At What Age to Invest in an Adult Collar?

[Siloh]

I know these breeds mature long and slow, so I'm wondering--will I go through phases of adult collars? Should I get the style of collar I expect my puppy to use early? Should I plan to start him on an "adult" collar to grow into around 9 months, or later?

I know this sounds a bit silly with Hamlet under 5mos, but I would like to get him a custom collar from one of the users here, and I know that will probably take a while to make and get here. Should I be prepared early for the power he will shortly come into? Or should I just start him on a nylon martingale to get him used to the type? Will I buy a collar at 9 months and then have to replace it in another 6? Am I essentially (figuratively) going to get an angora monogrammed onesie for a baby that will outgrow it faster than it ships by planning too early?


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[musicdeb]

Hamlet will continue to grow until about 2-3 years of age. Unfortunately, the buying new collars to fit the dog is part of owning a mastiff.

I would say you could use an martingale collar at 6-8 months. Check out DMikeMoore's collars, he's on the forum. I just bought one for Titan and I love it. Titan's neck is 24 1/2 inches and I ordered the collar at 26 inches.

 

[Campbell Corso]

Just a bit of advice from someone who now has several collars that are too small. Wait. Don't go by what the mother's neck size is. Just wait till they are a year before you spend custom collar money on a collar. They will fill out. They will get " wrinklier". I know it's hard to wait but you could end up saving $$$. Saying that, we got all of Dharma's puppy collars from sales at the various pet stores. We got ones to wear at the time, and larger, knowing she'd grow into them. Hope it helps.

 

[Smokeycat]

Kryten is an EM but to give an example he had 6-7 collars before he turned 1. I made his current collar at 15 months. I deliberately made it a little too big. He just turned 2 and I noticed that his collar is getting tight. I want to get a fancier collar for him but it won't be for another year at the earliest.

 

[ruby55]

I didn't start getting "good" collars until Ruby hit 3 years old. Since we have 4 dogs, I wanted to have collars that were interchangeable between dogs, & although THEY wouldn't care if someone was using a cheap Walmart collar, it would bug me. We now have a box of pretty expensive collars, all bought gently used, from friends with dogs as big as ours.
If you want to adorn your dog's neck at any early age, you could start with some custom tags. Here's our pride & joy tag:

It's a steampunk design, in brass. About 2" in diameter. It has Ruby's name & a phone number engraved on the back. This tag maker designs all sorts of custom designs in various metals. (BTW that collar is a cheap Walmart collar, I'm ashamed to say.)

 

[rcnd82]

Yes. He will outgrow his collars ... for awhile. I have used an inexpensive martingale collar they gave me when I started attending dog classes and have a couple of other less expensive flat collars. Now that Percy is 8 months, and outgrowing the early collars, and DMikeMoore is able to "expand" or alter the martingale collar as Percy grows, I went ahead and ordered two from Mike. One collar is 20 inches and one collar is 24 inches. Figure we could expand as Percy grows and would always have one that fit while the other was being expanded by Mike.

 

[Th0r]

I have these:
Rogz 1-Inch Lumberjack Reflective Dog Collar, X-Large, Chocolate:Amazon

Rogz 1-Inch Lumberjack Reflective Dog Choker, X-Large, Orange:Amazon

I bought Thor a nice fancy leather collar the day we brought him home but it was small and outgrew it when he hit 11 weeks old.
Now he is 18 weeks old and the Rogz collars are very nicely made. They are made in South Africa.

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[Hector]

You should wait because you don't know how big his neck will get. You will know when your dog's neck has stopped growing. Hector is almost 20 months and he seemed to have stopped growing.

 

[Siloh]

Well I am feeling really glad I asked. And I totally appreciate those who have written with an understanding of my personal desire to get him a nice collar even though it's early.

Seems like the cheaper nylon martingale a will be fine for when he's a bit older and has outgrown his current Walgreenes flat collar (which is large on him already).

I love the idea about getting an ornate pendant-type thing in the meantime.


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[musicdeb]

I didn't start getting "good" collars until Ruby hit 3 years old. Since we have 4 dogs, I wanted to have collars that were interchangeable between dogs, & although THEY wouldn't care if someone was using a cheap Walmart collar, it would bug me. We now have a box of pretty expensive collars, all bought gently used, from friends with dogs as big as ours.
If you want to adorn your dog's neck at any early age, you could start with some custom tags. Here's our pride & joy tag:View attachment 39865

It's a steampunk design, in brass. About 2" in diameter. It has Ruby's name & a phone number engraved on the back. This tag maker designs all sorts of custom designs in various metals. (BTW that collar is a cheap Walmart collar, I'm ashamed to say.)

Ruby is gorgeous and looks fancy with her tag!

 

[MiraOCeti]

(First post!)

I got Oscar (EM) his big boy collar at 13 months old, I did err on the side of caution and got it a little on the big side, at 3 years old it still fits, but he has moved up two notches since he got it, he has one still to go, so I think it will last him.

He wears a Blocky Dogs Dual Grip collar which works as both a Martingale and a flat collar depending on where you clip on the leash. Block Dog collars are the best. They are custom made and are as strong and rugged as you can get, you can have custom embroidery on them too and if you want a sherpa lining (didn't offer that when we got Oscar's). The nice thing about the Dual Grip is the martingale part can be used as a handle. I also love Blocky Dog leashes.

For those with still growing puppies, Blocky Dogs make the Baby Blocky collars for the growing stage.

BLOCKY DOGS: Heavy-Duty Products for Heavy-Duty Dogs

Here is Oscar this morning in his BD collar!

 

[Siloh]

I LOVE that collar. I was looking a bit at these collars earlier, but I didn't realize how much they could be customized. He looks good!


"Nothing is neither good nor bad, but thinking makes it so."
Hamlet Prince of Denmark

 

[Campbell Corso]

Rogz are quality collars. We used them when Dharma was younger. Mira0Ceti, Thanks for the Blocky info and photos. It might be my next collar. Here is a picture of Dharma in her new collar from Ella's Lead. My wife hates it. I thinks it's fun.

 

[MiraOCeti]

Wow, what a fancy collar and a beautiful looking dog!