The Best Ways to Put Tags on Greyhound Dog Collars

Greyhounds have been bred to hunt off-lead and by sight, to chase their prey and either bring it down or hold it at bay for the hunter. Famously elegant, Greyhounds are tall, lean, muscular dogs with short, sleek coats, capable of great speed and stamina. Many are extremely interesting in chasing and killing small animals such as squirrels, cats and small dogs. For these reasons, Greyhounds should wear collars that identify them so that they can be returned if they get loose.

  1. Lurcher Collar

    • Greyhound wearing a lurcher collar backwards.

      The classic Greyhound collar is the lurcher collar, wide in front to protect the throat and narrow in back for comfort. Some lurcher collars are plain leather or nylon, while others are beautifully ornamented with leather tooling, lacing, engravings, embossed studs, spikes or silk brocade. Lurcher collars buckle behind the dog's head and include a ring or a d-ring where the dog's leash can be clipped; hang your dog's tags there.

    Martingale

    • This Italian Greyhound is wearing an ornate, fitted martingale.

      The most common Greyhound collar is the martingale, a loop-on-loop or limited choke collar. Martingales, too, can be plain, ornate or anything in between. A martingale will consist of a length of material with two metal rings on the end and a shorter length of material that runs through those and is joined in the middle by a third ring. The dog's head goes through the larger loop, with the smaller loop at the back of the dog's neck. If the larger loop has a slide buckle to adjust its size, hang your dog's tags there. Otherwise, hang it from the center ring that joins the ends of the small loop behind the dog's skull.

    Training, Slip or Choke Collar

    • The training collar consists of a length of material, such as a chain, with a ring on each end. Make a "P" with the collar by pulling the center of it through one of the rings. With the dog sitting in front of you, put the collar on its head so that the leg of the "P" runs over his neck to its right side. The ring on that end is the live ring; the other ring that the leg runs through is the dead ring. Clip the leash to the live ring and your dog's tags from the dead ring. They will make much less noise there than if they hang from the live ring. Never, under any circumstances, leave your dog alone wearing a training collar: it is often called a choke collar because it is a live noose and it can kill your dog.

    Buckle Collar

    • An Italian Greyhound wearing a flat buckle collar

      The buckle collar of a fixed length is not suitable for controlling Greyhounds. Greyhounds have long, narrow skulls that are streamlined, while their necks are often very muscular. It is easy for a Greyhound to back out of a buckle collar, and they quickly learn how to do so. However, this means that a buckle collar is the safest collar to be worn for simple identification purposes. The buckle collar will have a d-ring for a leash; hang the tags there.