The 7 best dog collars in 2024, tested and reviewed

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A decently fitted, comfortable collar is an basal portion of cogwheel for attaching your dog's ID tags. Whenever your canine goes retired into nan world, nan collar goes on. With this benignant of regular use, we look for safety, durability, and easiness of usage erstwhile recommending nan champion canine collars.

We tested 12 collars successful various styles and value points, including personalized, leather, reflective, and waterproof collars. Our apical prime is nan Ruffwear Crag Reflective Collar, which is easy to adjust, sturdy, and equipped pinch typical features for illustration reflective stitching and a carabiner for attaching your dog's ID tags. If you're looking for a simple, reliable collar for astir $10, we urge nan Frisco Solid Nylon Collar.

Keep successful mind that nan safest measurement to locomotion a canine is pinch a harness and leash. Walking a canine pinch a leash attached to a collar tin airs undue consequence to a dog's larynx aliases trachea if unit occurs from leash pulling, says Dr. Brian Collins, a veterinarian and elder teacher successful organization believe astatine Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. 

Read much about how Insider Reviews tests and evaluates pet products.

Our apical picks for nan champion canine collars

Best overall: Ruffwear Crag Reflective Dog Collar - See astatine Amazon

Best personalized: GoTags Embroidered Personalized Dog Collar - See astatine Chewy

Best leather: Riparo Genuine Leather Padded Dog Collar - See astatine Amazon

Best reflective: L.L.Bean Personalized Pet Collar - See astatine L.L. Bean

Best waterproof: Stunt Puppy Go Dog Glo Dry Collar - See astatine Chewy

Best budget: Frisco Solid Nylon Dog Collar - See astatine Chewy

Best LED: Blazin LED Light-Up Collar - See astatine Chewy

Best overall

The Ruffwear Crag looks rugged, but its flexible, lightweight nylon is soft and comfortable against a dog's neck. It besides has each nan must-have features we look for successful nan champion canine collars: a spot to securely connect ID tags, a side-release buckle for easy placement and removal, and a bully scope of adjustability. It was easy to fresh nan Crag for our tester pup, a medium-sized Australian shepherd pinch a fluffy cervix who usually needs immoderate proceedings and correction to get nan correct fit. 

Thanks to immoderate fantabulous other features, nan Crag moved to nan apical spot. Reflective threads woven into nan webbing springiness your canine other visibility astatine night, though not arsenic overmuch arsenic you'd get pinch an LED collar. There's a abstracted silicone ringing sewn into nan extracurricular of nan collar. It holds a mini carabiner wherever you tin easy connect your dog's tags. An included information silicone tab, nan "tag silencer,'' sits level betwixt tags and eliminates nan acquainted clinking sound erstwhile your canine moves aliases shakes their head. 

Instead of nan D-shaped ringing recovered connected astir different collars, nan Crag uses a V-shaped ringing for attaching a leash aliases tags; it worked likewise to others. Although we don't urge stepping a canine by attaching a leash to immoderate collar, nan Crag held up good successful our tugging and pulling tests (no dogs involved) and emerged from our cleaning and soaking tests free of rust and corrosion.

The collar is branded hand-wash only, but we put it done nan washing machine, and it came retired looking new. Unfortunately, it's not disposable successful an other mini size. If your dog's cervix circumference is little than 10 inches, you'll request to see a different collar, for illustration our fund prime from Frisco.

Best personalized

The GoTags Embroidered Personalized Dog Collar replaces our erstwhile apical pick, nan Orvis Personalized Side-Release Buckle Collar, which has been discontinued. The GoTags collar performed good successful our testing, but it comes successful less colors and wasn't arsenic resistant to cuts and tears successful our toughest maltreatment tests.

The soft, pliable nylon collar comes successful 4 sizes — other mini to ample pinch corresponding thicknesses of 3/8 up to 1 inch — and offers a 6-inch scope of adjustability successful each size. Five collar colors are disposable and tin beryllium embroidered pinch your dog's sanction and your telephone number successful 1 of 14 thread colors and up to 25 characters. It has a strong, heavy D-ring that stayed firmly successful spot and did not discolor aliases corrode during testing and cleaning. The downside of nan important D-ring is that it is difficult to spot and region tags.

The collar looked bully arsenic caller aft cleaning. Just propulsion it successful nan washing instrumentality aliases cleanable it pinch manus washing — some activity well.

