15/06/2020
Would you put a noose around your 6 month baby's neck, your 90 year old Grandmother’s neck, or your best friend’s neck? No? Then you might want to think again about putting a noose around a dog’s neck, with the potential to cause harm to their neck, brain and even gut (the brain and the gut are intrinsically connected. Dogs' necks are basically physically and physiologically the same as ours. The domestic canine head has also undergone morphological changes since being a wolf. Whiplash in humans is the same in dogs. Strangulation in humans is the same in dogs. Muscle is designed for kinetic movement, not pressure. You will never see huskies pulling sleds from the neck, only a harness (Turid Rugaas).
I had whiplash, layered with stress and strains on the neck resulting in a torn artery (vertebral artery dissection) and eventually I had a stroke. I had to learn to walk, talk and read again. It was thoroughly unpleasant and has damaged me for life. A dog’s neck is no different - is has delicate capillaries, blood vessels, veins, cranial lymph nodes, thyroid (potential damage = hypothyroidism - Dr Jean Dodds, Dr Peter Dobias), thymus (contains T cells), hyoid (tongue) bone, parasympathetic and sympathetic nerves, vagus nerve (brain to colon messaging), atlas misalignment, intraocular damage, etc.
The damage cause by just one yank, or series of smaller yanks by a noose (collar) is potentially massive. Instead, use a well-fitting harness, teach your dog to be calm, but first learn to be calm yourself - see my previous posts and some research below.
New research just out 21st April 2020 by Nottingham Trent University - "Variation in the pressures exerted on the neck may have implications on comfort and the potential to cause injury. NO SINGLE COLLAR TESTED - provided a pressure considered low enough to mitigate the risk of injury when pulling on the lead." Link to new research: http://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/39713/…
Effects of the Application of Neck Pressure by a Collar or Harness on Intraocular Pressure in Dogs. Intraocular pressure increased significantly from baseline when pressure was applied via a collar but not via a harness. Link to research https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16611932/?fbclid=IwAR3YO1teoKFhs99AkuVMDkzbLOV-7QAZPeXHoRrOEwqIi0GDd5jb-fCdH24
Addition: There is lots of research now on the Vagus Nerve (VN) - the 10th Cranial Nerve. The VN is associated with the Neuro Inflammatory Reflex, which is involved in homeostasis in the body. The VN switches off inflammation. The vagus nerve begins in the medulla of the brain, goes down the neck (sits underneath a collar) and continues all the way down to the colon, so it can affect many areas of the body. It is involved in the parasympathetic response and is the body's super-highway sending signals from the gut microbes and neurotransmitters (such as serotonin) to the brain. It is connected to every organ in the thorax, and every organ in the abdomen, and is involved with digestion and detoxification. Neck injuries affect this cranial nerve to liver - Vagus tension - Parasympathetic C1-C2. Problems with the vagus nerve can affect the migrating motor complex (the small intestine's road sweeper) and can contribute to SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth), which is the main cause of IBS.
Do your own research, study the vagus nerve, the brain, the gut microbiome, and the gut-brain connection (which is bi-directional). Understand how the autonomic nervous system works, what is stress? Understand about neurons, synapses, glial cells, myelin, what neurotransmitters are, how they are produced and where they are produced, and the same with hormones. Understand where the ANS nerves are situated in the body, and how to engage the parasympathetic nervous system, before relying on training methods that stimulate the sympathetic nervous system.
If a dog pulls on a lead, you have a stressed/hyper-stimulated dog. Teach it to be calm, and activate the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), and not to activate its sympathetic nervous system further. But to do this, you need to understand how the autonomic system works and what stimulates it. Stress can be psychological, emotional, environmental, physical and nutritional. Much of these is included in my 14 hour Understanding Stress in Dogs for Therapists Online CPD - this slide is one of hundreds from the course (see website for details).
