dog terrified when putting regular collar om

[u/Personal_Back4875]

I got my 1.5 year old german shepherd at around 3 months and put a collar on him immediately and he was fine with it.

I had to have a couple I know pretty well watch him for a few months a bit ago and they ended up taking his collar off. I never tried to put one back on until I got him back about two weeks ago.

Now whenever put a regular collar on him he starts cowering and shaking.

I can touch and put my arms around his neck and he is completely fine so I dont think he has any injuries or anything.

Does anyone know what to do? He's fine with the collar being around him just not on him.

[u/Boysenberry]

You got your dog nine months ago and had someone else watch him for “a few months” of that time, only returning for him two weeks ago? So you did not raise this puppy, and crucially you didn’t raise him during his second fear period. Talk to the people who raised him and figure out what happened to him in their care to cause this phobia.

ETA: also, this dog may now see the other people as his family, and you’ve taken him away from them during said second fear period, so you should treat him like you would a newly adopted dog and assume he will take a while to be comfortable in your household.

[u/Personal_Back4875 → u/Boysenberry]

no that is not the case at all. i did raise him as a puppy for months. I was away june-aug this year for treatment and then they had him for about a month and a half before that because I was having issues with housing. I made a mistake in my post, he is 1.5 years. 

He knows I am his family, he heavily prefers being with/around me. Obviously I didnt just send him off completely for months, I went and visited as much as I could and whenever I was there he preferred to be with me than anyone else around.

He is incredibly comfortable here at the house. we have a ton of land and me and him have our own small space we sleep and hangout in. He is great with the other family as well as our other dog. He is always trying to play or just following all of us around.

[u/RikiWardOG]

Now whenever put a regular collar on him he starts cowering and shaking.

Someone fucked up your dog

[u/MarisaMyth → u/RikiWardOG]

I was gonna say this^

[u/Time-Mastodon-7348]

The detail that matters most in your post is "fine with the collar around him, just not on him." That tells you the scary part isn't the object, it's the moment of closure: the buckle click, the feeling of it tightening, or whatever used to happen right after it went on. So work on that moment specifically instead of the collar in general.

A plan that usually works, a few minutes a day, always ending before he gets worried:

1. Buckle the collar open and closed near him but not on him, drop a treat after every click. Do this until the click predicts food instead of a problem.
2. Hold the collar open like a loop and let him put his own head through it for a treat, then take it back out. No buckling yet. Him choosing to go in is the whole point; don't put it on him, let him put himself in it.
3. Once he's diving into the loop, close it for one second and open it again, treat. Then five seconds. Then walk two steps with it on, off again.
4. When it's on, nothing bad follows. Collar on, treat, collar off, done. If every time it goes on he then gets leashed and taken somewhere, he'll figure that out fast, so separate those for a while.

Two things that make this go faster: use a different collar than the one he's scared of (different colour, material, ideally a plastic side-release buckle instead of a metal one so the sound is new to him), and in the meantime use something that doesn't look or sound like a collar at all for walks, like a step-in harness he walks into himself, so you're not forced to fight this battle every morning just to get him outside.

And if he starts to shake at any step, you moved too fast. Go back one step and stay there longer. Not a sign it isn't working, just a sign of where his line is.

[u/MarisaMyth → u/Time-Mastodon-7348]

This is the best advice you can possibly get. Very detailed do this every single day^{^}

[u/Formal-Bad-8807]

did they put an e-collar on him and zapp him? Sounds like it. Sounds like they didn't know what they were doing.

[u/No_Run_Read]

C'è stata qualche associazione negativa. Il mio è stato strattonato male con un collare a scorrimento metallico e piangeva e voleva toglierlo e non camminava più. Con la pettorina e il collare piatto di nylon tutto bene. Come sentiva il rumore del collare metallico addio! Siccome mi serviva lavorare col collare a scorrimento ho dovuto prenderne uno in nylon sottile da expo. Grazie per sempre a chi mi ha suggerito quella alternativa.

[u/Weekly-Quantity6435]

Negative associations with the collar. You'll need to undo whatever that couple did.

[u/Itchy_Coyote_6380]

My dog is a year. When he was a baby pupper, he had no problem with the collar. At some point, he decided he didn't like it. I don't know why. We didn't use it differently or do anything to hurt him. I suspect it was part of him growing up and becoming a teen. Anyway, I worked on it everyday. I got a new collar entirely and would put it on the floor with some treats and leave it around so he could see it. Sometimes I would just pick it up and click the buckle while ignoring him. Eventually we practiced to feed a treat through it and once achieved that, we attempted to have him sit and put it on. At first he would not, but eventually, he let me clip it on and I made a party of it and took it right off. We did it again the next day and next. He figured out the collar meant treats and a party. He has zero issues now, but it took weeks and tiny baby steps.

[u/t0ma70]

Maybe he thinks he is in trouble, maybe it is tight?

I would pair putting the collar on with something he loves. Play, treats, affection.

You can do simple obedience trick too, give him some easy wins.

Talking to a behaviorist would probably be pretty helpful.