Safety Break-Away Dog Collar Review

I haven’t written a dog blog post in a long time as I just haven’t known what to write. Today however, I have a dog product that every dog owner needs to know about. If you are like me, and the health and safety of your pet is your top priority, then you need to read this post about break-away dog collars. The PetSafe KeepSafe Break-Away Safety Collars (a mouthful of a name), are collars that are designed to prevent dogs from getting strangled by their collar. When I heard about this product that could prevent collar accidents, I knew I had to try it. 

The PetSafe KeepSafe Break-Away Safety Collars have a ‘patented break-away safety buckle that releases when pressure is applied’. A break-away collar can prevent your dog from getting snagged on an object, or from being pulled by the collar by another dog during play.

I have thankfully never had a collar accident in my house, but they can be devastating when they do happen. I originally started looking for a safety dog collar when I read a viral Facebook post about an owner who only just made it in time to save her two labs, who were accidentally killing each other by entangling themselves in each others collars. If they had been wearing break-away collars, that incident wouldn’t have happened. My dogs are little, and don’t bite each others collars, but there is still the very real risk of them getting snagged on an object and hurting themselves by trying to get free. The PetSafe website states that over 26,000 collar related accidents occur each year, which is an average of 71 a day. I assume this is a USA statistic, and I can’t find the original survey that provided this information, but collar related accidents are more common than most people think. 

The PetSafe Break-Away Collar comes with two D rings, that are attached to either side of the buckle, that allow you to attach a lead without triggering the break-away mechanism, so you can have a normal walk with it on. I do however only use harnesses to walk my dogs. I specifically use the Friendly Dog Collars harnesses (affiliate), which you can read all about in my Friendly Dog Collars review. Break-away dog collars can be reused after the buckle has released, but don’t play around with the release mechanism, as they could eventually become too loose to use if the break-away clip is released too often.

In June, I purchased a small PetSafe KeepSafe Break-Away Safety Collar from Pet Circle for A$29.99, but they don’t seem to carry the brand anymore. They are however still stocked by some other Australian retailers, including Amazon. When I purchased I only had the option of small, medium or large, and all in the colour black. However, the PetSafe website shows that they offer a couple of different colours, as well as the extra small and extra large sizes.  

The small size is advertised as being 10-14 inches long (approximately 25-36 cm),  and made for breeds of a similar size to Pomeranians, Shih tzus and Jack russel terriers. The small collar width is 0.75 inches (approximately 1.9 cm). That is the most important measurement for me, as many collars are made too wide for little dogs. That length and thickness, has worked well for Kobi, a Lhasa apso cross rescue, as his neck is big enough for the size to not  be overwhelming on him. He weighs in at 9 kg though, so he’s a lot bigger than many other small dogs. The collar thickness is much too wide on Bonsai, who is a Chihuahua cross Papillon rescue, and only weighs 4 kg. I had to find another option for Bonsai, as I didn’t know there was the extra small size available. 

After a couple of trips to various pet shops, I was finally able to find a break-away cat collar that was thin enough for Bonsai to wear. I bought it from Pet Barn, and it is by a brand called Bond & Co, which I can’t find any information about. The collar length is adjustable, from 20 to 30 cm, and is only 1 cm wide. It does come with a bell on it, but that was easy to remove, and the break away clip isn’t anywhere near as sturdy as the PetSafe one, but it has been working well for Bonsai for a few months now. It also don’t have the double D rings like the PetSafe one, but he wears a harness when walking so that doesn’t matter for me. I would however still like to try the extra small PetSafe Break-Away dog collar on him, just to see if it is a good size. Pickles (Dachshund cross rescue) is scared of collars, so I haven’t bought her one yet, but I plan on getting a small one for her in the future too. 

My dogs are my world, so I try to do everything possible to ensure they are safe and healthy. I don’t have to worry about any collar incidents when they’re wearing break-away collars, but they still have my information on them if they were ever to escape. I know some people choose to not put a collar on their dogs when the dog is at home, to avoid collar injuries, but there is still the possibility that dogs can get out when at home, so I need to know that they will be returned quickly if that happens. There was an incident recently when the gardener accidentally left the side gate open, thankfully the dogs only went to the front of the driveway, and didn’t explore the neighbourhood, but if it did happen, they would hopefully be returned quickly due to the information on their collars. Obviously, I do everything I can to ensure my dogs never get out, and they are also micro chipped, but the break-away collar both ensures their safety from collar incidents, as well as encouraging people to call me if the worst happens and my dogs do get lost.

Both Kobi and Bonsai love wearing their collars, they both got upset when I removed them to take photos. Neither of them have caught their collars on anything, and hopefully they never will, but I know their collars will release if it does happen. The PetSafe KeepSafe Break-Away Collar that Kobi wears, is obviously designed for dogs in mind. It is much more sturdy than Bonsai’s break-away cat collar, but that option is available if you also have a really small dog that needs a thin collar. I would like to try the PetSafe extra small one on Bonsai to see how it goes, and I plan on getting Pickles a small one in future too. There’s a special bone printed one of the PetSafe website at the moment that looks really cute. I would love to see them do more cute designs as that might entice the people who like collars as accessories on dogs, and the more dogs that wear safety collars, the better. I do want to quickly note that I don’t agree with some of the products that PetSafe sell, I have only tried and like this one particular product that they make.

As I said at the start of this post, I don’t know what to write about dogs, so if you have any dog topics or products that you would like to read about, let me know, I would love to hear from you. Don’t forget to check out my Friendly Dog Collars blog post if you’re looking for a harness for your dog, and if you want my new blog posts sent to your inbox, then sign up for email updates. You can also follow me on social media to see what I’m up to – Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.

What do you think about break-away collars for dogs? Have you tried the PetSafe KeepSafe Break-Away Collar, or a break-away dog collar from another brand? I couldn’t find any other brands making good quality break-away dog collars, so if you know of one, let me know.