this was a question i thought i knew the answer to for a long time and it was “absolutely not.”
it turns out, with a little education and a more open-mind, i learned the short the answer is actually “absolutely yes.”
the long answer is: it depends on how they’re designed and used.
So are breakaway collars safe for dogs? In many situations, yes. A well-designed breakaway collar is meant to release under pressure if it gets caught on something like a fence, a crate, or another dog during play. That release can help prevent the kind of entanglement accidents that traditional collars simply cannot.
and if you live with dogs the way we do, in a full, messy, joyful, multi-dog pack, that nuance matters.
what is a breakaway collar?
a breakaway collar is designed to release under pressure.
if a collar gets caught on a fence, a crate, a branch, or even another dog’s teeth during play, it’s meant to open before something awful happens.
that’s the theory and the theory is sound.
traditional collars don’t release at all. if they get caught, they stay caught.
but, and this is important, not all breakaway collars are created the same. The differences between breakaway collars and standard quick release collars also matter when thinking about safety.
where things get complicated
when i first learned of breakaway collars i had nothing but doubts.
- how do you walk a dog with a collar that’s designed to open?
- how much pressure does it take to release?
- would it pop open during normal play?
- would i constantly be replacing lost collars?
these are real concerns.
And after almost three decades designing dog collars and living with a large pack of rescue dogs, they were concerns I took seriously.
we tested one a few years ago and it was gone within 15 minutes.
months later it turned up in our yard (how does this always happen with dogs), i put it back on and then it quickly disappeared for good.
it felt safer but realistically just not sustainable.
a collar that opens when it shouldn’t can mean your dog suddenly isn’t wearing id or there's no way to wrangle them and that matters.
it also matters to your wallet.
when breakaway collars make the most sense
in my opinion, and this comes from decades of living with a pack of dogs, breakaways make the most sense in:
• multi-dog households
• homes where dogs wrestle and grab collars
• crate users
• fence runners
• dogs who wear collars primarily for id
if dogs play together regularly, collar grabbing happens. it just does.
and that’s where a collar designed to release can be the difference between a scare and something worse.
but they’re not for every situation
breakaway collars are not meant for tie-outs.
they shouldn’t be used for leash walking unless both d-rings engaged.
they’re a safety feature, not a magic solution.
like anything in the world, proper use matters.
so… are they safe?
absolutely, resoundingly yes.
when they are thoughtfully designed and used correctly.
we can’t bubble-wrap our dogs. they run, wrestle, sprint fence lines, dive into crates, and live life at full speed.
but we can make small design choices that reduce risk.
that’s what led us to rethink how breakaways work and eventually design our own adjustable pressure system; one that releases under real pressure but doesn’t just pop open during normal play.
and, because you know your dog best, it puts the control safely in your hands.
learn more about our breakaway collars here
i’m not writing this to fearmonger but to let you know safety is now attainable and sustainable.
i’m writing because i’ve heard the stories firsthand and worried about it myself.
if there’s a way to reduce even one preventable accident in someone else’s pack, it’s worth talking about.
at the end of the day, your dog’s safety shouldn’t be a commodity, it should be about protection.