How to choose the most suitable collar for your dog

Crafted Collars hand make dog collars for every dog, from tiny to giant breeds. With their optimum safety and comfort in mind, here are the key considerations that will help you make the right type and size choice for your dog.  

Step 1 - Collar Type  

Collar type suitability factors in your dog’s breed, size and any specific training needs such as pulling tendencies or risk of slipping backwards out of their collar.

House Collars

• Suitable for — dogs that walk off a harness
• Not ideal for — dogs that pull
• Best for — daily wear and for attaching ID tag to  
• Design features — uses flat webbing or synthetic leather; adjustable length; typically with quick side release buckle or belt style buckle; lightweight and comfortable to wear.   

Martingale Collars

• Suitable for — sighthounds; dogs that may pull; and escape artists.
• Also known as — double loop collars
• Especially useful as — a dog training collar, giving clear signals to the dog via a pressure cue, and only gently tightening when pressure is exerted on the lead, and remaining loose when walking calmly at your side
• Design features — comprises two loops of wide, flat, lined webbing without any buckles.  
• Not for — unsupervised use, as they can catch on items if worn indoors. 

For important advice on the correct fitting of Martingale collars, please visit our FAQs page  

Step 2 -  Measuring your dog for a collar  

As there can be variations within breeds and between sexes, measuring your dog is the best way to ensure a collar is going to be comfortable and secure.  

Measuring for all collar types

Using a soft measuring tape, or a piece of string, wrap the tape around the base of the neck snugly where the collar will naturally rest. Record the measurement. Add 1-2 inches to the measurement. 

Measuring for Martingale collars

Measure as above, then record an additional measurement around the widest part of the dog’s head, usually directly in front of, or below the ears. This ensures the collar can slip over the head comfortably when fitting. 

Step 3 - Select collar size using our guide

Taking your dog’s recorded neck size measurement, choose the collar size where their measurement fits in the middle of the typical neck size range. 

For example:  If your dog’s neck measures 13", this falls in the middle of typical neck size 10” to 16”, so you would order Collar Size ‘Small’.