Check Chain Dog Collars- DoggieWould at West Coast Pet Care Centre

How to fit a Check Chain

Kim L Rance, Cert3 Dog Behaviour Dip AquaMeasure around your dogs’ neck just behind the ears; add 5-10cm to the size of your dogs neck and this is the size of Check Chain for your dog. Add 5cm to the chain size for small dogs and 10cm to the chain for large dogs.

When tight you should have a palm width of extra chain between your dogs’ neck and the clip on the lead (as picture1).

Check chains should only be tight (see picture1) when you are giving your dog a correction, the rest of the time the chain must be loose around your dogs’ neck (see picture2).

For dogs with a particularly large head relative to their neck size you may need to measure the circumference of the dogs head rather than the neck.



Picture1. Tight Check Chain		Picture2. Loose Check Chain

Check (and Martingale) Chain sizes for Sprenger products. We reccomend that (for accuracy) you measure your dog’s neck size; please consult the manufacturer for wire size if not using Sprenger chainware.
						wire	wire	wire	wire
Breed	Min	Max	neck size		max	chrome	stainless	curogan	brass
	weight	weight	from	to	breaking strain	plated	steel
	kg	kg	cm	cm	kg	mm	mm	mm	mm
Airedale Terrier	20	23	40	55	105	2.5	2	2.5	3
American Bulldog	30	58	50	70	261	4	3	4
Am Staffy Terrier	18	23	45	60	105	2.5	2	3	3
Beagle	18	27	30	45	125	2.5	2	3	3
briard	30	34	50	65	153	3	2.5	3	4
border collie	14	22	35	45	99	2	2	3	3
bullterrier	24	28	40	60	126	2.5	2
cain terrier	6	7	25	40	35	1.5	2	2.5	3
chow chow	20	32	45	60	144	2.5	2	3	4
cocker spaniel english	13	15	40	55	70	2	2	2.5	3
collie	18	30	45	55	135	2.5	2.5	3	4
dalmation	23	25	35	50	115	2.5	2	3	3
boxer	25	32	45	60	144	2.5	2.5	3	4
dobermann	30	40	40	55	180	3	2.5	3	4
english setter	25	30	45	60	135	2.5	2	3	4
fox terrier	7	8	25	45	36	2	2	2.5	3
golden retriever	27	36	45	60	162	3	2.5	3	4
greyhound	27	32	35	55	144	2.5	2.5	3	4
irish setter	27	32	40	55	144	2.5	2	2.5	4
irish wolfhound	40	55	45	70	260	3.4	3	4
musterlander	14	16	35	55	72	2	2	2	3
labrador retriever	25	34	45	60	160	3	2	3	4
leonberger	34	50	50	75	240	3.4	3	4
mastiff	79	86	65	80	390	4	4
newfloundland	50	68	65	80	310	4	4	4
rhodesian ridgeback	30	39	45	60	190	3	2.5	3	4
rottweiler	35	50	60	75	230	3.4	3	4	4
schnauzer	15	18	35	50	85	2	2	2.5	3
staffordshire Bullterrier	11	17	40	60	85	2.5	2.5	3	3
west highland white terrier	7	10	30	45	45	2	2	2.5	3
yorkshire terrier	2	4	15	35	18	1.4	2	2.5	3

How to put a Check Chain on your Dog

To prepare the check chain hold the chain by the rings on either end with the top ring having the lead attached to it, now slowly slide the chain down through the bottom ring.

To fit with dog on your left side


Turn the chain so it forms a side ways “P”	Swing the chain around to bring it in front of your dog	So the “P” is facing the other way


Now side it over your dog’s head	Here we see our dog with the check chain fitted correctly

To fit with dog in front of you

Start by preparing the check chain the same as with your dog on your left side


Here we have the same sideways “P” as before	Just lower down and	slide over his head


	Here we see our dog with the check chain fitted correctly

Lead Corrections

When we give lead corrections to dogs it is very quick. The easiest way to remember how quick the correction should be is to remember POP, P is the position your lead hand normally rests and O is the correction given, and then back to P; therefore the correction should be given in the same time that it takes you to say POP. This can be paired with a verbal correction like AHH so that when your dog understands it is his non-compliance that caused the correction you can give a verbal correction and not a physical correction the majority of the time.


P	O	P

The picture below shows what happens when you try and a give a correction with a check chain that is too long. If your chain is too long to give corrections you have very little power and the correction is generally ineffective, also you can unblance yourself which can lead to problems with handling some of the large, powerful dogs.