Best leather

The Riparo Collar is simply a beautiful portion of leatherwork, but it isn't conscionable for dress-up days astatine nan dog-friendly office. It is beardown and sturdy, pinch a pebbled, full-grain leather aboveground that resists teeth marks, stainless alloy buckle closure, and a D-ring that won't corrode aliases discolor from wetness.

Although this collar is tough, it doesn't discuss connected comfort. Lined pinch sheepskin padding, it makes for a soft, comfy fresh connected a dog's neck. The collar besides has a mini tab built into nan leather for attaching tags, truthful we did not person to fiddle aliases fuss astir pinch nan D-ring.

Unlike nan champion canine collars made from synthetic materials, leather takes immoderate typical handling: It's champion not to time off it bedewed aliases moreover damp aft a locomotion successful nan rain, and arsenic for cleaning, saddle soap is recommended. But pinch care, nan collar should clasp its style and past you galore years. The smallest cervix circumference is 11 inches, but that size comes successful a ¾-inch width that should suit dogs connected nan smaller extremity of astir medium-sized breeds. However, nan 1-inch width of nan mean collar looked a spot bulky connected our trial Aussie.

Best reflective

Not only was this personalizable L.L.Bean collar nan astir reflective of nan champion canine collars, it was besides durable and easy adjustable. The collar was visible successful headlights from 150 feet distant astatine night, truthful nighttime walks aliases predawn runs pinch your canine will consciousness a batch safer. 

The only drawback is simply a unsmooth separator to nan stitching wrong nan collar. Because it feels scratchy, it won't activity for all-day deterioration connected short-haired dogs.

As for personalization, nan collar tin fresh up to 23 letters aliases numbers for nan smallest size and up to 30 for nan largest, stitched onto nan worldly pinch achromatic thread. Scotchlite, nan collar's reflective material, is besides utilized for safety, athletic, and casual garments. It is heat-bonded onto nan cloth and did not slice aliases deteriorate successful immoderate of our rounds of soaking and instrumentality washing.

Best waterproof

Quick-drying and reflective, nan Stunt Puppy Go Dog Glo Dry Collar is designed for nighttime walks, rainy days, and agelong stints outside. It is made of BioThane, a tough, water-resistant polyester/PVC worldly that wholly resists odors and dampness and is well-suited for dogs who for illustration to rotation successful nan mud and romp connected nan beach. 

The collar besides has a set of reflective worldly that is visible successful headlights up to 150 feet, which is useful for predawn aliases evening outings pinch your dog. Because BioThane is stiffer than nylon and leather, this collar is much difficult to adjust. Using nan rings to thread nan collar to nan correct size takes immoderate effort, but erstwhile successful place, nan collar lies level connected nan dog's neck. 

Although it's 1 of nan champion canine collars we tested, its stiffness and thinness make it little comfortable for all-day wear, arsenic it whitethorn excavation into a dog's neck. You will want to return nan collar disconnected of your canine erstwhile you get inside.

Best budget

The Frisco Nylon Collar is simply a awesome all-around fund prime if you're looking for 1 of nan champion canine collars. Both durable and pliable, it held up successful each kinds of maltreatment tests, showing nary "teeth" marks from pounding pinch a nutrient mallet aliases hardware harm aliases decay from prolonged soaking aliases pulling. The constricted scope of colors and nan prime of only ¾-inch width for nan mean size collar are its only drawbacks. 

Made of reliable but pliable nylon pinch 7 inches of adjustability, nan Frisco collar is difficult to beat. Its D-ring stayed beardown and did not discolor pinch prolonged wetness, and nan cloth uses UltraWeld, a silicone cloth sealant that is highly resistant to tearing and chew marks. As for easiness of use, Frisco has you covered pinch an easy-to-manipulate side-release buckle and a nickel-coated aluminum D-ring that doesn't impede tag attachment. 

But location is simply a downside: At ¾-inch wide, nan size mean collar won't accommodate each medium-sized dogs. It fits dogs pinch necks from 14 to 20 inches successful circumference but looks a spot skimpy connected nan cervix of a modular poodle, and is wholly unsuitable for nan larger neck, smaller caput of a greyhound aliases Afghan hound, for instance. The adjacent size up, for 18- to 26-inch cervix circumferences, comes successful a 1-inch width.

Best LED

The Blazin LED Collar has 3 light-up modes to take from (solid, blinking, and strobe) and makes your canine visible during nighttime walks from astatine slightest 150 yards away. In coagulated mode, it stayed lit for conscionable complete 4 hours. It besides proved durable, staying lit moreover erstwhile sprayed pinch water. 

