It is vital when you choose a collar that you think about which lead you are going to pair it with, as many combinations will not work as well as you would hope. If you choose the wrong combination, your pet could easily slip out or break free from both their lead and/ or collar, causing you untold grief.

Control: It is likely that we will use all of the above throughout different stages of our pets lives. To start with we will use control collars which are more times than not used with leads. These are ideal for training our pets early on and teaching them boundaries with their behaviour manually.

I am sure you will agree that these control collars are also comforting for us owners to provide safety when taking them out.  Leads are ideal for this as they give us something to grab hold of.

If your Pup needs additional control, there is always the option of a dog harness, which many people find particularly useful and it gives them extra confidence when taking their pet into public places.

Identification: In years gone by, the identification of our pets was never an issue, however, these days it is vitally important that we take measures to ensure our Pup is safe. Technology has surrounded us with a number of user friendly and effective identity tags which can be attached to your dogs collar.

Although some of these identity dog collars can be somewhat pricy, I am sure you will agree that the confidence you feel once you have one around you pups neck will be priceless.

Fashion: Where do I start? In time past, it was difficult to really find something for your pet which was personal to you and him/her. Times have changed. You can now find designers who will design you a bespoke collar for your pet that is unique. You can be confident taking your pup for a walk i the park knowing that nobody will have the same designer collar as you.

From designer to high street, there is a huge range of fashion dog collars available whether you are wanting to spend £100000 down to £1. Either way you can make you pup look beautiful.

NEVER FORGET, Function before fashion. The primary function of a dog collar is not fashion. Make sure you compromise and choose a collar that not only looks beautiful but also keeps your pup safe. That is not to say that you cannot still have a lot of fun shopping for collars, leads and clothes for your dog.

Always remember to choose wisely. If you get the collar right, it can speak volumes about your dog….and you.  The right dog collars will also make a huge impact on your dogs training.

It is so important that you always use the two finger rule whenever you are fitting your pets lead.

A lead that fits improperly can cause lifelong damage and be potentially fatal. Most of the damage done to our pups is when they are walked by friends and family who do not know how to handle your dog properly. They are not familiar with the lead, collar or the dog.

It is understandable in today’s society that you don’t always have the time you need or would like to walk you dog regularly. This means that there are a number of occasions when you ask friends or family to be involved in their dog walking regime.

It is easy to expect that everyone knows how to walk a dog. They don’t! Make sure you put enough time aside before allowing someone to take your pet out to teach them how to put the collar on a lead correctly. Make sure they know how to do up the collar in case the dog wriggles out of it and also make sure that they know how to release the lead quickly in the event that the dog get caught up. Make sure that they understand that the lead and collar should not be tight and with both a full head check and a half head check it should be mostly loose and only pulling tight for short periods of time to stop the dog.

You would not let just anyone look after your child for the day if they had not had enough of their own exposure to successfully bringing up children so don’t do the same with your pup.

If in doubt, I highly recommend employing a dog walker. They are generally speaking, superb. You can be confident with a dog walker that they know what they are doing. This means that you can go to work and not have to worry about the happiness of your dog or the fitness of your dog.

So to recap; always use the two finger rule when you are fitting your pets lead and dog collars. If you do not fit it properly it can cause long term damage to your dog.

Whatever the name, it does the same job. These look and work very similarly to the halters used for horses. If you place the halter over the back of the neck and the top of the muzzle it will fit on.  This gives you so much more control over the dogs direction and control. They are excellent devices for helping you dog and feeling confident when taking your dog out. When you put pressure on these halters they pull the dog in the direction of you the handler. The great thing about this device is that it mimics mother nature! Wolves use a similar technique with it s pack to show dominance.

Many people however, think that these halters can potentially be harmful and painful to your dog. This is because the strap can dig into the dogs face and jaw making it particularly uncomfortable.

These head halters, similarly to the full check collar, need to be used with caution. If they are used with force or pulled up rapidly they can cause neck injuries on your pets neck.

Within this category of dog collars come Wolf collars. Although not used so much nowadays, they are very useful for protecting your dog against attacks from other dogs and in the past wolves. The protect the dog from direct attack to the neck by the predator.

So whether you need to protect you pup from other animals or protect other animals from your dog, the above collars will be able to help you one way or another.

Make sure whichever collar you choose that you ensure it in comfortable for your dog. Make sure that you fit it correctly to ensure that it is not to tight which will cause rubbing or fatal neck injuries and also that it is not too loose to cause your pup slipping away in a potentially dangerous area.