light nylon thing. He is constantly crying and rubbing his neck on everything. He wont even run around outside, he just lays in the grass and looks miserable. I feel so bad! I've never had this problem with my dogs in the past. It has been 3 days and there is no sign of improvement. Anyone else have this problem, should I try a different collar? What kind?

[Paxx]

I am moving this to Training.

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[Judi W]

Has the collar remained on for those three days? It is kind of difficult to stay in a state of panic over a prolonged period of time. Most pups have a colored ribbon around their necks from birth to identify them and a collar is not even noticed. You might just go to a piece of ribbon. Put it on and leave it on. Don't make a big deal out of it and just leave it on. Then move to a light buckle collar, same thing.

[Judi W]

We're not talking about normal behavior here where the pup recognized that a collar means fun stuff. This pup has to learn he won't die from a collar being on his neck and that means it should be there to desensitize the pup to its presence.

[Karen J. Reece]

When I started lease training Mac I would put the collar on for 20 minutes at a time til he got used to it. But I do not leave a collar on him all the time. When he sees the collar he knows its time to go out and is eager to have it put on him. Do you have to leave the collar all the time?

[Karen J. Reece]

May not be normal behavior but I still feel that he will get used to it better if he knows it doesn't hurt him and it does come off sometimes. Just my humble opinion but I have collar trained and leased trained many dogs including an adult dog I rescued who had been mistreated and this method worked well and fast with them.

[Michael C.]

I would just put the collar on, give praise and a few treats and ignore any bad behavior. Don't baby the dog by any means.