With a USB charging container built neatly into nan end, nan Blazin collar was a seamless, comfy fresh connected our trial dog. The container closed securely aft charging, truthful it resisted h2o good and kept moving aft we sprayed it pinch h2o to cleanable it up. Best of all, nan collar lit up our trial canine for illustration a Christmas character pinch a ray agleam capable for america to spot her and for her to spot what was successful beforehand of her. The LED lights return 2 hours to complaint fully.

The side-release integrative buckle was easy to unfastened and close, and nan nylon collar was easy to set for size, moreover pinch nan built-in portion of LED lights. Inside, it was soft connected nan dog's neck. The is disposable successful a scope of colors, but we recovered 1 clear advantage to nan neon greenish exemplary we tested: It stood retired intelligibly connected our canine astatine 50 feet distant successful semi-darkness, moreover pinch nan LED lights turned off.

What to look for successful a canine collar

There are cardinal features to see erstwhile selecting a secure, safe collar for your dog.

Secure closure: Collars person 2 types of closures: integrative side-release tabs and metallic belt-buckle types. For easiness of use, nan side-release tabs activity champion since they tin beryllium released pinch 1 hand, and each nan models we tested held up securely successful each our tests. Side-release tabs that unfastened nan collar quickly tin thief if your canine gets caught connected thing while wearing their collar, says Collins.

The metallic buckles, communal connected leather collars, did not neglect america either. But they person easiness of usage issues since they tin only beryllium secured astatine notches connected nan collar, making it harder to get nan cleanable fresh connected nan dog's neck. 

Hardware: A collar is for carrying your dog's ID tags, truthful it should person a coagulated D- aliases V-shaped ringing made from a durable metallic for illustration stainless alloy aliases aluminum for attaching nan tags. However, location is specified a point arsenic excessively solid: A collar pinch an other thick, bulky ringing tin beryllium very difficult to activity with. Anyone who has struggled to thread nan ligament loop that holds nan tags to nan D-ring knows firsthand that prying nan ligament isolated to connect it to a heavy ringing is excessively overmuch work, if not impossible. Some collars person 2 rings — 1 for ID tags and 1 for attaching 1 of nan best canine leashes — but we do not urge utilizing immoderate collar for leash walking.

Adjustability: Getting nan correct fresh connected your dog's cervix is basal for collar comfortableness and safety. Even nan due size collar needs fine-tuning, and we recovered those that connection astatine slightest 4 inches of adjustability are nan easiest to fresh to a dog. On cloth collars, size accommodation intends threading nan collars done tabs that let you to double it up, frankincense sizing nan collar down. Stiffer, bulkier materials tin beryllium much difficult to adjust. On leather collars, each you person to activity pinch is nan loop notches. 

Comfort: For wide comfort, look for a collar that is soft connected nan wrong wherever it touches nan neck. Any stray stitches aliases worldly sticking retired whitethorn irritate short-haired dogs. Pliability is besides important since a stiff collar could excavation into a dog's cervix if caught connected anything. As for wide collar weight, little is more. "You want nan canine to not moreover cognize they person a collar on," says Collins. 

Materials: Woven nylon and BioThane collars are much durable and easier to cleanable than different materials, and astir tin thrust successful nan washing machine. Leather collars are not washing-machine-safe since prolonged wetness will waterlog them and yet barren them retired to brittle pretzels (which we cognize from trying to lavation a leather leash, once). Hand washing successful warm, soapy h2o is your only action for leather.

How we tested nan champion canine collars

We pulled, pounded, and poked 12 collars, adjusted and readjusted their sizing, attached and removed ID tags, buried them successful dirt, soaked them successful vinegar, and weighted them down pinch bricks to accent nan fabric. 

Hardware durability and performance: To make judge they were durable and long-lasting, we put nan D-rings and closures done immoderate reliable testing. We attached nan collars to leashes and closed them astir a fixed, coagulated support beam. Then we yanked, pulled, and twisted them to find immoderate anemic points. 

Fabric durability and performance: After burying collars successful mud for 24 hours to get them dirty, we made cuts connected them pinch scissors and tied them to 4-pound bricks to measurement them down for 24 hours. Then we checked backmost successful to spot if nan cuts grew larger. We besides pounded each collar pinch a nutrient mallet to simulate canine chew marks and examined some nan cloth and nan hardware, looking for discoloration and signs of corrosion.

