Hey Mighty Paw Fam, Barbara here to talk to you about our Mighty Paw Martingale Dog Collar 2.0!
What's The Purpose Of A Martingale Collar?
First things first, Martingale Collars are also known as safety collars because they prevent dogs to accidentally slip out of their collar since they can't back out of these particular ones.
This is really useful for slender dogs with smaller heads. As a matter of fact, martingale collars were originally designed for sighthounds like Greyhounds!
With their 2 loop design, martingale collars also make great training collars, especially for teaching polite leash walking skills and preventing moderate to average pulling.
The loops on martingale collars are made of different materials. Some are all nylon while others are all stainless steel or metal. Yet others are a combination of leather or nylon loops and chain loops. Our Martingale Collar 2.0 consists of a nylon loop and a chain loop along with a buckle.
The way it works is it applies pressure on your dog's neck when he tries to pull away. This pressure is evenly distributed all around your dog's neck and isn't just applied to the trachea, as is the case when dogs pull on a standard collar. That particular benefit makes martingale collars a gentle but effective training tool!
Ready? Now let's take a look at our martingale collar!
The Mighty Paw Martingale Dog Collar 2.0: Features, How To Use It, & More
Our Martingale Collar 2.0 is one of our dog training collars and very easy and safe to use on a large variety of different size dogs.
It works great for teaching polite leash walking & heeling skills and prevents moderate to average pulling. You can also control your dog's leash reactivity with it, especially when you combine it with one of our signature dual handle leashes.
For example, our dual handle bungee leash. That's my personal favorite because it reduces unneeded stress to your wrist, elbow, shoulder and neck!!
Features Of The Mighty Paw Martingale Dog Collar 2.0
- Durable and weather-resistant stainless steel chain
- Premium weather-proof nylon
- Heavy duty buckle
- Easily adjustable with triglide
- Reflective stitching for visibility at night
- Additional leash attachment to easily switch from a training collar to a standard walking collar
- Stylish colors and design
How To Measure Your Dog For Our Martingale Dog Collar 2.0
Our Martingale Dog Collar 2.0 comes in 4 different sizes, so it's important to properly measure your dog's neck for the right fit:
- Small: Neck size 11-13", Collar width 3/4"
- S/M: Neck size 12.5 -14.75", Collar width 1"
- Medium: Neck size 14.4 - 17.75", Collar width 1"
- Large: Neck size 17.5" - 23", Collar width 1"
All you need to properly measure your dog's neck is a soft measuring tape. If you don't have one of those, you can also use a piece of string and a ruler.
See the dotted line in the picture below? That's where you should measure your dog's neck.
My pup Wally is a 38 lb Feist mix with a 14.5" neck circumference. The medium size Martingale Dog Collar 2.0 fits him best.
Once you have your collar, make sure that it fits snugly. You should only be able to fit one finger between your dog's neck and the collar.
How To Use The Martingale Dog Collar 2.0
OK, now here's how to use it:
- Adjust the collar to fit your dog's neck using the triglide
- Either slide the collar over your dog's head or use the buckle to put it around your dog's neck
- Attach your leash to the D-ring on the chain loop
- Clip your dog's tags to the D-ring on the nylon part of the collar (optional)
Now you're ready to take your pup for a walk!
Technique Tips To Prevent Pulling
While the martingale collar and the dual handle leash are great training tools, using the right technique is equally important for training success.
Something to keep in mind is that you shouldn't apply constant tension to your leash - that actually encourages pulling and teaches your dog not to pay attention to you.
So keep a loose leash and don't pull back continuously! Instead, use a quick tug upwards on the leash to communicate to your dog that you don't agree with his pulling behavior, then loosen your leash again.
Additionally, change directions frequently.
You can also include circle 8 figures if your pup is determined to pull. That exercise is wonderful to teach him to pay attention to you.
Other things to incorporate are basic obedience commands like "sit" and "down" along with rewarding eye contact with a tasty training treat and/or verbal praise - good boy!
When you're asking your dog to perform those commands, he's working his brain and burns mental energy. That can be almost as exhausting as physical exercise, so ideally, you'll want to combine both for a well-behaved pup!
It's comparable to you learning a new computer program or language, or whatever else it may be. Since you're mentally applying yourself to learning a new behavior, you'll find that you have less energy to expand after a while of doing this new thing, right?
The same applies to our pups when we challenge them mentally!
Any Cons?
Take It Off When You're Done Training
The Mighty Paw Martingale Dog Collar 2.0 is a training collar and should only be used under supervision.
That's why we don't recommend using the Martingale Collar as an every day collar - only use it for training sessions and walks.
When you're done training, we recommend to take it off your dog and switch it out for a regular flat collar. For example, our padded Dog Sport Collar 2.0 or our Standard Reflective Colorblast Dog Collar.
Tip: Check out all of our collars in our Mighty Paw dog collar section.
Not A Good Fit For Strong Pullers & Aggressive Dogs
Martingale Collars are not a good fit for determined, strong pullers or those with aggression issues.
For very strong leash pullers, we recommend a slip choke chain collar along with our dual-handle bungee leash.
Dogs with aggressive tendencies towards other dogs or people will do better with our heavy duty tactical dog collar. It has a built-in handle to quickly gain control of your dog and works best with one of our dual-handle bungee leashes.
The bungee feature is highly recommended by physical therapists because it reduces unneeded stress to your wrist, elbow, shoulder and neck!
Are you ready to start working on your pup's polite leash walking skills and reduce pulling with our Martingale Dog Collar 2.0? Pick one up here!
Barbara Rivers writes regularly for Mighty Paw. She is a blogger, raw feeder, former dog walker and maintains the blog K9s Over Coffee.
If you enjoyed this blog post, sign up for more here! You may also like:
How To Teach Your Dog To Come When Called Reliably
How To Choose The Right Collar For Your Dog
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