Pet comfort: Since dogs cannot ever pass their sartorial preferences, we put each of nan collars astir not only dogs' necks but besides our own, looking for scratchy stitching and irritating worldly stiffness. With dogs wearing nan collars, we looked for due cervix activity and whether nan collar could dishonesty level connected nan neck. We deducted points for excessive shaking, scratching, aliases caput wagging that mightiness bespeak irritation. 

Ease of use: Adjusting a collar's size and getting tags successful spot easy saves clip and effort, truthful we put each nan collars to these tests and deducted points for thing bulky, specified arsenic too-thick rings that had america prying distant to loop tags connected aliases stubborn buckles and stiff collar fabrics that stuck erstwhile threading them. As for putting nan collar connected and taking it off, nan side-release closures connected each but nan leather models should beryllium easy to unfastened one-handed; we took disconnected points for those that took much effort. 

Spray test: To simulate canine walks successful nan rain, we sprayed each nan collars pinch nan spray nozzle astatine our room descend — moreover nan LED models, which continued to usability normally. 

Cleaning test: We soaked each nan collars successful vinegar for 30 minutes to make them very stinky. Then we tested smell retention by cleaning them to spot if odors stuck around. Except for nan LED collars, which we hand-washed successful hot, soapy water, we utilized nan regular rhythm connected our washing machine. And while nan collars that sewage this curen each came retired looking cleanable and nary longer smelling of vinegar, a fewer showed corrosion and rust connected nan hardware. 

Return argumentation and warranty: Collar pinch generous refund policies won precocious marks pinch us. Those disposable connected Chewy are covered by nan retailer's 365-day guarantee. Others offered afloat refunds for mill defects, which was little valuable successful our evaluation.  

Available colors: Since individual preferences and canine fur colors vary, we looked for collars that came successful a scope of options. Some of our apical picks person constricted colour choices, but their different attributes won america over. We'd alternatively person a collar that's easy, safe to use, and stands nan trial of time, moreover if nan colour it came successful wasn't our first choice.

Dog collars FAQs

What is nan champion collar for a canine to wear?

The type of collar depends connected nan type of canine to immoderate extent. While each dogs do champion pinch a collar that will dishonesty level connected nan neck, adjacent securely, and supply a spot to connect ID tags, thinner bands (½ to ¾ inches) are amended for artifact breeds and different mini dogs, while heavy collars (1 to 1 ½ inches) activity for larger breeds. The champion canine collar for immoderate canine is 1 that fits good and is comfortable capable to time off connected for agelong stretches of time.

What is nan safest collar for dogs?

The safest collar should beryllium adjustable to fresh nan dog's cervix pinch room near over, is easy to remove, and carries a dog's recognition tags securely, says Collins. Although you wouldn't put a dense collar connected a artifact breed's neck, nan collar's weight is not arsenic important arsenic different factors, for illustration easiness of removal aliases collar thickness comparative to cervix size, he says. 

Do vets urge collars?

Collars are recommended whenever a canine is outside, truthful personification tin easy place nan canine and successful lawsuit you request to drawback clasp of it to safely abstracted your canine from different dog. A collar besides serves arsenic a backup successful lawsuit your dog's harness gives way, says Collins. If you're looking for cogwheel to safely and comfortably locomotion your dog, we urge outfitting your pup pinch 1 of nan best canine harnesses aliases best no-pull canine harnesses and attaching their leash straight to it.

Should dogs deterioration collars astatine home? 

Veterinarians work together that it is champion to return collars disconnected whenever dogs play pinch 1 different aliases are astatine location alone. "For eventual safety, it's champion ne'er to person a collar connected a canine astatine home, unless you are pinch them nan full time,'' says Collins. "The constituent is it tin get caught connected a portion of furniture, connected different dog's collar, aliases a canine could get its teeth connected nan collar, aliases they could get their ft done it if it's excessively loose.'' Since truthful galore things tin spell wrong, removing nan collar makes sense. 

How tightly should a collar beryllium worn?

A misconception is that 2 fingers should fresh betwixt nan dog's cervix and collar erstwhile it should really beryllium looser. "It should beryllium loose capable truthful that it lies level and nan canine is not bothered by it,'' says Collins. As for positioning connected nan neck, purpose little than nan dog's larynx, person to nan shoulders. This avoids a delicate area of nan cervix that tin beryllium damaged pinch excessively overmuch pressure, Collins says. Finally, nan thickness of a collar comparative to nan size of nan cervix is important. He says thinner collars are for mini cervix circumferences only. All of nan collars we tested were either ¾- aliases 1-inch thick, which worked connected our medium-sized dog, but astir of them were disposable successful ½-inch thickness successful smaller sizes.